Jackie Jarrell has found another new avenue in hockey and it's taken her to large heights.

Recently, the Belleville native signed a contract with the NHL to be a consultant in the league's officiating department this season.

Though she has not had the chance to officiate between her playing career and her Gold Performance training business, Jarrell, 37, said she has been working for the last few years with officiating departments across multiple and going to different events, such as combines and training camps to work with up-and-coming referees and lines officials.

"They decided to promote me to a consultant position as they want me to be more involved in their department with both on and off-ice testing and training programs," she explained.

With her background in high-performance training, Jarrell said she will be working with young and veteran officials to keep their fitness levels up to the level of game speed. She will also be helping to implement new technology, with some remote and in-person work.

Jarrell said she was thrilled and honoured to take an opportunity that she felt she couldn't pass on.

"I'm very rooted in my community and I'm very close with my family, so I want to be in this area," she said.

"For me, this is the perfect position. I'm going to be on the road and I have things that I'm going to be doing, but I'm not going to be having to move away from this area so I can continue running my business and working with the high-end athletes in the Quinte area."

She said she always wanted to be involved in the sport even if she wasn't playing and officiating has become the latest element to her career along with running her business.

One big opportunity she has had is working with the Ontario Hockey League and their officials for the last few years.

This past weekend, Jarrell helped to organize and coordinate the OHL Officiating Training Camp in Belleville, bringing 85 people in from across North America for an intense developmental experience similar to the NHL's ahead of the upcoming season.

Prior to that, she played a big role in bringing the league's officiating combine to the Freindly City back in June.

Jarrell's goal is to get more women involved in the sport, saying the progress made with the recent blitz of coaches, general managers, officials and more has been "long overdue."

She pointed to Kirsten Welsh in particular as a barrier-breaker, becoming one of the first women to work on the lines in the American Hockey League last season.

"These women have unbelievable resumes and they're so deserving of these coaching positions and these opportunities, and they work just as hard as a man," she asserted. "It's so nice to see that they're finally starting to be recognized for positions that they have been so deserving of for many years."

Jarrell was a standout player for the Belleville Bearcats, Belleville Bobcats and Quinte Red Devils, before heading off to play women's junior hockey with the Durham Lightning.

She then went on to four solid years at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, getting her Master's Degree in Exercise Science, and made several appearances on Canada's World Inline Hockey Championship squad.

Since opening her Gold Performance Training facility on Blessington Rd. in 2015, she has worked with players at the AAA, AA, OHL, OJHL, PJHL, CWHL, and NCAA levels.

When asked about how she finds time to balance all of her different hats, Jarrell said she digs into her dairy farm-raised background for inspiration.

"Being a hard worker was a staple and I've done that ever since I was a little girl," she said.

"Even growing up being a girl playing on the boys team, I couldn't be as good as the boys, I had to be better than most."

She said that focus will help her in the future with managing time and ensuring all her clients reach the highest possible performance grade.