Not only did Great Britain do the country proud at last week’s Women’s Olympic Qualifiers at the National Ice Centre, there was another team on the ice flying the flag for the UK.
Lorna Beresford and Faye Andrews (pictured above) were part of the eight-strong IIHF officiating team from across Europe and were on the line for two games each during the tournament in Nottingham.
The pair had the honour of working together on the final day as they officiated the game between Iceland and Slovenia.
Kim Pedersen was the tournament’s Officiating Coach and is also a major part of the Danish Federation and Team Denmark.
He said: “It was good to see both Faye and Lorna skate again. I have worked with them before and it is a pleasure to work with two officials that show so much dedication to their sport.
“I can see that they have taken steps in their development and I hope that they are presented with continued development possibilities on home ice.
“I think that we as MNAs have a special responsibility to present our female officials with development avenues – and the Danish Association has a very good relationship with both the IHUK and the Elite League.
“Under the umbrella of this relationship, I have sent an invitation to Simon Kirkham (Chair of the IHUK Referee Section) for them both to come to Denmark for a development weekend in our second tier TalentLiga.”
Kirkham said: “We have a fantastic set officials in the UK and it’s no surprise they get selected by the IIHF for international tournaments.
“Faye and Lorna should be proud of what they did last week and we received excellent reports on them from the IIHF.
“The two of them – and all our UK officials – are a credit to the country and there will be many more allocations from the IHUK Referee Section to tournaments across the world this season.
“We have a great working partnership with the Danish Federation and I look forward to working closely with them in the future.”
Photo credit: Dean Woolley.