Ryan Cairns
Ryan Cairns is an international referee and ice hockey is
his vehicle to visit the world.
It is an exciting life controlling a sport he fell in love
with at the age of 11.
Ice hockey has taken him to Australia, Mexico, Canada,
Hungary, Taiwan and countless other countries along the way
just to get to the events.
The journey began in 1994 when he watched a National Hockey
League game on Sky television.
"I caught 'hockey fever' when I watched the star Russian
player Pavel Bure," he said.
He has been officiating since 1999 and is now involved in his
seventh international tournament as a linesman.
"I am usually only assigned one international tournament each
year," he said. "But I am normally involved with
international travelling teams in New Zealand."
There are eight officials in Dunedin this week from
Australia, United Kingdom, Korea, Denmark, Slovakia, France,
New Zealand and the supervisor from Germany.
The job of an international official is not only on the ice.
Cairns has daily meetings, on ice sessions, including speed
and agility testing, and other roles such as stand-by referee
duty, goal judging and post match game and performance
reviews.
It is not easy.
"A player will be substituted after only a few minutes but
the referee will spend the whole game on the ice and most of
it using other skating skills like skating backwards," Cairns
said.
"You have to be much faster than the players and also react
faster to different situations. A referee trains as hard as
the top players to stay on top.
"As an official you have to cope with the speed of the game
and pressures from the crowd, players and coaches, " Cairns
said.
"You have to control your own emotions as well as trying to
control the players. It is very challenging being an
official."
Cairns works as an industrial programmer in his day job. He
also has family commitments. His wife Nicole gave birth to
their daughter Natalie a year ago.
"Natalie was born 10 days before the disastrous February
earthquake that all but destroyed Saint George's Hospital,"
he said.
His own house has withstood the barrage and dreaded
liquefaction.
Ice hockey has also suffered in Christchurch.
"Our only ice rink has been spared damage but has to close
with each significant earthquake due to power and water
damage."
Ryan Cairns
At a glance
• Ryan Cairn's international tournaments.-
2005, Mexico City under 20 division 3 championships; 2006,
world men's division 2, Auckland; 2007, under 18 division 2,
Hungary; 2008, world men division 2, Newcastle, Australia;
2009, world mens division 3 Dunedin; 2010 under 18 division
in Taipei city, Taiwan; 2012, Division 3 under 20 tournament,
Dunedin.
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