When most people think about Mexico, some of the things that come to mind are the beaches, ancient ruins, and cuisine.
But, what about hockey? Well, Prince George hockey official Grace Barlow recently returned from the Women’s World Division 2 Group A Championship in Mexico City earlier this month.
During an interview with Vista Radio, Barlow said it was a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience, going to a country that isn’t viewed as a hockey nation.
“It felt a little bit funny saying I was going to go to Mexico for hockey but it was a really great tournament and the hockey community there is small and it’s tight-knit. They ultimately did a good job of putting on the tournament with the resources they had.”
Some of the participating teams came from places like Iceland, Chinese Taipei, Mexico, and Spain with Latvia winning the tournament.
Barlow added officiating games while it was 31 degrees outside presented its fair share of challenges.
“The ice was pretty soft I won’t lie. The rink had some windows and glass doors – it was gorgeous outside at about 31 degrees but that meant the ice was only about 10 or 12 degrees. It was pretty warm, we were definitely sweating getting a workout in but it was fun to ref all those games.”
“It was a great venue, we had lots of people come out and watch – everyone was super excited to be there so it was really fun to be around everyone who is excited about the hockey.”
In addition, the unique experience was met with a new first.
“We had an earthquake so we had to evacuate during the game and had to an earthquake protocol so that was probably the most unique experience I have had at a hockey game for sure,” added Barlow.
In October of 2021, Barlow was part of an all-female officiating crew to ref a BCHL regular season game.
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