Toronto Star Sports =================== Women will rule at world tourney Special to The Star By Lois Kalchman February 24, 1997 URL: http://www.thestar.com/thestar/editorial/sports/970224SPD7_IIHF.html Women will rule at world tourney By Lois Kalchman - Special to The Star Laurie Taylor-Bolton regularly chases speeding cars as an Ontario Provincial Police officer patrolling Highway 401. But next month Taylor-Bolton will swap her police uniform for a striped shirt and chase speeding hockey players as one of the all-female, 15-person officiating crew at the women's world hockey championship, March 31 to April 6 in Kitchener. Taylor-Bolton of Barrie and Ottawa's Marina Zenk are slotted to referee while Isabelle Giguere of Montreal and Toronto's Sue Cassidy are scheduled to work the lines. All are experienced at various levels of hockey including some national and provincial championships. The balance of the crew comes from the United States, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Slovakia, Finland, Norway and Hungary. ``This is the first time we have had all women referees in an International Ice Hockey Federation event and, as far as we are concerned, they are the best women referees in the world,'' says Bob Nadin, a member of the IIHF referees committee and the officials' supervisor at the world championships. Taylor-Bolton, 28, who referees males up to midget major and all levels of female hockey, including working the lines at the world championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1994, says she is very excited by the assignment. ``You spend a lot of time ensuring you are mentally prepared and physically ready. Your cardiovascular system has to be in top shape. You have to know international, not just Canadian, rules. ``As a referee I have the best seat in the house and get lots of ice time,'' says Taylor-Bolton, who turned down a scholarship to a U.S. college in favor of the University of Toronto, earning a degree in psychology and playing for the Varsity Lady Blues hockey team. Taylor-Bolton says being a police officer means some very exciting and some very quiet days. ``As an officer I have not been called to a hockey brawl because Metro usually does that. But as a ref I have seen some (brawls) in female hockey and in the boys definitely,'' she says. Her husband, Kerry Bolton, says he is her biggest fan and notes that she has ``endless energy.'' Bolton, who manages the Newtonbrook Panthers Senior AAA team where Taylor-Bolton plays regularly, admits that he does worry about her sometimes. ``She is on the road on the 401 alone most of the time and I worry a little bit,'' Bolton says of her police work. ``But she is intelligent and doesn't by nature take risks. She thinks quickly and it helps in reffing and in her work. She can see a situation, analyze it and act. My biggest worry is when the 13- to 16-hour shifts are over and she has to drive home tired.'' Taylor-Bolton, Zenk and Cassidy all officiated at the Three Nations Cup last year in Ottawa. ``This has been my lifetime dream to do the world championship,'' said the 33-year-old Zenk, a high-tech electronics component buyer. Cassidy, 31, was thrilled about the call she received to replace another Canadian who was unable to officiate at the tournament. ``I could hardly speak I was so excited when I found out. I worked as a linesmen at the Three Nations Cup and thought that was the closest I was going to get internationally. The Olympics are bigger, but one step at a time. It will be exciting just to be on the ice with 4,000 fans in the stands. Wow!'' -------------------------------------- Contents copyright © 1996, The Toronto Star. User interface, selection and arrangement copyright © 1996 Torstar Electronic Publishing Ltd. To provide feedback or commentary on this site, please write to Webmaster@thestar.com