Grace Barlow is bringing her B.C. Hockey League experience back to Prince George.
The 23-year-old Barlow made hockey history in October when she was one of the referees who was part of an all-female on-ice officiating crew that worked a BCHL game between the South Surrey Eagles and Langley Rivermen.
Tonight at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, Barlow will be one of the stripes wearing a red armband when the Prince George Spruce Kings host the Vernon Vipers.
“For me, growing up watching the Spruce Kings and getting to go out there and see these big boys out there knowing that now it’s my turn to be out there with them, it’s very exciting,” said Barlow.
“Getting to be in the former Coliseum and growing up playing in that rink and coaching and reffing in that rink, it’s exciting to go in there and have that opportunity just be in front of a home crowd.”
Barlow grew up playing hockey in Prince George and played three seasons in the B.C. Hockey Female Midget Triple-A League from 2013-16 as a defenceman for the Northern Capitals, helping them to consecutive league championships in 2015 and 2016.
Barlow got into officiating after her playing career ended and she served two seasons as a linesman before she became a referee. Now based in Vancouver, where she’s a second-year dentistry student at UBC, this is her fifth season as a whistle-blower. She typically works three or four games per week, mainly as a BC Elite Hockey League referee.
“It provides me a really good extra-curricular activity,” she said. “School can become a lot, really quickly, but hockey is something that refreshes me and recharges me for school, so it’s a good balance there.”
Her future BCHL assignments will be based on her assessments from the previous month. The Oct. 17 BCHL game in Surrey marked the first time a Canadian junior A hockey game had an all-female crew and that will always be highlight for Barlow to look back upon.
“It’s something that I was very adamant that it was just another hockey game, and it really was just another game, it was a great game and it created a good foundation for me going into the BCHL and feeling more comfortable,” she said. “But now that I’m out of it, I feel very proud, not just for me but my whole crew and for all the female officials in B.C. and all over Canada. It’s an open door that everyone can now step through.”
She says her background as a rep hockey player with the Northern Capitals prepared her for the travel routines and training regimen needed to be a high-level athlete and she brings that same approach to the game as an official.
“It’s a fast-paced game, those players out there are passionate about the game and they’re incredibly-skilled hockey players, and that goes for most of the leagues I work in,” Barlow said. “I’m grateful to be working in the high-performance program with BC Hockey. Watching those players and seeing them get prepared and train, it’s an inspiration for me as well to take this game more seriously and to be out there doing my job to the best of my abilities.
“It’s exciting to be seeing these players that, I know a lot of them are going to takes the next step to the NCAA or U SPORT and go professional and being able to share the ice with them is a real honour.”
Barlow will be co-reffing tonight’s game with Caden Fanshaw of Prince George. She often crosses paths with Nick Albinati, a BCHL/WHL referee now based in Vancouver, and has seen P.G. natives Josh Albinati and Ian Walker, who now live in Kelowna, make their mark as junior hockey officials. Her own officiating career began when she was 19 when Prince George referee-in-chief Tyler Garden asked her if she would be interested.
“I thought about it and I didn’t really want to because I wasn’t the nicest hockey player on the ice and (Garden) encouraged me to try it and I instantly fell in love with it,” Barlow said. “To me now what it means, it’s just providing safe and fair hockey, and as a player that’s all I wanted when I played, knowing the referee had my back.”
Barlow wants to take her officiating career as far as she can and will plans to continue climbing the ladder to the international and-or pro hockey levels. The American Hockey League has hired seven female referees and three female linesmen the 2021-22 season and Barlow eventually wants to follow that lead.
She hopes other girls will pursue their dreams in hockey as officials and says there’s no reason why they shouldn’t shoot for the stars. She offered this piece of advice for another aspiring BCHL female official.
“I probably would tell her she should have the confidence to do so, she deserves to be out there just like anyone else” said Barlow. “She has the capability to excel and to reach her dreams that she never thought she would reach as a player or coach or as another participant in the hockey game.
“My goal is to get into the IIHF and hopefully one day I can get to the Olympics. It’s a really long shot but it’s something I always wanted to do as a player and now knowing that dream is not going to become a reality I think it’s a good opportunity for me to get there as a referee and give back to the game.”
Barlow has also been assigned the Spruce Kings-Coquitlam Express game on Saturday at RMCA. Game time both days is 7 p.m. The Spruce Kings (8-5-0-0-0, fifth in the Interior Conference) are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Vipers (4-4-3-1-0, seventh in Interior) Wednesday in Vernon.
