Lacey Senuk is in select company at the 4 Nations Cup.
The graduate of the Referee Advanced Technical Training (RATT) program through the St. Albert Referees Association is one of five officials from Alberta chosen to represent the province on the national and international scene this season.
"It's a huge accomplishment," Senuk said.
The 4 Nations Cup, currently under way in Newfoundland, features the top four women's teams in the world.
"It's a real honour to go to it," Senuk said. "It puts you on the radar for IIHF [International Ice Hockey Federation] stuff, which is big. Obviously the end goal would be the Olympics in 2014 or 2018."
Senuk, 25, will push lines at the tournament.
"Getting your name out there and opening people's eyes to who you are is definitely something that I want to do, but ultimately it's a competition even as officials. We all want [Saturday's] gold medal game. That is definitely the goal, but as officials we're all there supporting one another and helping one another grow and become a better official," said the St. Albert resident. "We'll also do on-ice testing, off-ice testing, lots of skating sessions and all that other fun stuff, as well as rules and procedure reviews."
Senuk got a taste for international hockey while working the U22 series between Canada and the United States over the summer in Toronto and is hungry for future assignments.
"It's a learning opportunity every time," she said. "Obviously your skating has got to be there, as well as your rule knowledge and procedures and everything else in order to do more of those competitions."
This is her third season wearing the stripes, a familiar face doing rep hockey in St. Albert and area.
"I work the male program just as much as the female program, but when it comes to the national front they definitely want to see female officials on the ice for female hockey."
Senuk started playing hockey in her hometown of Grande Cache as a goalie, then switched to defence before she was bumped up to forward at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask. After graduating from high school, she toiled in the Northern Alberta Female Hockey Association.
"When I left Notre Dame I had opportunities to go south but I didn't really want to take them because I'm away from home already. I wanted to kind of get back home and get my feet underneath me and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I had no interest in going to the U of A and playing hockey there. At the time there wasn't interest in Grant MacEwan or NAIT, and there really wasn't a whole lot of competitive hockey in Edmonton when I came back, so I played a couple of seasons in [the NAFHA] but after awhile I kind of had enough of the politics," she said.
"I had friends who were officials and someone said why don't you officiate and I said OK and kind of dived right into it. Right now the only hockey I play is shinny and even that is kind of a stretch because I'm on the ice pretty much every night of the week as an official."
Busy schedule
It wasn't until after her first season that Senuk started working a lot of games in St. Albert and is now a popular mentor for young officials starting out.
"Predominately what I do in St. Albert is junior B lines down to peewee. That includes the midget AAA Raiders, bantam AAA Sabres and obviously the Slash and the female bantam AAA Raiders. There is also CIS, ACAC and midget AAA female throughout the city as well."
Last winter Senuk averaged 160 games.
"About a quarter were as a ref and the rest were as a linesman. There is a fair amount of travelling in and around the city for hockey but it's definitely worth it," she said. "We've also got great support from the St. Albert association and from the RATT program. It makes going to the rink fun, so to speak, even if the parents don't necessarily agree with everything that you call."
Joe Becigneul, St. Albert Referee In Chief, described Senuk as a rising star in the officiating ranks.
"Lacey has worked extremely hard, day in and day out, on all aspects of her game. Our entire St. Albert Referees Association of 120 officials are extremely proud of Lacey. We wish her all the best on the national stage in this international tournament," he said.
Last year, under the direction of Arron Best, a senior North Zone official who also calls St. Albert home, the St. Albert Referees Association launched the RATT program, where up and coming officials work on their skating, positioning, confidence, game management and rule knowledge.
"Lacey has embraced the RATT program from our first session," Best said. "She has a keen sense of the game and a strong desire to be the best official in any hockey she is working. Lacey constantly strives to improve all aspects of her game and we are seeing that hard work rewarded through this outstanding assignment."
Senuk, a strong-willed individual who 'doesn't take no guff,' is concerned over the high turnover with first- and second-year officials.
"A lot of that is they've got coaches and parents screaming at them," she said. "Improvement has been made as far as the respect goes for officials, but you still run into it at the rink.
"We actually had an incident [in St. Albert] probably month or so ago where there was a couple of young kids on the ice and a parent came down and met them in the hallway and that is not acceptable. As an adult, you shouldn't be doing that. These kids are 13, 14 and maybe 15 years old and as a kid you are told to respect adults so they just kind of sit back and take it but it should never happen."
As a female Senuk doesn't draw attention to herself on the ice.
"The female voice is a little bit distinct when there is a bunch of males out there, so it doesn't take them long to figure out who I am," said the equipment inventory project co-ordinator for Flint Energies, an oilfield safety company based in Sherwood Park.
"I haven't run into an issue that there is a 'chick' on the ice kind of thing. We're definitely seeing more respect in that regard but there are still coaches that have issues with it and they're not necessarily St. Albert coaches. I know some of the guys coming from the city or outlying areas and sometimes their comments get a little offside. I don't think it's as big of an issue with what it's been in the past but you still have to deal with it. For the most part coaches are pretty understandable and respectful, providing you can skate the hockey, right?"
