Being late to the arena was not an option for Kristen Campbell in her earliest years of playing hockey — not if she wanted first dibs on the goalie gear.
“I always wanted to be a goalie, but I would always have to rush to our local rink to get the one set of goalie pads that our program had because the boys didn’t want a girl in net for them,” says Campbell, who started playing hockey in Grade 2 in her hometown of Brandon, Man. “So, I had to beat all the guys there to get this one set of goalie pads.”
Playing on a co-ed team alongside her older brother, Kyle, she suited up as a skater to start, playing both forward and defence. But the allure of the net was ultimately too strong to resist. When those races to the rink paid off in fifth grade with a spot as full-time netminder for the local girls’ team, she never looked back
The young Campbell idolized every goaltender who set up in the blue paint for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings and did her best impressions during street hockey sessions as her brother peppered her with shots. And while she admits with a laugh that, sure, it may have been all the cool goalie gear that first drew her to the position, it was the challenge of being a team’s last line of defence that really hooked her.
“You’re going to be the difference in a game between a win and a loss for your team. And I feel like I’ve just always loved that,” says Campbell, now 26. “I always want to tackle challenges head-on, that’s the type of person I am.”
And that’s just how she’s risen to meet each challenge with PWHL Toronto this season, her steady presence in the crease propelling the club to the top of the standings and setting them up as the favourites as they open the post-season against Minnesota beginning Wednesday night.
The journey to that top seed, and home-ice advantage, started off shaky, though — for both the franchise and their No. 1 netminder. Toronto lost five of its first seven games of the season before beginning an ascent up the standings with an 11-game win streak that carried into late March. The early stumble was all part of the process, says Toronto head coach Troy Ryan. Ryan and GM Gina Kingsbury, both of whom have also seen Campbell develop as the No. 3 goalie with the Canadian National Women’s Team over the past four years, knew what they were getting when they selected the keeper 14th overall last September. They knew Campbell was capable of posting otherworldly numbers, as she had during her four-year college career at Wisconsin — a tenure that saw her crowned NCAA champion as a junior and twice named college hockey’s goaltender of the year. But they also knew she might need a little time to get back into the groove of regular competition.
“To start the season, they were the meaningful games that she had to get under her belt for us to be able to see what her potential was,” Ryan says. “So, although you would have preferred to have a little bit better of a start, it’s not surprising at all considering this is a goalie that’s been a third-string goalie and is now finally in that No. 1 role — that comes with pressure, that comes with, ‘How are you going to embrace those experiences?’”
Campbell’s answer to that question can be found in her numbers.
With “Soupy” in the crease, Toronto finished the inaugural 24-game campaign with a 13-4-0-7 record and 47 points. Campbell appeared in 22 games and backstopped the club to 16 of its 17 combined regulation and overtime wins, leading all goalies who’ve appeared in at least 10 games in goals-against average (1.99) and sitting third in save percentage while facing more total shots (587) than all but one other netminder, Ottawa’s Emerance Maschmeyer.
Ryan believes Campbell is “a perfect example of why this league is so important.
“Someone like Campbell comes out of college hockey, was a great college athlete — won championships, did well individually — but also, after college, really has nowhere to play other than the national team,” he says. And with a crowded Canadian crease — led by Ann-Renée Desbiens, with Maschmeyer serving as second-string — Campbell found herself without many chances to start.
Campbell’s final season at Wisconsin was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she knew that wasn’t the end of her hockey career. Upon graduation in the spring of 2020, with the hockey world at a standstill, she began to lay the foundation for her next goal: to earn a spot on Team Canadian ahead of the 2022 Olympic Games. Moving back in with her parents in Brandon, she set up her own personal gym in the family garage and, with nowhere else to go, started doing two-a-days. She installed some synthetic ice and enlisted the help of her brother — just like old times — to help keep her sharp.
“We just had fun with it, because we grew up playing together,” she says. “And honestly, it was a refreshing time. Even though there was a lot going on in the world, it was nice to be home, because I don’t really get to be home often.”
