On October 8th, history was made when Jessica Campbell became the first woman in National Hockey League (NHL) history to sit behind the bench as an assistant coach (CNN). In July, she officially signed with the Seattle Kraken, a prominent NHL team, for the upcoming 2024-2025 season. She sat behind the bench for their home opener against the St. Louis Blues which they ended by losing 3-2—but it was a day that will go down in hockey history. Jessica attended Cornell University for four years playing ice hockey, and according to the Olympic Webpage, Jessica played professionally for several years for the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. She represented the Canadian team in the 2015 World Championship where they won silver. She coached the Coachella Valley Firebirds, located in California, and reached the Calder Cup finals, the award given to playoff champions of the American Hockey League. Additionally, she helped coach the Germany Men’s International Hockey team. Her resume is very impressive, so there is no doubt that Seattle hired her for her talents.
As great of an accomplishment as this is, it certainly did not happen overnight. She worked extremely hard to get where she is, particularly because of the lack of women in the NHL. However, it is clear that the Seattle Kraken team respects her and her ideas because their power plays have already improved. Jessica oversees the offense and skill roles for the team, which will be beneficial for the franchise.
Jessica always dreamed of reaching the NHL, and in an ESPN interview she says, “I imagined and dreamed of playing in the NHL because there was no professional women’s league as a young girl and I thought I was going to play in the NHL because I was playing with the boys.” When she was younger, she had not known that it would not be possible for a woman to play in the NHL. However, what she could not have known was that she had the opportunity to be instrumental in the league, just not as a player. Despite being under constant scrutiny and pressure, the tattoo on her right hand serves as a source of support. It is a Finnish word that means “to be at the heart of something”. She looks at it daily and this tattoo keeps her “grounded”. Facing adversity can be daunting, especially being a woman presented in the NHL to the eyes of millions of viewers.
Jessica has also been a longtime member of the NHL Coaches’ Association’s Female Coaches Program, which supports female coaches through career advancements, strategies for leadership, networking, and more. The organization has been running for over five years now and has 100 women involved— the largest membership in the program’s history. Just this year, there were 34 new additions to the program.
It is clear that Jessica has worked hard to get where she is now. She has already made huge strides for women in the NHL as she begins to set examples for young girls who want to work in what are often very male-dominated sports. Alongside her, people like Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever WNBA player) and Angel Reese (Sky Chicago WNBA player) have shaped the future of the women’s professional basketball league, as the league continues to grow in popularity. Jessica Campbell holds the torch that shines bright for the future of women working in professional sports leagues.
Sources:
- https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/42071914/nhl-2024-25-jessica-campbell-seattle-kraken-female-coach-history
- https://olympics.com/en/news/ice-hockey-jessica-campbell-first-female-coach-nhl
- https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/08/sport/jessica-campbell-history-female-coach-nhl-spt-intl/index.html
- http://www.ramaponews.com/2024/11/14/jessica-campbell-breaks-social-norms-in-her-position-with-the-seattle-kraken/
- https://www.nhl.com/news/jessica-campbell-set-to-become-first-woman-to-coach-in-nhl-with-seattle
