By Cami Kepke via Western Hockey League

Alexandra Clarke’s on-ice career has been filled with firsts.

She’ll continue to make history this week as she travels to Toronto as a linesperson for the PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase during NHL All-Star Thursday festivities.

“I was super excited,” Clarke said of the invite. “I wasn’t sure that I would even be considered because I’ve been transitioning to doing more head refereeing instead of lines and I’m going as a linesperson for this. I was really tickled that they considered me as a linesperson when I’m not actually working as a lines person in the PWHL. Just really grateful that they’re giving me the opportunity to work the event and really excited to be part of it.”

Clarke made history as the first female WHL linesperson when she worked a game between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Regina Pats in September of 2021 and quietly broke another barrier as she and Cianna Lieffers became the first women to referee a WHL game earlier this season.

The PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase will see 24 players from all six Professional Women’s Hockey League squads compete in a 20-minute game.

The formidable list of competitors features hockey heavyweights like Marie-Philip Poulin and Sarah Nurse- in fact, the players have won a combined 146 Olympic and 46 World Championship medals.

“The opportunity to be at an event of this caliber with athletes of this caliber, it really just makes me feel like I am at the same level as the top players in the world,” Clarke added. “To get to be a part of that and take all of that in on the same stage as those players is special, so I’m excited to be on the ice with them. I’m excited to to watch the male events from the stands and be able to experience it with my family is just going to be extra special.”

Clarke, who lives with her family just outside Weyburn, Sask., also works games in the newly-formed PWHL, AHL, U SPORTS and multiple junior leagues.

While it’s difficult to pick out a career highlight, she’s excited to have made her mark on the game- and hopes she’s helped to pave a path for other female officials.

“Between being the first female in the Western League, one of the first females in the American League and getting to go to the Olympics, I honestly have had such a great career that I can’t even pick a highlight at this point,” Clarke said. “To be able to be one of the first in many different leagues as a linesperson, as a referee…Hopefully, we’re setting everybody else up for success, all the other females up for success going forward. I feel grateful that I was able to be a part of that process.”