Groundbreaking NHL coach Jessica Campbell on the doubters: “I just chose to not listen”
The 32-year-old Seattle Kraken coach on breaking barriers and making history
Ice Hockey
Seattle Kraken assistant coach Jessica Campbell dreamed of playing in the NHL.
This month, she made history as the first woman behind the bench on opening night in NHL history.
It’s a groundbreaking feat, one that the 33-year-old says comes from her childhood goals.
"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," Campbell told ESPN. "Little did I know what wasn't possible. But I believed it was possible."
Campbell’s rise didn’t happen overnight, of course.
On the ice, the Canadian represented her nation, including at the 2015 World Championships, where the squad took silver. Campbell also spent several years playing professionally, in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League with the Calgary Inferno and in Sweden’s Damettan as part of the Malmo Redhawks.
As a coach, she’s previously broken barriers as the first woman to hold the role in the AHL when she coached for the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Campbell admits the road hasn’t always been smooth as ice, but that hasn’t kept her down.
“[People] said, 'I hate to say this, but our team would never hire a female. It wouldn't happen.' I heard that along the way,” she recalled. “I guess I just chose to not listen to it. I knew the only way I would get to this level is to do it on my own.”