Since the age of 15, Norway’s Maren Frohaug has known that she wants to officiate at the Olympic Winter Games. This is a dream that she wrote down as a teenager in a goal-setting session at an officiating camp, and, now an IIHF linesperson, she has a unique opportunity to take further steps towards reaching this goal through the Road to Milano 2026 project.
Following the Beijing 2022 Olympics, the IIHF intensified the work being done around long-term planning and development of female game officials. One result of this work is Road to Milano 2026, a first-of-its-kind project in which a targeted group of 25 female game officials will have access to elevated development opportunities in the lead up to the final game official selection for the next Olympics.
“For me it was huge to get the opportunity to be able to join the program,” said Frohaug. “I’ve always wanted more coaching or game official coaches helping me and being part of the support team in my development.”
“I’m looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities that participation in Road to Milano provides,” said Polish linesperson Natalia Suchanek. “Hockey at the highest level is something I dream about. It used to be unthinkable for me and today I realistically set goals for myself. I’ve met a lot of great people and I know there is still a lot ahead of me.”
Suchanek started officiating five years ago, initially underestimating how much she would enjoy it and then developing an intense desire to learn more. Between World Championship tournaments, she officiates in the Polish Women’s Hockey League and the European Women’s Hockey League. A gap that the Road to Milano 2026 aims to address however is the lack of opportunities to work games at an international level outside of the World Championship program.
Through an internal exchange program involving countries participating in the top two divisions of the World Championships, game officials will be assigned to international games outside of their home federations, expanding their exposure to the top senior and junior levels of international hockey. Between now and Milano 2026, these IIHF officials will be active at seven different international break tournaments across Europe, starting with the 4 Nations Women’s Senior Tournament that began last August.
Great Britain’s Hollie Neenan has experienced the benefits of similar opportunities in the past, having attended a USA Hockey futures camp in Minnesota in her first year as an official, receiving her IIHF license and her first international appointment shortly after. Also key to Neenan’s development, and the Road to Milano 2026 project, is mentorship from other female officials.
“I started to meet a lot of women who'd all had experience at the international level and very quickly I could see where I could actually head towards,” Neenan said of the beginnings of her officiating career. “I found the most exciting thing [when at an IIHF tournament] is that you’re progressing alongside people that you've been with at those first tournaments. I feel like we’re a lot closer to one another than what people actually realize.”
My first IIHF tournament was a tournament that I really didn’t think I would get. I thought I wasn’t good enough for the level, but I came there and had a really good experience with a game official coach who saw my potential,” said Frohaug. “I also got to meeting some amazing women that also officiate. This is going to be kind of a little bit of a similar experience, where you’re with a like-minded group of people, a group of women who get to learn together and collaborate.”
All events that Road to Milano 2026 game officials attend will also be monitored by IIHF officiating coaches, giving the coaches more time and opportunities to work closely and in-person with the individuals in the IIHF’s targeted long list for the Olympics. The goal is that the project will provide game officials with the resources they need to perform at the highest level and empower them to reach new heights in their officiating careers.
“Even two seasons ago, if someone was to tell me that I’d be in the position that I was in now, I might’ve not believed it,” said Neenan. “A couple of years ago, my milestone might have been to officiate the top junior tournaments in the UK, whereas now I’ve been assigned the Division I Group A Women’s Worlds—and obviously I would really, really like to get to the 2026 Winter Olympics.”