That fall brought a move to Calgary, where she joined that region’s PWHPA chapter. A year after that, she was centralized with Team Canada for the first time.
“It was an amazing experience — I can’t even put it into words,” Campbell says of that first opportunity to train with the national team. “I feel like that’s where I was able to take the next step with my development, just playing with the best every single day, being centralized, getting the opportunity to practice and compete with the best in the world, making adjustments to my personal game. And although I didn’t see a lot of game action, I still learned a ton and was able to jump on my opportunities when I was given them.”
Games with the PWHPA were few and far between, but Campbell made sure she was ready when they came. And when the brand-new league launched, and Toronto called her name, she was ready for that, too.
“Someone like Soupy,” says Ryan, “has just shown that, with a little bit of opportunity and a bit of a platform, she can show the high-performance athlete that she is.”
Behind most great starting goaltenders is a backup netminder pushing her to be better. Campbell has two, and calls her dynamic with Erica Howe and Carly Jackson “the best trio I’ve ever been a part of.
“We genuinely support each other so well,” she continues. “It’s so refreshing to have that kind of energy in your goalie group, because it really does make a world of difference.”
Campbell, Howe, and Jackson each bring their own unique experiences and, crucially, clear expectations of their roles in Toronto.
Howe, 31, brings a winning pedigree and experience at every level of the game. The Ottawa native has medaled twice on the international stage — winning world championship gold with Team Canada’s U-18 squad in 2010 and silver with the senior squad in 2016 — and was crowned NCAA champion with Clarkson University in 2013-14 and CWHL champ four years later with the Markham Thunder. Howe, who stepped away from hockey in 2020 to pursue a career in firefighting with Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services, took a leave of absence from the firehall last fall to sign a one-year deal with Toronto.
“It’s been really cool to have her kind of step in and mentor me and give me a lot of advice, honestly, that’s not even out on the ice but just kind of like approaching the game mentally and how she’s done it,” says Campbell. “That has really been a big impact on me.”
Jackson, 26, backed up Elaine Chuli with PHF Toronto last year, and went a perfect 5-0-0 in five regular-season starts with the eventual Isobel Cup champs.
“C.J.,” as her teammates call her, is known by her peers and coaches as “the ultimate teammate.”
“[She] loves her teammates, they love her,” says Ryan. “She’s there for absolutely everybody. She’s there for coaches, she’s there for athletes. She just makes everybody feel appreciated. She puts in the time — off-ice, on-ice — to be ready, when needed.”
Campbell believes her experience up and down the depth chart at various levels — starting in Wisconsin, then seeing limited time on the national squad as a second- and third-string — has helped shape not just her own approach to the game but her understanding of the dynamics of a good goalie room.
“Having been in all positions, I can relate to C.J. and I can relate to Howe, because I’ve been in that position, too,” she says. “I’ve been one, two and three. I think it gives you so many valuable life lessons and allows you to be the best teammate you possibly can be, no matter what role you’re given.”
It’s that mutual respect and friendly competition that helps Toronto’s goalies in top form.
“We’re pushing each other to be our best and helping each other out, which I think is really cool,” says Campbell. “Being able to, kind of, hold each other accountable and show each other little things that each of us do. And I think that’s something unique, and not something you see all the time in a goalie partnership.”
Campbell enters the post-season playing her best hockey. Now comes the fun part. Toronto’s matchup against Minnesota promises to be a physical affair, and with a heavy presence of national team players representing both sides of hockey’s best rivalry, offence will be a major focal point.
In short, Campbell is about to face her toughest test yet. But, as always, she’ll face it head-on.
“I’d put in a ton of work to be able to go out there and just play my game and see all the practice and preparation kind of come to fruition,” she says. “One of my coaches would always talk about, ‘That’s your time to unveil your masterpiece.’ Like, you’ve been working day-in and day-out, to play in games.
“We’ve been through adversity,” she continues, speaking to her team’s readiness for playoff action. “We know what it takes to come out on top in the end, and I think this season has been just a great test of that.”
