'This is really special': Mother-daughter ref duo hopes to inspire others

Shelley and Chiara Knowlton reffing a USport Canada West game on Oct. 26, 2024. (Shelley Knowlton)

Hockey is Canada's national pastime and it needs a few things to work: players, a rink and referees.

Canada has tens of thousands of registered hockey officials, both referees and linesmen.

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"Officiating is a hard job - you have to make a call on the ice very quickly and you know half the people aren't going to like it," said referee Shelley Knowlton.

"No matter how popular the decision is, you have to do the right thing."

Knowlton grew up playing hockey and started reffing because of how much time she spent in the penalty box.

"I grew up playing boys hockey in St. Albert, and then at Bantam, which was U15, they didn't let girls play, so I switched to a ladies league, and going from boys hockey to ladies I spent a lot of time in the penalty box and I complained all the time," Shelley said.

"One ref said there was a clinic on the following weekend, if I thought I could do better, sign up," she added. "I did and I've been reffing ever since that, about 27 years ago."

Knowlton's time as a referee inspired all three of her children to officiate as well, and now she gets to ref games with her daughter Chiara Knowlton.

"This is really special, that this gets to happen," said Chiara.

According to Statista, Canada had more than 30,000 registered hockey officials in the 2019-2020 season, but only 2,551 were women.

"In the beginning, there was a lot of, 'Oh, there's a girl out here,' or you make a call and it's like, 'This is not ringette,'" Shelley said.

"Not a lot of acceptance from some coaches and players, but certainly over the years, the game has progressed, female hockey has really grown, so it's certainly becoming more inclusive and more accepted, and a lot more female officials are out there."

Hockey Alberta has programs aimed to get more women into officiating positions.

"I teach clinics for Hockey Alberta and I always tell the girls, 'You have to be twice as good to be considered equal,' and that's starting to change, which is a good thing, but certainly, 15-20 years ago, that's how it had to be," Shelley said.

The two referee in multiple leagues with Hockey Alberta and Hockey Canada, including Female USport, Female ACAC and minor hockey, U18 and down, for boys and girls leagues.

"It's cool when people come up and tell me, 'Oh, my daughter watched you and she wants to start reffing,' Chiara added.

"That was kind of like me when I was younger, watching my mom and some of the other women who were able to mentor me along the way."

Working on the ice with family is something they both enjoy, but has had its challenges.

"It can be more difficult sometimes than others, because there's definitely times, even when we go to the rink, we're already in the midst of an argument," Chiara said. "It can be hard to just drop it, but especially kind of as I get older, it's definitely been a little bit easier.

"We're very similar on the ice, and she's very easy to work with, because I kind of already know what she's going to do or what she kind of expects versus with other partners."

Chiara hopes to continue reffing and make it as a full-time professional on the ice. A goal that her mom is proud of and hopes to see her daughter succeed at.

"We joke that she's my succession plan, and now that she's here … yeah, I'm not going to retire," Shelley said.

"Maybe she'll have kids one day and maybe I'll still be around to ref with them."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti