Lace up your skates and hit the ice—it’s hockey season! From October through next June, the 32 teams of the National Hockey League (NHL) compete to become league champions and take home the Stanley Cup.
Before it even started, this hockey season made history. In July, the Seattle Kraken appointed Jessica Campbell to join their coaching team. She’s the first full-time female coach in more than 100 years of NHL history. All the players—and all the other coaches—in the league are men.
Campbell is no stranger to breaking barriers. As a kid in Canada’s Saskatchewan province, she fought to play hockey on boys’ teams. Her skills landed her a spot on Canada’s national women’s team. After retiring as a player, Campbell started coaching. In 2021, she became the first female assistant coach for the German national men’s hockey team.
Campbell hopes her career will open doors for other women. “In the hockey industry, there’s so many remarkable women,” she says. “I’m fortunate to do my part behind the bench.”