Lacey Senuk of St. Albert is skating in the right direction toward her goal as an international hockey referee.
The latest assignment for the product of the Hockey Canada officiating program is the women’s U18 world championship. She is among 18 Canadian officials assigned by the International Ice Hockey Federation to work 11 different IIHF events in 2014/15.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Senuk, who admitted it was “a little bit of a surprise” the IIHF picked her for the Jan. 5 to 12 competition in Buffalo.
“It’s a huge honour obviously to be chosen for such a prestigious event. It’s another step in the direction as you continue to grow and succeed as a referee in the game.”
It’s the third IIHF posting for the graduate of the Referee Advanced Technical Training program through the St. Albert Referees Association.
The Level IV official worked as a referee at the women’s world championship division II group B qualification in March in Mexico, featuring Bulgaria, Hong Kong, South Africa and Mexico, and was a linesman at the 2012 Olympic pre-qualification event in China, a women’s group E tournament involving China, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
“Mexico City was another awesome, awesome experience but as far as the hockey calibre goes the U18s will be a huge step up,” Senuk said. “My ultimate goal is to go to a women’s world championship. The Olympics is definitely a dream but there are so few spots available for it.”
Other high-profile gigs for the 29-year-old Senuk since making her debut as an official in 2008/09 include U22 and U18 series between Canada and the United States, 4 Nations Cup, national women’s U18 championship, Canada Winter Games’ U18 female tournament, Esso Cup national midget AAA female championship – she was the referee for the TSN televised gold-medal game in 2011 in St. Albert – and the female Canada West finals and CIS nationals.
“A lot of time and dedication and work goes into what I do so to be able to be selected to go to the U18s is unbelievable,” said Senuk, who was coaxed into officiating by friends on her recreation hockey team who were referees. “All that extra time that is being put in, whether it be in the gym or on ice or whatever it is, is totally paying off. You obviously will make sacrifices when you’re that passionate and dedicated to something like officiating. The support network that I’ve got around me is very supportive and they totally understand my dedication and are willing to help out wherever they can.”
Senuk was also among five officials from across Canada to attend the inaugural Hockey Canada female Level V officiating seminar in August in Calgary. The Level IV officials were nominated by their respective Hockey Canada branches and a selection committee reviewed all of the candidates before declaring the final five.
The purpose of the seminar, held in conjunction with the women’s U18 series between Canada and the United States, was to prepare officials for assignments for national and international competitions.
There are more than 2,200 female officials registered as part of the Hockey Canada officiating program, including 45 level IV officials.
“It’s a pretty big honour to be part of that group of five, the first ever level five,” said Senuk, who was joined by referees from Prince George, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Montreal at the seminar. “In the past it’s always been level four as high as you could go and then they kind of based that as the level for assignments. I wouldn’t be surprised if level fives are the ones that will be put out there for international competition.”
Instructors conducted on-ice and off-ice testing, as well as rules, nutrition and fitness sessions. The officials also wrote a long answer/short answer exam.
“The final stage is just to have in-game supervision at the highest level of hockey that I could potentially skate in the province,” Senuk said. “The way I look at it, the hard part is done with the testing but that being said with in-game it’s never easy. That could be a challenge too but it’s a little bit more natural with what’s going on than writing a test.
“Hopefully it will all be squared away for next year when it comes time to register. It’s typically a two-year process. You do all of your testing and essentially it’s two years for Hockey Canada or national supervisors to come out and do an in-game supervision.”
The former Notre Dame Hounds’ forward from Grande Cache skates on average five times a week. The majority of the games she calls are on the male side, from midget AAA down, and she does the highest level of female available in Edmonton and area.
“I do a lot more refing than lines nowadays. I line maybe a couple games a month,” said Senuk, who was offered the opportunity to call junior B games but chose not to. “I skate once during the week and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday you go hard for sure. (Sometimes) on Saturdays it’s two games or two on Sunday because of the amount of hockey and the limited number of bodies.”
Senuk is also the peewee interlock, atom interlock, atom AA and A, peewee AA and A and all-female assignor for the St. Albert Referees Association.
“I help out with the RATT (Referee Advanced Technical Training) program and run some of the skating sessions we have,” said the special projects coordinator for Pivotal Safety.
