Jessica Campbell honoured to 'carry the torch' for women as NHL's first female assistant coach
Saskatchewan's Campbell, 32, wins behind-the-bench role with Seattle Kraken
Growing up in the heart of the Prairies, Jessica Campbell was embedded in a family where hockey runs deep. Her mother, father and three siblings all played the game at various levels — from outdoor rinks to collegiate to the junior leagues.
Campbell, 32, has come to make history. She was hired Wednesday as an assistant coach for the Seattle Kraken, becoming the first woman ever to hold an on-the-bench role as an assistant or associate coach in the NHL.
"It's obviously really special being in this position. I'm extremely excited," said Campbell, speaking in an interview Friday from her hometown of Rocanville, Sask.
"I know there is a long list of other remarkable women that are in the industry or in the same position as me with the same passion and goals, so I just feel very fortunate to carry the torch behind the bench.
"I've always kept my focus on the work, and the meaning behind the work is that much more special knowing that, potentially, more opportunities could come for others as a result of it."
From player to coach
Campbell's father, Gary, grew up playing hockey, while her mother and sister, Monique and Gina, both laced up for the University of Saskatchewan.
One of her brothers, Dion, played for the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Yorkton Terriers and collegiately at the University of New Brunswick. Her eldest brother, Josh, was also playing for the Terriers when he was killed in a vehicle crash on Oct. 11, 2002. He was 18 and Jessica was 10.
Jessica adopted her brother's jersey, No. 8, and dominated the boys' leagues. From a young age, she set her sights on the NHL.
"Looking back, I was raised in a locker room with a bunch of boys and I never thought anything different," she said in an interview with CBC News Network.
"I credit my minor-league coach, Leo Parker, who treated me as just one of the boys. I think he instilled a belief in me at a young age that I could do anything that they were doing."
Campbell became a decorated player with Cornell University's NCAA. She also played in the Canadian Women's Hockey League and Canada's women's national team, with whom she won silver at the 2015 world championship.
With the exception of a short stint with Sweden's Malmö Redhawks in 2019-20, she hung up her skates in 2017.
Launching her own coaching company, JC Powerskating, proved pivotal in the next stage of her hockey career. Business took off as senior NHL players — like Shea Weber, Brent Seabrook and Mathew Barzal — looked for ways to stay sharp during training shutdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Campbell was highly regarded as a skating coach by the time she joined the American Hockey League's Coachella Valley Firebirds in 2022, becoming that league's first female full-time assistant coach.
"She just approaches it with confidence and commitment and a passion," said Doug Derraugh, who coached Campbell at Cornell University and on the Canadian national team.
"Gender is going to become irrelevant and it's just, 'Who's the best person for the job?'"
She briefly worked as an assistant coach for Germany during the 2022 IIHF World Championships and had a one-game stint as an assistant on the Kraken bench for a pre-season game against Calgary last September.
The franchise was drawn to her evident coaching abilities. Head coach Dan Bylsma cited Campbell's work in developing the likes of Ryker Evans, Shane Wright and Tye Kartye — all important players for the Kraken moving forward — while at Coachella Valley as part of the reason he wanted to bring her to Seattle.
"Tye Kartye did the work. It's all on Tye, but it's with Jessica's guidance. She's grown, she's demonstrated that over the last two years, so it makes me eager for her to get a chance to do it at the NHL level," Bylsma said.
Campbell attributed her coaching success to her fluency in the game's universal language — one rooted in the pursuit of excellence and a love for the sport.
"Ultimately, at the end of the day, a coach is just meant to serve ... and guide the player and [their] needs," she said. "I want to get in the trenches with them and get to work to help them unlock every potential that they have yet to tap into."
The NHL is the last of the major North American sports leagues to see a woman behind the bench, left behind by the NBA, NFL and MLB. Emily Engel-Natzke became the first woman with a full-time coaching role in the NHL when she was hired by the Washington Capitals as a video coach in 2022, but Campbell is the first woman in her position.
She didn't see this path for herself only because, without an example to emulate, she didn't know it was an option. Campbell hopes her influence will open doors for the next generation of athletes, whether it be in hockey or any other sport.
"I never picked this myself, but I did believe that I could do hard things, I could break down challenges in front of me," she said.
"[My advice would be] surrounding yourself with good people and keeping your dreams as big as they possibly can be and never letting yourself build any barriers. Those are the challenges we often face: the ones that we put in front of ourselves."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from The Associated Press