Welsh happy as one of NHL’s first female officials

BUFFALO, N.Y. >> Once the butterflies and adrenalin rush of officiating her first NHL prospects game subsided, Kirsten Welsh woke up Sept. 7 eager to get back on the ice again.

WhatevermiscuesWelsh made and hesitancy showed during her debut at the Buffalo Sabres prospects tournament a day earlier were overshadowed by howmuch she enjoyed the experience. There was also the realization shemight have a future as anNHL linesman— or is it lineswoman?

“I just think this is what I love. This iswhat I’ve always been about,” Welsh told The Associated Press by phone before preparing to officiate her second tournament game Sept. 7. “Having the opportunity to pursue this is just unbelievable. I can’t tell you how thankful I am.”

The 22-year- old from Toronto was, as she put it “thrown into the fire,” by working a game between Penguins and Bruins prospects. Aside from calling offside and icing and handling faceoffs, the 5-foot10 Welsh was unafraid to get in the middle of several post-whistle scrums.

“I think the guyswere kind of thrown off that a girl was rushing in there to break them up,” said Welsh, who completed a four-year college career playing defense at RobertMorris last season. “I got smushed in the boards yesterday, too. It’s fun. I just think it’s so great to be out there with them and being able to be on the ice with all these amazing athletes.”

Welsh has the potential of becoming a trailblazer in a role that’s been exclusively reserved formen at the NHL level until Sept. 6. That’s when the league announced Welshwas one of fourwomen selected for the first time to officiate the league’s various prospect tournaments held around the nation.

Welsh is joined by Katie Guay and Kelly Cooke, who were selected as referees to work tournaments in Anaheim, California, and Nashville, Tennessee. Kendall Hanley was assigned to work as a linesman at the Detroit Red Wings tournament in Traverse City, Michigan.

The four were chosen after being among 89 participants — 11 of them women — at the NHL’s annual officials scouting combine in Buffalo last month. And they become the first women assigned to work on the ice in a competitive NHL setting.

All four are considered candidates to eventually break the NHL’s officiating gender barrier, which has become a point of emphasis stressed by commissioner Gary Bettman and the league’s director of officiating Stephen Walkom.