Clarke continues to climb the ranks

If it wasn’t for a disgruntled cow, Alex Clarke won’t have grow to be top-of-the-line and most revered officers on the planet.

It was the spring of 2015 and Clarke (then going by her maiden title, Alex Blair) had simply been drafted 53rd general by the Calgary Inferno of the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League when was she kicked by a cow on her household farm, leading to a lingering knee harm.

“I wasn’t in a position to correctly practice all through the summer time. So, the choice was type of made for me to not go to [Inferno training] camp and check out that fall,” recollects Clarke, who performed three seasons with the Weyburn Gold Wings of the Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League (SFU18AAAHL) earlier than taking part in NCAA Division III hockey on the College of St. Scholastica in Minnesota.

But when the door on Clarke’s taking part in profession closed, one other opened.

“I knew I wanted to stay involved in hockey,” she recollects. “I had previously thought that maybe coaching was a good avenue for me, but at the time I was 22 years old and my personality just doesn’t fit well with standing on a bench and being tied to a team schedule. So, I ended up pursuing officiating instead.”

Since then, Clarke has skyrocketed by way of the officiating ranks. A local of Drake, Saskatchewan (inhabitants 197), she has labored in her house province within the SFU18AAAHL and Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), nationally on the Esso Cup and internationally on the IIHF Women’s World Championship.

In 2021 she grew to become the first girl to officiate within the Western Hockey League (she additionally was the primary girl to work a WHL sport as a referee earlier this season) and on Dec. 5, 2021 she grew to become the primary girl to work a sport within the American Hockey League.

“My love for the game is what inspires me to get out there,” Clarke says about being an official. “It’s a spot the place I get to go and neglect about all the things else that’s happening. I get to have enjoyable. I get to be with buddies.

“Since I’ve had success, and I’ve been a little bit more recognized, it means a lot more to me to go out there and know that I’m somebody that people see as a trailblazer as the only female in certain leagues.”

The previous few years particularly have been quiet the experience for Clarke, who reached the top of worldwide hockey when she labored as a linesperson on the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, and earlier this yr she started calling video games within the new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). Most just lately, she officiated the PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase in the course of the NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto.

“It’s felt natural,” Clarke says of her development as an official. “Aside from the 2021-22 season where I jumped around lot of leagues at the same time, its very similar to being a player. Being scouted [and] evaluated, and when I was ready to be put into the next level, I was ready and determined to be capable. I’ve had a lot of good experiences and never felt like I was over my head.”

Inspiring the following era

While her pathway to changing into an official was a actually distinctive, Clarke says she wouldn’t have chosen some other situation.

“[When I was looking into getting into officiating,]Hockey Saskatchewan was really good,” Clarke recollects. “They welcomed me with open arms. After knowing my hockey background, they invited me to a referee camp and when I arrived, they were so welcoming and immediately felt like part of the family.”

As an official, Clarke hopes to point out that there are lots of pathways to being concerned in hockey and she or he hopes to have the chance to mentor extra younger officers.

“Anybody that’s looking to get into officiating, I would say go into it with open eyes and an open perspective,” Clarke says. “I went in for the love of the game and the desire to improve and take feedback, and it’s probably going to take you places that you probably didn’t expect.”

With the expansion of ladies’s hockey over the previous couple of years, Clarke has realized the significance of being a task mannequin on the ice, at the same time as an official. Clarke believes the added highlight on ladies’s hockey due to the PWHL is making an enormous distinction.

“I have a four-and-a-half-year-old daughter, and she’s really starting to be impressionable,” says Clarke, who additionally has a younger son. “This season, I introduced the household with me to the NHL All-Star Game, and to see her response and having her discuss Natalie Spooner and Sarah Nurse, she needs to be round hockey. She has a lot extra curiosity and funding in it as a result of she’s seeing different ladies as nice examples.

“I think it just resonates with a lot of people and little girls and boys are now able to see women and moms and full-grown adults out on the ice and in the arenas, you just get a sense of equality for everybody to achieve those goals.”

As increasingly more leagues, such because the AHL, embody ladies officers, Clarke hopes to proceed the push for ladies to take the following step. With her expertise at NHL All-Star Weekend, Clarke believes we could possibly be seeing ladies referees in NHL video games quickly.

“Getting a female into the NHL, it may be two years away, it may be 10 years away, but if I can help play a role in getting a female there, whether that’s me or somebody I can mentor and develop and inspire to take that next step, I think that’s helping progress female officials as a whole, I’m looking to have an impact on the next generation.”

Aside from that, Clarke’s long-term aim is to be on the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan, Italy. But for now, her eyes are set on the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championships in Utica, New York.

“I want to earn a spot to be in the gold medal game,” Clarke says. “We as officials are competing out there and we want to earn that gold medal spot too. Ultimately, I want to have fun and better myself and the people around me.”