BREAKING: Seattle Kraken Hire The First Woman Coach In NHL History
The Seattle Kraken have made a historic move in hiring Jessica Campbell as the assistant coach of the Kraken. She becomes the first woman in NHL history to be behind the bench as a coach.
Campbell, from Moosomin, Saskatchewan, has quite a hockey background. She was a part of two U-18 World Juniors teams for Team Canada in 2009 and 2010 while also dawning the captaincy in 2010 for Canada.
In the ten games she played for Team Canada from 2009 to 2010, she accumulated 24 points and helped her team make the gold medal game in back-to-back years. After falling short of the gold in 2009, she and her team stormed back in 2010 and won it all to grab their first-ever WJC gold medal. She also led all skaters in points in 2010 with 15 points in 5 games.
After her WJC stint, she went to the United States to play for Cornell University's NCAA Women's hockey team. Her four years at Cornell were well spent as she tallied 46 goals and 54 assists for 100 points in 131 games for Big Red. Campbell also wore the "C" in her senior year for the Bears.
After her playing career, she got right into coaching, becoming the assistant coach for her high school's Pursuit Of Excellence. She coached in the Canadian High School league for a couple of years before moving on to the Malmo Redhawks of the Swedish Hockey League in 2020 as a skating coach.
Campbell stayed with Malmo for only one year before becoming the President of Hockey Ops for the Women's AAA 14u Windy City Storm in 2021. That same year, she also became a skills coach and assistant coach for the Nurnberg Ice Tigers of the DEL in Germany.
Campbell would then be called to the AHL as an assistant coach for the Coachella Firebirds, the minor league team of the Seattle Kraken. Firebirds director of business and hockey ops Troy Brodie was very impressed with her impact on the players.
In an article from ESPN, Brodie said, "Before practices, she'd have half-hour skill sessions that would have 90% participation," Bodie said. "I was shocked because there's usually never that much participation for an optional skills practice."
Kraken GM Ron Francis has nothing but praise for Campbell, saying, "She runs the power play, works with the forwards, and works with everybody on helping improve their skating, their skill development and, as Dan (Bylsma) said, both her and Stu Bickel have been a big part of their success down there for the Firebirds."
In an article from The Seattle Times, Campbell talks about her experience with hockey and her mindset going into her new job.
“I grew up as a young player dreaming of playing in the NHL because that’s all I knew," said Cambell. "That’s all I’d seen. I never imagined being able to coach at this level."
“For me, that’s what it’s about — putting my head down and doing the work. Where it takes me, it takes me.
Campbell also believes that “respect is always earned. It’s never a given, and I try to approach the players and the game respectfully. And I hope that they respect me back.”
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