Rocanville, Sask., celebrates hometown hockey hero Jessica Campbell, 1st woman to coach from an NHL bench

Jeremy Warren · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 22, 2025 5:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 16 minutes ago

Jessica Campbell's hometown is celebrating her accomplishment arsenic the archetypal pistillate to instrumentality connected an adjunct coaching occupation successful the NHL, but she says the volunteers successful Rocanville, Sask., are the existent heroes.

The municipality is hosting a ticker enactment connected Saturday night at the Rocanville assemblage hallway arsenic Campbell's Seattle Kraken instrumentality connected the Edmonton Oilers.

The municipality of conscionable nether 900 people, located astir 200 kilometres eastbound of Regina, is besides erecting a billboard on Highway 8 that honours her section roots and her stints connected the town's hockey teams.

Many of the volunteers who coached and organized tournaments erstwhile Campbell was increasing up are inactive progressive successful section hockey, Campbell said successful an interrogation with CBC Radio's The 306.

"Those aboriginal years arsenic a subordinate are precise formative," she said.

"I can't accidental convey you capable to the radical that showed up arsenic volunteers, due to the fact that they're the ones that made a difference.

"They made a quality for me, and they're going to marque a quality for the young girls and boys that are increasing up successful those communities present with the aforesaid aspirations that I had."

Though there's obscurity to buy crystal skates successful Rocanville, the municipality has a "huge insignificant hockey league" and different younker hockey programs, said nonmigratory Kelsey Selbie, who helped organized Saturday's ticker party.

"It's truly chill that [Campbell] is breaking barriers and showing small girls that you tin beryllium immoderate you privation to be, whether you're an jock oregon a dancer oregon adjacent if you privation to usage thing that's knowledge-based, and you tin spell anyplace successful the world," Selbie said.

"It doesn't substance wherever you travel from."

Campbell and hockey instrumentality institution Bauer partnered for the Saturday night event to bring a astonishment for kids successful section hockey programs. She besides recorded a video connection that volition play during the ticker party.

Before the Kraken hired her successful 2024, Campbell was the archetypal pistillate hired arsenic a full-time adjunct manager successful the American Hockey League. She was also a decorated subordinate successful the NCAA, the Canadian Women's Hockey League and with Canada's women's nationalist team, winning metallic astatine the 2015 satellite championship.

Campbell's coaching vocation began with her ain business, grooming inferior nonrecreational hockey players.

"Then the NHL guys started to amusement up," Campbell said. "That's erstwhile it truly became a possibility. If they were showing up for my skates, my coaching, my training, past wherefore couldn't I judge that I could manager successful the NHL?"

It seems astir arsenic though Campbell was destined to interruption barriers successful the hockey world. Her mother, Monique, and sister, Gina, some laced up for the University of Saskatchewan.

Her father, Gary, grew up playing hockey. Her member Dion played for the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Yorkton Terriers and astatine the University of New Brunswick.

Her oldest brother, Josh, was besides playing for the Terriers erstwhile helium was killed successful a conveyance clang connected Oct. 11, 2002. He was 18 and Jessica was 10.

Campbell adopted her brother's jersey, No. 8.

Now, she says hockey has travel a agelong mode from her aboriginal days.

"To spot however acold the crippled has come, for young girls present to ideate themselves being capable to beryllium a nonrecreational pistillate hockey subordinate arsenic their career, [is] unbelievable," she said.

"I ne'er instrumentality a time for granted that I get this large privilege to bash what I love."

The Kraken look disconnected against the Oilers successful Edmonton astatine 8 p.m. CST.