MEET ALEX CLARKE!

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF!

My name is Alex Clarke – I am from Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada. I am 26 years old, work for Farm Credit Canada full time and have been involved in the hockey world since I was four or five years old! I played all my life through to four years at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN.

After graduating and moving home to Saskatchewan I felt lost without hockey. I got drafted by the Calgary Inferno in the CWHL, however was unable to attend due to a knee injury. At this point in my life, I was unsure how to keep hockey a part of my life as previously it was so closely tied with my identity I wasn’t sure who I was without it anymore. That fall, I decided to become an official and re-enter the game through the officiating world. This is my fifth season as an official and my goal is to work the 2022 Olympics as a linesman.

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BE A WHL BRAND AMBASSADOR?

I wanted to become a WHL ambassador as I recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and it has really opened my eyes to the inequality in women’s hockey and sport in general versus male sports. I want to advocate not only for female sport, but also for women returning to sport after becoming mothers. I think we are in a unique point in time where we can really change the way female sport is perceived and treated.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO AS A #WHLAMBASSADOR?

I am most looking forward to helping progress female sport as a #WHLAMBASSADOR I think it is extremely rewarding to be part of a group of women that all want to help progress the game together!

WHAT’S SOMETHING NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT YOU?

Something that not a lot of people know about me is that I compete in triathlons in the off season to help me stay in shape and avoid burnout!

If I could sit down and have dinner with one female hockey player, I would choose Shannon Szabados! I think that goaltenders have such a unique point of view on the ice and she is one female goaltender who has really advanced the female game with the level of male hockey she has played. I would love to hear more about her experience on male teams, as well as her national team experiences. From what I have seen, I also think she has a great personality and would be fun to sit down with!

The best advice I have ever been given in hockey pertains to both hockey and life. My college coach, Jackie MacMillan preached that “If you don’t believe you can do something, you can’t do it,” and thus a motto that stuck by me is to Act As If: Act as if I am confident in situations that I may not be confident in as acting this way will create confidence in myself, and without confidence on the ice, we are much more likely to underperform.

I find this translates so well into the rest of life as well because if we don’t have confidence in ourselves, nobody else will have confidence in us either. And if we truly don’t have confidence in ourselves, we must show that we do so others cannot tell our lack of confidence – this is particularly true as an official.