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Will Jessica Campbell Be 1st Woman Behind an NHL Bench? All You Need To Know After Seattle Kraken’s Historic Hiring
On Wednesday, Jessica Campbell became the NHL's full-time assistant coach, making history for the second time after smashing the glass ceiling in the AHL.
![Jessica Campbell [Credit-Instagram@soupy08]](https://www.pinkvilla.com/images/2024-07/819830657__jessica-campbell-credit-instagramsoupy08.jpg "Jessica Campbell [Credit-Instagram@soupy08]")
Jessica Campbell will soon be the first woman to serve full-time as an assistant coach for an NHL team. She made history when the Seattle Kraken announced her hire on Wednesday.
So, technically, she isn't the first woman to work on an NHL bench. The first woman to accomplish so was Aisha Visram. Visram was the first woman in any position to operate behind an NHL bench. In January 2022, she worked as an athletic trainer with the Los Angeles Kings.
What did NHL have to say about Jessica Campbell going full-time?
The NHL shared their thoughts regarding Jessica Campbell's hiring and said, "The @SeattleKraken have added Jessica Campbell as an assistant coach, making her the first woman to be named an assistant, associate or head coach in NHL history."
Campbell, the first female assistant coach in the AHL, helped the Coachella Valley Firebirds reach the Calder Cup Final twice in a row during their initial 2022-23 season. Campbell will make history as the NHL's first full-time female assistant coach on October 8, when the Kraken meet St. Louis in their season opener at Climate Pledge Arena.
Who is Aisha Visram?
Aisha Visram expected her family and friends to feel emotional when she informed them that she would be stepping in on the Kings' athletic training staff on January 13, 2022.
They had encouraged her implausible desire when her employment applications were turned down and taken it in stride when she was too busy to return their calls and texts during hockey season.
Visram, the former chief athletic trainer for the Kings' American Hockey League team in Ontario was summoned to The Show after the Kings' training staff. COVID-19 cut her out and was unprepared for the kind of attention she received merely for performing her job.
Visram, 36, from Toronto, created an unintentional splash when she became the first woman to stand behind the Kings' bench and just the second verified to have worked behind an NHL bench.
The Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society first said that she was the first woman to work a regular-season NHL game behind the bench in any capacity, but later clarified that Jodi van Rees was the first, as an assistant athletic trainer for the Montreal Canadiens in 2002.
Jessica Campbell began playing hockey as a child
According to the NHL, Campbell began playing hockey as a kid, competing alongside and against males in her birthplace of Rocanville, Saskatchewan. She spent four seasons at Cornell University and with the Canadian Women's Hockey League's Calgary squad.
She competed in the IHF Women's World Championship with Canada's silver-winning squad in 2015. In May, Kraken General Manager Ron Francis told reporters that when Campbell originally started on the team part-time, "We didn't hire her because she was female. We hired her because she was a good coach. She has an interesting background, not only skating but skill development, and that's a big part of what they've been able to do at Coachella Valley."
Also Read: Who Is Jessica Campbell? All About NHL’s Potential First Female Full-Time Coach With Seattle Kraken
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