As a whistle blower in hockey and in her studies as a UBC dental student, Grace Barlow knows the drill, and she’s working her way to the top of the class in both her chosen professions.
Heading into her final semester of dentistry, the 25-year-old already has a job waiting for her in her Prince George hometown and she intends to start practicing her profession at Lakewood Dental sometime this spring.
A little less certain is where her immediate future lies as a hockey referee.
On Saturday, Barlow will be in Toronto for her audition in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. She’s been assigned as one of the referees for the Toronto-Ottawa game at Mattamy Athletic Centre, site of the former Maple Leaf Gardens.
She’s also scheduled to work another game in Toronto on Feb. 3. Depending on how she performs in those games could mean there's more pro hockey in store for this season.
“It is something new and it’s super exciting,” said Barlow.
“I’ve been doing a lot of U SPORT hockey and did Premier Hockey Federation while it was still around. Getting to step in a work with these players that have done the Olympics and world championships, it’s an honour to be around them and I’m excited to be there.”
Overseen by the NHL, the PWHL is an amalgamation of players from the now-defunct National Women’s Hockey League, which had been rebranded as the Premier Hockey Federation in 2021. PWHL teams are based in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Minneapolis-St. Paul , Boston and New York.
The league opened its season Jan. 1 and each team will play a 24-game schedule.
Now in her sixth year as an official, Barlow is busy balancing her dental training with working games on weekends and evenings, and there’s an abundance of leagues wanting her services.
In October 2021, she made hockey history as one of the referees in an all-female officiating crew that worked a B.C. Hockey League game in Surrey. She can no longer work BCHL games because the league pulled out of Hockey Canada last summer but there are plenty of junior B, university and rep hockey games in the Lower Mainland to keep her occupied.
“It’s a fast-paced city with lots of hockey and I’ve had incredible support from all of the integrated hockey supervisors, I’ve been supported all the way through,” said Barlow.
She got a taste of international hockey in April when she donned the stripes as a referee in the IIHF women’s Division 2, Group A world championship in Mexico City. The five-team event included teams from Mexico, Latvia, Iceland, Chinese-Tapei and Spain.
She has been invited to officiate the 2024 Division 1 Group B world championship, March 31-April 6 in Riga, Latvia.
“It’s based on experience, based on skill and I get to work with the best female officials in the world,” said Barlow. “I get to compete with them as teammates and compete with them as friends and I’m in a great spot as far as development.”
The on-ice officials have already been chosen for the 2026 Olympics in Italy but Barlow is keeping 2030 in focus as her ultimate goal.
Like the players, officials have to adjust to the level of play to keep up to the game and that requires exceptional fitness, a quick-thinking mind and the requisite thick skin all on-ice officials need to tune out the catcalls from the crowd.
“It’s fast, it’s different, you’ve got to keep your head on a swivel, some of the best hockey players in the world are out there with you, the fastest hockey in the world and it’s exciting just to be out there trying to make sure I ref the game properly,” Barlow said.
