London, ON – The path of those involved in sport is very seldom, if ever the same for everyone. This is definitely the case for Mustangs Manager, Business Operations Vanessa Stratton.

While her day to day role within Western Sports & Recreation reaches many aspects of the operational model at the university, it's her roles in the world of hockey that are truly inspirational.

Her journey in sport started with competitive figure skating for several years until around 13 years of age, after her family moved to Windsor she decided one day that she was done with figure skating and wanted to switch to playing hockey. Starting the game at a later age than most (around 8^th grade), she went on to play high school level hockey. While some people in their teenage years get a part-time job in retail or the food industry, Stratton was urged by her father to look utilize her passion and talents on the ice into the world of officiating. Stratton's father Doug had an extensive career as a hockey official at many levels of hockey so the suggestion made sense. This part-time job would be the start of many things to come.

Stratton would officiate until she transitioned to attending university at Brock where she would also play for the Women's Hockey program. After 2 seasons at Brock, she once again decided to make a change and this time it was to get back on the ice but as an official.

After officiating at multiple levels including the OUA and junior hockey levels, she was challenged by a colleague with the question of "So what do you want to do with this?". A question that would challenge and motivate Stratton to look at what her future would include. Shortly after she would be invited to national level camps and training and soon was involved in many marquee events including the Ontario Winter Games & U18 Women's National Championship as an official and would often be selected for notable games at those events, because of her skills and demeanor on the ice.

Notable events Stratton worked as an official over a 20 year career includes 10 nationals championships, 7 IIHF World Championships, CIS (now U SPORTS) Championships and also the CWHL, including multiple Clarkson Cup final games. Her career was on a trajectory towards one of the biggest goals for many many athletes, the Olympics, the specific one Stratton was keying in on was the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. She was on the list of officials for selections to work the games, but unfortunately was among the last cuts from the event. To say she was disappointed would be an understatement and something she found difficult to even discuss for some time.

The decision would cause Stratton to step away from the game for over 6 months and left her feeling that "coming to the rink wasn't fun anymore."

Near the end of 2018, she was contacted by a colleague within the officiating community to inquire how she was feeling and once again had a new avenue in the game come about, this time to wonder if she was interested in switching things up and to move into coaching other officials.

This new avenue of her sporting career set off a plethora of additional opportunities beyond what Stratton ever had imagined. She started as a national level officiating coach which includes the selection, assessment & evaluation of hockey officials. "It's exactly like coaching a team but obviously our team changes for every game,". In 2019 Stratton went to the U18 National Championship to work with the officials there but the pandemic hit and shut things down. This proved to just be a brief blip on the radar as in late 2021 she got the opportunity to move to the next step which was the international level with the IIHF as an officiating coach at the 2022 IIHF Women's U18 World Championship.
 
Stratton is now among just 36 officiating coaches worldwide which has allowed her to "see the world" including stops in places such as China and Switzerland among many others.

Later in 2023, she took another step in her officiating career when she was elected to the IIHF Officiating Committee which is an even more exclusive group which has only 4 members and she is the lone female representative within the group. This committee oversees the development of hockey officials worldwide.

The irony of this new role as an IIHF Officiating Coach is that she is now in line to potentially be on the path to the Olympics again as she is in consideration for the team that would coach the officials for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.

 "While I couldn't talk about what happened in 2018 for a long time, I wouldn't be where I am today if that didn't happen," said Stratton.

Stratton prides herself on always trying to be a great teammate, whether that's at the provincial level with BC Hockey (High Performance Female Officiating Lead) or the national or international level or in her role at Western.

"I am supported so well by our leadership in Sports & Recreation and our entire team here," said Stratton "While my role might be different than some of our coaches, my outside role is similar to what some of my colleagues are doing outside of Western and I appreciate that I get that same level of understanding and flexibility for my officiating role,".

It just goes to show that no matter where you start or what happens along the way, dedication and determination along with a great mindset can take you into some amazing places in the world of sport.