Clare Howie, of Paradise, began officiating her favourite sport, hockey, at 13 years old. Now a decade later, she has officiated games at the major, university and even international level. She recently officiated U18 Women’s Division 3 Hockey Championships in Croatia. Clare made headlines two years ago as the first female official to referee St. John’s Junior Hockey League game and has continued to grow her career as an ice hockey official.
In this interview, Clare shares how she first got involved in officiating, the challenges and triumphs of being a female referee in a male-dominated sport, and the invaluable lessons she’s learned along the way. From a simple suggestion to try reffing as a teenager to earning her international officiating license, her story is a testament to resilience, determination, and love for the game.
SportNL: How did you get involved in officiating?
Clare Howie: I was already doing the clock just in CBS, me and my teammate at the time, were doing it, and she suggested that we should try reffing. Her brother was doing it. And she was like, he really enjoys it. He thinks it’s really cool. I said, yeah, sure, why not? I can get a little bit of extra pocket money from it too. I was playing already, and I loved the sport. I loved being involved in it, and it was just another way to be involved in hockey. But during the clock, you’re not physically on the ice, and that’s what I loved the most about hockey, is being on the ice and interacting with people and just playing the game. So officiating was a way to do that, just be on the ice and having fun.
SNL: At that time, were you seeing a lot of other kind of female refs out on the ice, or was this something that was new?
CH:: There were, I think, in my association at the time, two or three others female referees. I saw them reffing and I feel like it gave me the confidence to be like, okay, we can do this. It’s not out of the ordinary to have female officials but there wasn’t a lot.
I loved being part of a male dominated environment, and having the kind of power and the confidence to do this kind of this job in a male dominated sport and show that women belong here too.
SNL: Tell me a bit about your officiating career so far and how it led you to the U 18 Women’s Division 3 Hockey Championships in Croatia.
CH: It’s been a long journey so far. I started off in CBS, and then once Paradise had their own Association, I went over there, and then I was reffing minor hockey, triple A games at various levels. Soon I got invited to, like the Metro Association, where I officiated the high school games, major midget, and junior. I really got to see more like elevated games, more skilled playing, more skilled game, more intensity. And that got me to the Atlantic Challenge Cup in Moncton, where I met a ton of different people. I met the referee in chief for Hockey Canada and made a connection there. I got my level four here, which means to be a member of the high-performance program. With that, we got mentors, and I had a mentor named Theresa. I still have her, and she invited me to go to Ottawa for a bit after I had finished my undergrad. I was doing a bunch of hockey there. I was doing minor, but I was also able to be a referee for women’s hockey at the university level.
I then went to the UK for my Master’s program. I was kind of toying with the idea of should I ref in the UK? Will I even have the opportunity? I just had the idea to reach out to the Hockey Canada Referee in Chief and see if he had a connection. And he did. I had a chat with the Referee in Chief for UK and it was after that conversation I realized that I could do it.
It’s been great to earn a bit of pocket money doing what I love while I’m away at school. Here I’ve just been doing junior hockey, which is essentially minor hockey. I’ve been part of the Scottish National League. I’ve officiated a few games in the national division, and so I was doing that for just half the season. I absolutely loved it. I kept my bag here, kept my gear here, signed up for the following season. Just as the season was starting this this year, I got an email from my referee in chief saying you’ve been given your B license for international ice hockey, which opened so many doors. Soon after that I was told my name was being put forward to ref the 2025 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship in Croatia. If you asked me a year ago or two years ago, where do you think you’d be? This is not where I thought I would be, but it’s been crazy, and I’ve had countless opportunities, which I’m beyond grateful for, that have led me to getting this tournament in Croatia.
SNL: How was your experience as a referee in the International Ice Hockey Federation?
CH: It was truly a surreal experience. It didn’t feel real until I stepped in the rink. I thought, oh, my God, okay, this is, this is real. It was a very well-organized tournament; everything was put in place. We knew where we had to be, when we had to be, and it was just everything that I had hoped for and more that I could have wanted out of my first IIHF experience. The officials on my team were absolutely fantastic. We all clicked immediately, which is such a huge part in it, too. We had a supervisor who essentially was our coach, and we got so much feedback. He was just so eager to teach us and wanted us to develop. I’m just taking everything that I got from that experience and brought it with me, and I’m going to take it to my other games.
SNL: You said you started officiating when you were 13 years old. What was your experience as a young female official and would the sport benefit from other young female officials?
CH: My experience has been an absolute roller coaster. I think a lot of officials would say the same. There’s been a lot of ups, there’s been a lot of downs, I’ve connected with a lot of people, and I’ve had so many opportunities to be involved in the game and in a different way than playing. I loved playing, but this has taken me all over the world. It’s been crazy, but a lot of the ups will get you through the downs. I think a lot of female officials do have quite a few more challenges, but it’s the way we come out of it, and the way that we are so resilient and so determined to just be a part of something that we love.
Hockey needs more young officials in general but the more female officials the better, because it would just keep inspiring more females to join the game and that it’s normal to have female officials.
I think it’s important to have officials start young too. They just have a better understanding of the game, it increases their hockey IQ, and they can use it to their strength playing.
SNL: Is there anything you would want to say to young officials who might be a bit nervous to get started, or some things you maybe wish you knew when you were a young official?
CH: If you’re just thinking about it, should I start officiating? If hockey is something, or any sport, it doesn’t have to just be hockey, it can be any sport if it is what you truly love. Like I love hockey. I love everything about it. I love every aspect of it, do what you love and just get involved. If you’re a little bit nervous getting involved, bring a friend, bring a teammate. That’s what I did, and it was huge. It just helps you in the door, get past those little bits of nerves. Once you’re in there, you make friends immediately.
My advice is to just take every opportunity that you can ask all the questions, soak up the experience, enjoy the journey. I know my eagerness to learn has got me this far, and just any opportunity that is presented, take it and run with it and see how far you can go with it, and especially for young female officials.
But for any young official, don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do it or that you don’t belong there. I’ve been told numerous times that I don’t belong here. I shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. And I think it’s sad that we are faced with those challenges, but the way you can channel it and use it as fuel to keep driving you forward, to keep proving them wrong is huge. You come back stronger. You come back showing them that you do belong here, that you know we belong in this sport.
We, as female officials, belong here, and there’s no one that can tell you that you don’t belong here.
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