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| Citizenship: | Switzerland, Japan | ||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 1996 11, df=yes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Zürich, Switzerland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation: | On-ice official | ||||||||||||||||||
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Reica Rose Staiger (born 8 November 1996) is a Japanese-Swiss ice hockey official and retired ice hockey player. She is a former member of the Swiss national team and a five-time Swiss Women's Hockey League A (SWHL A) champion.
Staiger first played in a senior women's ice hockey league at age fourteen with the GCK Lions Frauen in the (LKC; renamed SWHL C in 2014). She also played on the under-15 (U15) teams of EHC Bülach in the Swiss boys' premier and second-tier U15 leagues during the 2009–10 season.[1]
At age fifteen, she made her debut in Switzerland's elite senior women's ice hockey league, the (LKA; renamed SWHL A in 2014), with the ZHC Lions Frauen.[2] Across fifteen games with the Lions in the 2010–11 season, Staiger recorded 4 goals and 6 assists for 10 points. Concurrently, she tallied 2 goals and an assist in ten games with the top EHC Bülach U15 team.[1]
Staiger continued to split her time between the ZSC Lions Frauen and elite boys' junior teams throughout her teens, playing with EHC Bülach U17 during the 2011–12 season, EV Dielsdorf-Niederhasli U17 during the 2012–13 season, and EHC Winterthur U17 during the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons.[1]
Though most of her career was spent with the ZSC Lions in the LKA/SWHL A, Staiger chose to play the 2017–18 and 2019–20 seasons with EHC Zunzgen-Sissach Damen in the SWHL B.[1] [3] [4]
When Staiger officially retired from elite play in 2020, she was one of just twenty players to have recorded more than one hundred games with the GCK/ZSC Lions Frauen.[5]
As a junior player with the Swiss national under-18 team, Staiger participated in three IIHF U18 Women's World Championships – the Top Division tournament in 2012 and the Division I tournaments in 2013 and 2014. She served as Switzerland's captain at the 2014 tournament and led all tournament defenseman in assists, contributing to a Swiss victory in the tournament and their promotion to the Top Division.[6] [7]
With the senior national team, Staiger participated at the IIHF Women's World Championship in 2015 and 2016.[8] [9] She represented Switzerland in the qualification tournament for the 2018 Winter Olympics, at which the Swiss qualified for the Games.[10]
Staiger has served as a referee in the Swiss system since 2020, where she has officiated in the Women's League (SWHL A) and men's 1. Liga.[2] [11]
She has also officiated at International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and IIHF-affiliated events, including at the 2022–23 Euro Hockey Tour's 5-Nations Tournament in Ängelholm and the Group A tournament of the 2024 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship Division I.[12]
Staiger has two brothers who are also engaged in ice hockey. Her eldest brother, Willy (born 1989), has played in the 2. Liga with EHC Bassersdorf for more than a decade and her elder brother, Anthony (born 1993), is captain of EHC Winterthur in the Swiss League.[13] [14]