Stephen Walkom
Stephen Walkom
Stephen Walkomcurrently serves as vice president and director of officiating for the National Hockey League. This is second tenure in that position, having previously served from 2005 to 2009. From 1990 to 2004, and from 2009 to 2013, he worked as an on-ice referee for the league...
calls difference excellence guess guys human missed picked strive
Our guys aren't perfect. They strive for excellence and calls do get missed. But I guess the difference is that some of those calls are missed because we're human beings, and previously they were missed because we picked and chose.
calls course dictate guys intensity motto players playoff pleased stay whether
Our motto is to stay the course and the playoff intensity will still be there. I don't look at just one game. I'm very pleased at the way the guys have called it all year. The players dictate whether there will be a lot of calls or not.
awareness soap vicious
We have to have awareness for the soap opera. It's a vicious circle, the way it works.
exhibition fears hope learning opening players season team
We hope it accelerates the learning curve. That, coupled with the exhibition season each team plays, should alleviate some of the fears of the players come opening night.
create desired excitement fans free puck
If we can free up the puck carrier, I think we can create the excitement that the fans have desired for some time.
guys
We've had a lot of guys put them on this season, anyway. That was kind of a wake-up call.
accepted culture longer needs past practices
It's not just the players' culture and coaches' culture that needs to change. It's the officiating culture as well because accepted practices in the past will no longer be accepted.
believe committed confidence expect foul fully given proper react stay understand
I've got a lot of confidence in these guys, they understand their responsibilities in these games, and if they see a foul in these games, I fully expect they'll react to it. I believe we've given them the proper instructions to stay the course, and they're committed to stay the course.
bigger change expect good grown hard involved mental mission period prepare side third worked
It's a big change for players, but it's a bigger change for the referees. They've grown up not being involved in the third period and overtime. But you can expect good things from our guys. Our mission is the same. There's always that mental side of officiating. We've worked hard to prepare our guys.
good guys job season standard start
I think the guys have done a real good job of maintaining our NHL standard from the season start to the end and now into the playoffs.
call game identical regular
The instructions to the referees . . . are identical to that of the regular season. We just want them to go out there and call the game the way they called it in the regular season.
broken call certain clutch culture difference fall grab guys regardless rule situations
In the old culture, the old way of thinking, a rule broken in certain situations was not called. The difference is our guys see it and they call it, regardless of the situation. Do that, you have consistency; if you don't, you fall back the other way and it's clutch and grab again.
advantage baseball believe close edge good perfect players preparing ready rule stick sticks terms trying watch
In terms of competitive advantage, I don't believe the curvature of the stick can be equated to a corking of a baseball bat. If you watch (players) and see them preparing to get ready for any game, they know what the rule is and you see them with the saws and files, trying to make their sticks perfect or as close as they can. The good players are right on the edge of every rule and stick measurement is no different.
anybody call might missed recognize talks
You've got to know that long before anybody talks to our guys, they recognize and know they might have missed a call in a game.