URL:http://www.torstar.com/sportswire/amhockey/HKY-Women-Refs.html SportsWire _________________________________________________________________ Late breaking SportsWire Story last updated on Wed Apr 2 23:40:19 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________ The Ottawa Citizen - Female officials are blowing the whistle on the fourth world women's hockey championship, and the International Ice Hockey Federation is all for it. For the first time in the history of the biennial competition, which started in 1990, the on-ice officials are all women. There are six referees, including Marina Zenk of Gloucester, Ont., and Laurie Taylor-Bolton of Barrie, Ont., as well as nine lineswomen, including Canadians Sue Cassidy and Isabelle Giguere. The other officials are from Russia, Switzerland, Germany, the United States, Slovakia, Finland, Norway and Hungary. Nineteen female officials attended a week-long training seminar last June in Spain, knowing they had a chance to rule the ice this week. Bob Nadin of Toronto, a member of the IIHF referee and rules committee, pushed for an exclusive female officiating staff a year ago and received strong support. ``It was one of those things,'' he said. ``We had had a couple of incidents with the men. It was their attitude. ``If you have men, people expect them to do the more difficult games, and women will always feel inferior. If you don't give them a chance, they're going to lose interest. As long as you let the men do games, the women will say: `What hope is there?' '' Zenk, 33, started officiating 13 years ago and has become one of Canada's best female referees. ``This is a huge step for female officials,'' she said after refereeing her first game at the world championships between the U.S. and Norway. Women have a lot of appreciation for the game. It's a different mentality. ``The sportsmanship is really unique. I'll blow the whistle in a women's game, and 98 per cent of the time, the action stops. In a midget boys' AA game, they can't wait to get in there and punch in someone's head.'' Zenk also refereed the Finland-U.S. game and is in line to do a playoff or medal-round game. She has refereed two Canadian championship finals and her international dossier includes refereeing the 1996 Three Nations Cup final in Ottawa and the 1995 Pacific Rim competition. ``I don't take anything for granted,'' she said about securing international duties. ``I work as hard as I can and be the best I can be.'' When they finish conquering the world championship, the female on-ice officials will look toward the 1998 Winter Olympic Games next February in Nagano, Japan. The Olympic officials haven't been determined, but Nadin is confident of another all-female sweep. ``That's our intention,'' he said. ``It would be very disturbing for the women to come to the A pool at the worlds and then have the Olympics taken away from them. It would demoralize them. ``They've worked hard and paid their dues.'' Zenk is waiting and hoping. ``I can only do my best,'' she said. ``If you get the call from the referee-in-chief, you jump over the wall.'' Can officiating world men's championships be far off for the women? ``Who knows?'' Nadin said. ``There's no reason why not.'' KITCHENER, Ont. (CP) [6]SportsWire [7]amhockey SportsWire [8]INTO e-zine