CALGARY, AB -- It's not only Canada's Men's and Women's Olympic Hockey Teams whose talent will be on display at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Five Canadian amateur officials have been selected by the International Ice Hockey Federation to work games during both the men's and women's hockey tournaments.

Brad Meier of Saskatoon, SK, and Troy Sartisan of Regina, SK, will work at least the preliminary round of the men's event. Marina Zenk of Ottawa, Laurie Taylor-Bolton of Barrie, ON, and Isabelle Giguère of Blainville, QC will be part of history as the first women's hockey event is conducted at the Olympic Games. The five officials will depart for Nagano on Feb. 4.

Meier is both a Western Hockey League referee as well as a National Hockey League trainee referee who also works a variety of Junior and University hockey in Saskatchewan. He has represented the Canadian Hockey Officiating Program a number of times, with stops at the World Junior and Senior championships and also at an Olympic qualification tournament.

Sartisan, one of the top linesmen in the Western Hockey League and the top-ranked linesman in Canadian Hockey's Saskatchewan Branch, will be participating in his second international event. Sartisan's first international assignment was the 1995 World Hockey Championship.

Taylor-Bolton, a police officer from Barrie, Ont., has been involved in five other international women's events. She was a referee at the Pacific Rim Championship in 1996, the Three Nations Cup in 19, and at the Women's World Championship tournaments in 19.

Zenk will also go to Nagano as a veteran international referee. She worked at the first Women's World Championship in 1990 and also at the most recent one in 1997. Zenk also has worked at the Pacific Rim tournament and two Three Nations Cup tournaments.

Giguère, the youngest member of Canada's Olympic officiating contingent, has already officiated at the 1995, 19 Three Nations Cup tournaments and was a linesman at the 1997 Women's World Championships. Like Taylor-Bolton, Giguère is a police officer.

"I am extremely proud of the officials that the National Referees' Committee has nominated and who have been chosen by the International Ice Hockey Federation," said Canadian Hockey Referee-in-Chief Dr. Maurice Roy from his home in Grand Falls, New Brunswick. "These officials have been selected for not only their on-ice abilities, but also their for leadership in the Officiating Program. Like athletes in a sport, they are the role models for the over 31,000 officials registered annually in our program."