Behind the scenes of every IIHF tournament are officiating coaches. Just as the teams competing at each tournament have their own coaching staff, the team of officials has coaches as well, who mentor and lead the referees and linespersons to help them perform at a high level and provide a safe and fair competition.
“It’s a thing that people don’t recognize,” said Stacy Livingston, who has officiated at all levels of the game, including the Olympics and multiple World Championships, and currently coaches officials with the IIHF and USA Hockey. “We had five referees, five linespersons, so a total of 10, plus two coaches—we’re a team. We have to coach as a team. We have to develop as a team, and we have to take positives and negatives as a team as well.”
Livingston is referring to the Continental Cup’s third round Group F tournament that took place in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy in November, where she coached alongside another highly experienced official, Tomas Thorsbrink, the SHL’s Director of Officiating. Livingston and Thorsbrink are two of 37 IIHF officiating coaches assigned to tournaments this season.
Their role at the Continental Cup was the same as that of officiating coaches at all other IIHF events, starting with thorough planning and preparation prior to their assignment tournament. The Continental Cup had two games a day, with Livingston taking one and Thorsbrink the other, providing feedback to the officials after each game. Both stress that their role as an officiating coach is more than just helping tell right from wrong.
“It’s a team. The same as a hockey team or a soccer team. It’s a team,” said Thorsbrink. “In the past I think we were really looking at what was wrong, we were supervising them. Now we’re more—and I have done this ever since I started—we look more at behaviours. What can we see? What can we help each other to achieve? What can we develop? So for me it’s more to be a mentor.”
This is something that both Livingston and Thorsbrink have always incorporated into their own individual coaching styles, but is also a theme that they’ve been seeing across the board in the officiating community in recent years.
“This is how I’ve coached all the time. I coach the officials the same way I coached the players. I want to be part of the team, I want to be part of the solution,” said Livingston. “I know I did not come up as an official like that. It was definitely one-sided. It was like, we are the coaches, you are the officials, and you need to do what we say. I guess you identify your problem as a coach and you give a solution. You just don’t tell them what you do bad, you always say hey, maybe you didn’t see that call because you were out of position [for example]. Giving a solution is I think a huge difference.”
Both coaches feel that they worked well together to achieve this team atmosphere at the Continental Cup, but the tournament also held particular significance because it marked the first time that a female officiating coach has been assigned to an IIHF men’s tournament.
“We have had male officiating coaches in female tournaments for a lot of years, but this is the first time, this Continental Cup, that had a female game officiating coach in a male tournament,” said Thorsbrink. “[Stacey] has a really high knowledge of ice hockey, really high officiating IQ. I’ve been at this for almost 20 years, and I learned something also, how to be specific, how to be concrete. I’m really happy that I could be the first to work with a female officiating coach at a men’s tournament.”
“I’m not the only one that can do it in the system,” said Livingston, who enjoyed working with the officiating team at the Continental Cup and highlighted the consistency in her coaching regardless of what tournament or event she’s assigned to. “I opened the door, but I really don’t think I’m the only one by any means. There’s capable women from other countries.”
A renewed investment in referee development has helped grow the IIHF’s officiating coaching program, with eight new coaches added to their roster this season. For others interested in pursuing such opportunities, particularly in the United States where Livingston coaches, she highlights two things: starting local, and getting involved with a national federation like USA Hockey.
“[In the United States] we encourage local supervision, local coaching. Then we get involved with the national coaching at national tournaments around the States. You need to be really involved with USA Hockey, and then you get recommended for [international work] by either Scott [Zelkin] or I.”
Livingston and Thorsbrink are now preparing for their next assignments of the season. Livingston will coach at the 2024 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship in Switzerland in January and Thorsbrink at the 2024 IIHF Men’s Wold Championship in Czechia in May.