“I promise you, with the people I’ve worked with over the course of my career, I don’t think you’re going to tell Andy Van Hellemond, Don Koharski or Kerry Fraser how to referee a hockey game,” said Hall of Fame referee Paul Stewart, a fourth-generation official. “They just look at you like pffft.

“I didn’t give a shit. I did the job based on what my feelings were. In many senses, I felt the players played for me. If you’re going to officiate and be at the top level of your game, you can’t allow this type of outside influence to taint your thinking. You have to gauge it by how you are and who you are.”

-Paul Stewart, former NHL referee

“At a stoppage of play, I would go to the benches to both coaches and say, ‘Obviously you’ve taken way too much advantage of my generosity and I’m embarrassed, but I’m now going to lay the hammer down. I prefer you to control your guys before I have to. But I’m going to grab one player in the scrum — it might be your guy or their guy. Control your guys or I will.”

“If I said something, you can take it to the bank, I was going to do it. The guys that are really successful are when they step on the ice and players know they mean business. When they tell them something, they follow through. It’s not an idle threat.”

-Kerry Fraser, former NHL referee

Joe Smith of The Athletic has much more ($$$)