"To be honest, I felt right at home in our group of officials right away," Kainberger said. "For sure, it was a transition speed-wise early on. After the first couple of minutes, I felt very comfortable reading and working the game. I had great conversations with players, coaches and my colleagues. I love the professionalism from everyone involved. I hope this opens doors for females in the future and also for me personally. I hope that one day no female referee has to be 'the first one' anymore and that we can do this on a regular basis."
Kainberger will also be one of the two referees in Saturday’s game between Genève-Servette and Ilves Tampere, paired with Mikko Kaukokari.
As always, the road to making history was built on years of work not everybody paid attention to.
“I started as a linesperson in 2016, and became a referee after the 2022 Olympics,” said Kainberger, who represented Austria in four Division I tournaments and even doubled as a defender and an official for a few years. "I felt there was more for me to do in hockey and as a game official, it was just up to me to take the necessary steps. It’s gone pretty well."
Yes, it has. In addition to the 2022 Olympics, Kainberger has worked three gold medal games at five Women’s World Championships and two U18 World Women’s Championships.
Even though several female referees have taken big strides in recent years, a pioneer’s path can be a lonely one. At least, it requires being very motivated and independent. In recent years, Kainberger has worked in the Alps Hockey League and the ICE Hockey league close to home, but also in the Swedish SDHL and Division 1.
“When I switched to refereeing, I wanted to work as many games as possible," Kainberger said. "An IIHF referee coach gave me the best piece of advice I could get: ‘Just ask for it.’ I called Stina [Nilsson, manager of female officials] at the Swedish federation and got to work in Sweden. I traveled to Sweden once a month for a weekend and refereed three games every time. It’s good to see different leagues, players, styles, and to meet new people."
Suddenly, the job was a little less lonely.
In the beginning, Kainberger was so eager to develop that she even paid for her own travel.
After the 2022 Olympics and the issues created by the pandemic, the IIHF recognized that expanding the pool of female referees and linespersons was necessary.
“After Beijing, we put together a group of 30 referees and thirty linespeople who we could see working in the WW18, Women’s Worlds, and the Olympics," said Joel Hansson, the IIHF's Officiating Development Manager. "And that would then give us the dozen who’ll work those tournaments.”
The benefits of this approach have been numerous.
“We’ve been able to work closer with the people in that core group. We can use the same officiating coaches and have the referees work in our top events, which has been helpful for the referees’ development. Julia is a great example. Coming from Austria, where there’s little work in women’s hockey, we have been able to help her mix her work in men’s leagues with working internationally in good women’s leagues and international tournaments.”
For Hansson, having Kainberger referee an CHL game isn’t the goal. He knows she’s more than qualified for the job.
“The challenge isn’t to have one referee skate in an CHL or a SHL game," Hansson said. "The challenge is for the IIHF, together with the national federations, to create an environment that fosters new talent. To be honest, Julia has created 99.5 percent of her chances herself."
For a male referee starting out, there’s a path toward the best leagues in the world. For women, the path to refereeing in, for example, the DEL or the SHL isn’t as clear, for various reasons.
“Right now, we can’t show a female referee the steps she should take to get to the SHL, for example, but we’re trying to change the structure so that being male wouldn’t be the default,” Hansson said.
“That way, we’ll also get more and even better female referees.”
“I hope I can help put the future generation referees in a situation where there’ll be more opportunities. It’s been a hard road to break into leagues,” she said.‘
“Julia is a great example of someone who wants to help others get where she is," Hansson added. "Often it’s those who don’t have the biggest salaries or support who have the biggest drive. We want to help those people. Julia can ref all the best players in the world."
Whether there will be more CHL games for Kainberger remains to be seen.
“I’ll got back to the Alps and ICE leagues, and then we’ll see,” she said.
The road continues.