On July 3rd, 2024, Jessica Campbell made history as the first female assistant coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). She made her debut as the Seattle Kraken’s assistant coach on October 8th, 2024, making history as the first female coach to be behind the bench.
Playing career
Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, Campbell grew up in a huge hockey environment. Her mother played hockey at the University of Saskatchewan and her father was also a former hockey player. Her parents passed on the playing genes down to their four children, Jessica being the youngest.
The Saskatchewan born coach represented Team Canada in many U-18 tournaments winning silver and gold medals, as well as MVP honors all before the age of 18. In 2014 and 2015, she played on the Senior National Team winning a gold medal at the 4 Nations Cup in 2014 and silver medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship.
Her collegiate career led her to play for Cornell University on the women’s ice hockey team. From 2010-2014, Campbell served as a forward helping the Cornell Big Red reach the NCAA Frozen Four as a Freshman and even captaining the team her senior year.
After college, she played three seasons in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) for the Calgary Inferno, where she made her mark as an All-Star Game Captain her rookie year, humanitarian, and helped the team capture its first Clarkson Cup. She also has a playing stint in Swedish for the Malmo Redhawks in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).
Making History
Her role as an NHL assistant coach was not something unexpected, it was a job that was earned.
After her retirement from professional hockey in 2017, she began coaching high school girls’ hockey and soon after launched her own coaching business, JC Powerskating.
In 2021, she was an assistant coach for the Nürnberg Ice Tigers (DEL) in Germany and for the German national team where was the first woman to coach at the men’s world championship.
In 2022, Campbell was hired as the assistant coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the minor league American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Seattle Kraken. Again, marking her as the first woman to be an assistant coach in the AHL on a behind-the-bench day-to-day basis.
Jessica’s impact
In a massively male dominated field, Jessica Campbell proves that women belong in male sports.
She is single handedly paving the way for many women who aspire to work in not only sports but in roles that have prehistorically been filled with men.
Her impact can also be reflected through the creation and expansion of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), which started as a six team league and has now turned into a eight league team with more teams on the way. Her influence in the NHL has helped spark interest and awareness for women’s hockey.
As a woman who is aspiring to work in sports, I am very inspired by what Jessica has accomplished so far and how she has carried herself throughout the whole process. Her confidence is unmatched and her presence on the ice is a force to be reckoned with.
She is only the first of many who will follow in her footsteps and I truly cannot wait to see her become a head coach of an NHL team one day.