Retired ref Paul Stewart's goal is to help women officials reach the NHL
Paul Stewart knows what it takes to referee a game in the National Hockey League. He did it for more than 1,600 of them: 1,010 NHL regular-season games, 49 Stanley Cup postseason games and two NHL All-Star games.
He knows that while the profession is dominated by men, it’s not because women can’t do it. His next goal in life is to help make that happen.
Stewart provides words and action
The former NHL and World Hockey Association player was one of five inductees at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction in Nashville on Wednesday night. He told the media what he wanted to achieve next in his life:
“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, 65, has served as ECAC Hockey’s director of officiating for the men’s league since 2007 and the women since 2010. He said Katie Guay will officiate the 2019 Beanpot tournament in February. (The four men’s collegiate teams from Boston were all formerly in the ECAC together.)
Guay also officiated the 2018 Winter Olympics and Stewart said he had a “small part” in helping her move up to higher assignments.
Natalie Darwitz, a fellow 2018 inductee and only fifth woman in the hall, echoed Stewart’s sentiments Wednesday night:
“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.”
More women are moving into the Division III men’s officiating ranks and some make it to D-I or the Olympics, but there has still not been a female official at the NHL level.
Why aren’t there a lot of women?
Stephen Walkom, the NHL’s director of officiating, told The Associated Press the necessary qualities are the same for either sex and they include being a good enough skater to keep up with the pace of play.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told the AP that “being as qualified as other candidates is the key.”
In comparison to the men, women’s hockey from bantam leagues up to the professional levels has only relatively recently begun to erupt. The talent pool has largely been composed of men at the highest levels but as more women join the game, their talent level naturally rises, and it allows for more women to meet such qualifications.
They now, 46 years after Title IX, can play throughout their lives at high levels, even enter professional leagues, and can come up through the officiating ranks if they choose. That will all help them become “as qualified.”
Walkom said the NHL officiating pool is growing with more women. Though the numbers are still small, the NHL’s officiating combine in Buffalo has shown growth year over year. The NHL wants to introduce former players to the profession, identify future talent and bolster the officiating ranks at all levels of the game.
As women who know the game become as qualified as their male peers, the shattering ceiling Stewart seeks and works toward will eventually occur.
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