Former ref Stewart wants women officiating in NHL
NASHVILLE — Paul Stewart has a very big goal for the next stage of his already lengthy hockey career, and that’s helping women follow in his footsteps by officiating in the National Hockey League.
Stewart, inducted Wednesday night into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, said Katie Guay will be working the upcoming Beanpot tournament in Boston after being an official at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Stewart, who refereed 1,010 NHL regular-season games, 49 Stanley Cup playoff games and two NHL all-star games, says he had a small part in helping Guay.
“I want to see someone break that glass ceiling,” Stewart said. “It doesn’t take an X or Y chromosome to put your arm in the air and call a penalty. It only takes brains and guts. And that’s it. My next goal is to have lots of great women officiating.”
Stewart joined David Poile, general manager of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, three-time Olympic medallist and U.S. national team captain Natalie Darwitz, former Michigan coach Red Berenson and the late
Leland (Hago) Harrington being inducted.
Darwitz, who currently coaches Division III Hamline in St. Paul, Minn., said women being officials in the NHL is possible. She said she couldn’t shoot a puck like a man or skate as fast but believes women could be referees. She mentioned Guay and Kristine Langley, who’s currently a referee for men’s game at the D-III level.
“If you know the game well enough, that’s certainly a huge possibility that could happen in the future,” Darwitz said. “And I would love to see that.”
Five women took part in the NHL’s officiating combine in Buffalo in August, one more than 2017. Stephen Walkom, the NHL’s director of officiating, told The Associated Press in September that the league is open to anyone testing themselves at the combine, and the pool is growing with more women playing hockey.
What the NHL is looking for in officials applies to men and women. Walkom said qualities include being an exceptional skater to keep up with the pace of play, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told The Associated Press that being as qualified as other candidates is the key.
“I don’t view any limitations in our ability to continue to attract knowledgeable, smart, hardworking professionals, whether they’re male or female,”
Bettman said.
Talking about being inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of
Fame, Stewart got emotional and teared up. He joked he felt like he’d had an onion in his face all day.
“You’ve seen a side of me not a lot of players ever saw,” Stewart said.
“I used to make them cry.”
The induction ceremony was a sellout event Wednesday night at a hotel a couple blocks from the Predators’ arena thanks to Poile, the man who built Nashville’s NHL franchise from the ground up as an expansion franchise. Poile, already the NHL’s longesttenured and winningest general manager, currently is in his 37th straight season after spending his first 15 with Washington.
Poile also was general manager of the 2014 U.S. Olympic men’s team and associate general manager for the 2010 team that won silver in Vancouver.