📝 by Patrick Williams
Game 1 – COACHELLA VALLEY 5, Hershey 0 |
HERSHEY, Pa. … Jessica Campbell is checking off plenty of firsts this season.
First assistant coach for the Coachella Valley Firebirds. First female assistant coach in the American Hockey League. First AHL season.
Campbell, who turns 31 on June 24, has been doing a lot of trailblazing.
Last season she became the first female coach in the history of the IIHF Men’s World Championship tournament, serving as an assistant with Germany. She had been an assistant and skills coach with the Deutsche Eishockey Liga’s Nürnberg Ice Tigers. All of that behind-the-bench work followed a standout playing career, first at Cornell University and later with the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. She also launched her own business, JC Powerskating, where she works with a variety of skill levels, including pro, in Kelowna, B.C.
Here’s another first: this spring Campbell is experiencing everything that comes with Calder Cup Playoff hockey, the highs and the lows.
The women’s game, both collegiate and pro, does not feature extended playoff formats like the AHL’s. But Campbell and the Firebirds have been playing postseason hockey for two months, and sit two wins away from a Calder Cup championship.
“It’s been a journey,” Campbell said. “I think the playoffs, it’s felt like a whole season in itself. The guys have shown up every day, approached every day with ‘one day at a time, one game, one practice,’ and it’s been that message all season long.
“It’s never been perfect. We don’t expect it to ever be perfect. But we’re trying to step toward our identity every single night, and they’ve brought that, so it’s fun to see as a coach.”
When it comes to hockey, passion is transcendent.
“I mean, you feel it all, right?” Campbell continued. “You show up to the rink and you check in, and when you check out, sometimes that’s at midnight, and you do it all again the next day. Your love for what you do, that’s really what fuels the adrenaline at this point. I’ve realized playing hockey in June — though it feels very odd and is a first for me, for sure — it’s the best time to be playing. It means you’ve succeeded all year.”
When the parent Seattle Kraken were building out the expansion Coachella Valley operation, they first put head coach Dan Bylsma in place. Bylsma has spent 12 seasons in the NHL as a coach, and was a Stanley Cup champion and a Jack Adams Award winner with the Pittsburgh Penguins. With only two classes of National Hockey League draft picks at their disposal so far, the organization largely relied on bringing in free agents to construct the 2022-23 Firebirds roster.
The 52-year-old Bylsma has stated repeatedly that having an up-and-coming coach like Campbell to work with has kept him feeling young, and he has given Campbell plenty of responsibilities. That portfolio has included a large role helping to manage the power play, which has gone 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) against Hershey through four games of the Finals.
She also complements fellow assistant coach Stu Bickel, a former AHL defenseman.
“What drew me to Jess [is she is] young, energetic,” Bylsma outlined. “They want to do anything they possibly can to help the players, coach the players, and give them the tools. The journey of our team coincides with the journey of Jessica and Stu and their coaching ways, coaching ability, and coaching careers. I wanted coaches that pushed me in my regard. I’m trying to help them along, but they’re really helping me along in my journey.”
The opportunity intrigued Campbell. The AHL, after all, is centered around development. Take raw talent, work with it, and shape it into an NHL-ready player. Fulfill that mission often and successfully enough, and the pieces of an NHL contender will move into place. With Campbell’s playing background as well as her work teaching the intricacies on the skating and skill side, the fit made sense for both her and the Seattle organization.
“Looking at the American Hockey League, I knew the development focus and being the top development league in the world,” Campbell said. “It really excited me knowing that young prospects, veterans, all continue to get better and work on their game and focus on reaching for another step. The compete, the level of skill, the level of ability and experience, it’s something really special. It is a very special league.
“Now that I’m in it, I’ve realized how close it really emulates the National Hockey League schedule and demands.”
But like any coach new to a team, Campbell also had to step in front of those players for the first time and sell her message. She saw it, Bylsma saw it, and so did the Coachella Valley dressing room. That confidence even extended to training camp last fall with Seattle.
“I got the sense of the respect that she had from the players she’d worked with in the past,” Bylsma said. “Their indication to me was the respect they had for her as a coach and what she’s trying to do, the message she’s trying to give them, and that was immediate from day one — even in training camp with the NHL team.
“She has the respect from the players because she has knowledge and ability to offer them. And that was evident really before she opened her mouth.”
Rookie sniper Tye Kartye was among the Firebirds who has worked closely with Campbell through this long season. Skating is a key focus to enable Kartye to break through with Seattle into a full-time role, and that is Campbell’s specialty. The work has paid off for both the Firebirds and Kartye, who was named the AHL rookie of the year and went on to play 10 Stanley Cup Playoff contests with the Kraken before returning to the Firebirds for the rest of this playoff journey.
“She’s been great for me,” Kartye said. “Whenever I want to do something, I let her know. She pulls me to the side. We try to get it done, and she’s always there to help.”
Campbell has worked to let her knowledge and skill speak for her. By the time she was 30, after all, she had started her own business and been hired by an NHL organization, among many other accomplishments.
“I think with any team, with any new job, respect is always earned,” Campbell stressed. “It’s never given — at least that’s what I’ve always felt and expected of myself. But for me, my confidence in my ability as a coach came from setting off on my own to start my own business and working with pros on my own. I had to figure that out, what separated me. And my passion comes through, and my speaking, my presenting for the game, for the guys and their development.
“Passion usually speaks loudest, and I love what I do.”
TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams has been on the American Hockey League beat for nearly two decades for outlets including NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, The Hockey News, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and SLAM! Sports, and was most recently the co-host of The Hockey News On The ‘A’ podcast. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
