The first IIHF Women’s World Championship for Lacey Senuk is one the St. Albert referee will never forget.
“It’s obviously a huge honour to go to a worlds’ event and skate that level of hockey,” Senuk said. “To be able to represent the many different associations – St. Albert minor hockey, Hockey Alberta, Hockey Canada – and obviously myself it was a great, great experience all around. For my first worlds I couldn’t have asked for a better first kick at the can.”
Senuk, 33, was also selected to the officiating crew for the April 14 gold-medal game between the United States and Finland in Espoo, Finland.
“Canada lost their semifinal game (4-2) to Finland, which allowed me the opportunity to skate the gold medal game with Canada not being in it because with the IIHF you don’t ever get to skate your country so I never saw Canada in the round robin or in any of the playoffs,” Senuk said. “As a North American official going to these events you kind of go, OK, I’m going to work for the bronze because you half expect it to be Canada and U.S. in the final so with it not being Canada in the final I was like, OK, maybe I have a legitimate shot at the gold medal game, but it was quite the shock when the assignments came out and I saw my name in the gold medal game.
“To be able to skate that was definitely the highlight of my career thus far. I don’t know if I could ever top that at this point.”
The final also served as a baptism under fire for Senuk, who was joined by Nicole Hertrich of Germany as the referees in the 2-1 shootout victory by the United States.
The Finns, however, thought they won it at 11:33 of the 20-minute four-on-four sudden-death overtime. Finland captain Jenni Hiirikoski, the tournament MVP, made an end-to-end rush and her initial shot was stopped by netminder Alex Rigsby. As Rigsby slid out of the net Hiirikoski made contact with the netminder while passing in front of the crease with Kacey Bellamy of the United States on top of her and Petraq Nieminen banged the rebound into the open cage.
A lengthy video review ensued and the goal was disallowed for apparent goalie interference. Manuela Groeger-Schneiderof Germany was the video judge in the game.
“There was definitely some controversy. Unfortunately, I can’t really comment to too much on that. The IIHF has released their statement about it and that’s kind of what we stand behind,” Senuk said.
The IIHF statement said, “All goals that were scored during the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship were reviewed by the IIHF Video Goal Judge Operations. The overtime goal scored by Team Finland against Team USA was reviewed and disallowed by the Video Goal Judge Operations, due to non-incidental goaltender interference.”
During the play, Rigsby was called for tripping and Hiirikoski wasn’t assessed a goaltender interference penalty.
“Obviously, with all the commotion about halfway through but as an official you have to regroup just like the players and you have to continue on so we did just that,” Senuk said. “Still, just to be able to compete in that game was pretty special for sure.
“Up until this point it’s been Canada and U.S. in the final (for 19 consecutive years since the inaugural 1990 worlds) so just to be able to skate that side of it and to be part of history in that way was huge.
“There were I think 6,000 people in that rink and I would say probably 5,500 of them were Finnish fans so it was quite remarkable to skate it. Finland came out to play. They were hungry for gold, they wanted gold and they played that way. The Finnish goalie (Noora Raty) made some unbelievable saves on the U.S. team (14 in OT as the U.S. outshot the Finns 52-27 overall after a 17-4 margin in the first period). There were a few times where the U.S. players kind of looked to the sky and were like, ‘How did she save that?’ A few times I even went, ‘Wow!’ It was quite the game.”
The linesmen in the final were Veronica Lovenso of Sweden and Justine Todd of Alliston, Ont.
“We enjoyed that moment for sure, being able to be on the ice together for that moment,” Senuk said of the Canadian connection with Todd.
They were among 12 referees, including Gabrielle Ariano-Lortie of Montreal, Que., and 10 linesmen, selected for worlds.
“It’s always been my goal to get to a women’s worlds and it's nice to be able to achieve that goal,” said Senuk, who estimated she skated in six or seven games in the 10-team tournament. “Now you set your sights on the next one and then see what happens from there.
“My next big goal is to get to Halifax next year for worlds again and have another good tournament there.”
Major assignments
While the Olympics “is a dream” for Senuk, a former forward with the Notre Dame Hounds who was cajoled into officiating by friends on her recreation hockey team who were referees, it’s still within reach.
“When I first started officiating I wasn’t sure how far I would be able to go and obviously I started having some success fairly early on in my officiating career and it's continued,” said Senuk, who started in wearing the stripes in 2008.
Senuk’s first big assignment was working the lines at the inaugural 2009 Esso Cup and when the St. Albert Slash hoisted the 2011 female midget AAA nationals she refereed the gold-medal game.
The Level 5 official has also skated in the Mac’s midget AAA male tournament and at the female level worked in the U22 and U18 series between Canada and United States, U18 nationals, Canada Winter Games’ U18 tournament, 4 Nations Cup, U18 worlds, a variety of Olympic and world qualifier tournaments, Canada West finals and CIS/U SPORTS nationals.
“It’s quite a progression and I’m very proud of everything I’ve been able to do and the success I’ve had and I owe a lot of that to the grassroots skating in St. Albert and working minor hockey in St. Albert,” said the graduate of the Referee Advanced Technical Training program through the St. Albert Referees Association. “I had a very busy season this year with two other events (4 Nations Cup and U SPORTS nationals) aside from worlds so I wasn’t around a whole lot but our assigners really worked with me. They were like, 'What can I do to help? What games can I get you into to get you prepared for a 4 Nations or for a U SPORTS nationals? What can I do to help?'
“St. Albert has always been a huge supporter and I owe a lot to St. Albert for that because they have allowed me to be prepared to go into the different events that I go to and it’s been like that basically since day one since I've been skating in St Albert.”
Senuk’s main gigs locally are junior B, midget AAA, midget AA and minor midget 15 for the males and the female side is mostly U SPORTS and Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
“I try and skate a little bit of the midget AAA girls' hockey in St. Albert as well just to be able to skate that and be on the ice and see that level of play and work with some of our officials,” said the product of the Hockey Canada officiating program. “I also have no problem going back to skate bantam AAA, bantam AA and doing lines every now and again. I do about one or two of those a year.”
Weekend assignments are more the norm now for Senuk as a senior official.
“It’s a lot different from when I started. I was skating seven days a week and multiple times on the weekend,” said the occupational health and safety specialist for Trailer Wizards in Edmonton. “I tend to skate more Friday, Saturday, Sunday so three games a weekend kind of thing and every now and then there might be a mid-week game if I can work it into my schedule."
Senuk’s rapid rise in the officiating ranks has been a constant learning experience.
“There is a lot that goes into being a good official. Obviously, there is a lot of off-ice training that needs to happen. You don’t just get to take the summers off and do whatever and then hop back on the ice and hope that you're at the same level. If you want to continue to progress there’s lots of training that goes on off the ice and I’ve taken that a little bit more seriously the past few seasons than in previous seasons just with my mindset on different goals,” said Senuk, noting the feedback from her peers has been positive. “From other officials I’ve spoken to, they’re like you’ve really developed and grown as an official with the on-ice presence and communication, stuff like that.”
Of course, mistakes do happen.
“There is a lot I've learned over the years and probably the biggest one is realizing you made a mistake. It's easier to go up to a coach and say, ‘You know what? I’m sorry. I totally missed that.’ Or, ‘I definitely screwed that up. I’m really sorry,’” Senuk said. “When you apologize to a coach they have no rebuttal. They’ve got nothing to come back at you. They’re like, 'OK, you made a mistake. You’re recognizing that. Let's move on.'
“You’re going to make mistakes. We're all humans. It’s going to happen so just work through it and try not to make that mistake again.”
