At the age of 11 when Evonne (Young) Fix first stepped on the ice to referee a hockey game, she was just looking for a way to get more ice time - and help out at her little brother’s hockey games. Forty years later, officiating has taken her around the world and opened doors for her and female officials at all levels of hockey.
After officiating for her brother’s games in Litchfield for a year, she became a registered official with the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States – now USA Hockey – and the rest is history. After high school, Fix started college at St. Cloud State University, and before long she was officiating high school boys’ hockey games. She has since been selected to work multiple state high school tournaments, including the first Minnesota State High School League Girls’ State Tournament in 1995.
In 1994, Fix was recruited by the International Ice Hockey Federation to work international games, starting with the 1994 Women’s World Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. From there she earned a spot as an official at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan – the first year that women’s hockey was included in the Olympics. She was on the ice for the bronze medal game that year.
She has also officiated at all levels of collegiate hockey including the WCHA, MIAC, and the WIAC, and worked as a Division I official for more than 10 years. In that time, she officiated two NCAA Women’s Frozen Fours, including the 2001 inaugural tournament at Mariucci Arena.
Fix started refereeing para ice hockey - also known as sled hockey - in 2016. She continues to work with World Para Ice Hockey to promote getting more women involved in officiating the para games so that young girls can see women in the rink as players, coaches, and officials. In August 2022, Fix and was part of the first-ever all-women’s officiating crew at a World Para Ice Hockey event in Green Bay, Wis.
In addition to her time as a referee, Fix has also spent countless hours serving as an instructor and a mentor to up and coming officials. Since instructing at the first USA Hockey Officials Camp for Women in 1994, she’s instructed at three US Women’s National Camps, two USA Hockey District Officiating Seminars, and numerous seminars in Minnesota. She was also instrumental in developing the Minnesota Hockey Officials Association’s Women’s Camp.
45 years after she put on skates for the first time and 40 years since she first started officiating, Fix continues to referee in her home district for youth and college hockey games, as well as international para ice hockey. She works tirelessly to continue to train rising female officials so that girls and women can reach their officiating goals and make a career of their passion, just like Evonne Fix.