Comedian Nikki Glaser has shared a humorous response after being mistaken for Jessica Campbell, who this week made her debut as the first ever female assistant coach in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Campbell was photographed behind the bench on the opening night of the NHL season on Tuesday, as her team, the Seattle Kraken, took on the St. Louis Blues at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
The headline-making appointment was announced in July by incoming head coach Dan Bylsma, with whom Campbell had coached a Kraken minor league team.
Arriving months after the summer announcement that she would be joining the team, Campbell comes to the Kraken with a wealth of experience dating back to her early days of playing with Team Saskatchewan at the National Women’s Under-18 Championship, where she served as team captain twice.
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Following a stint with Team Saskatchewan and Hockey Canada’s Pursuit of Excellence team, she would go on to play hockey in college at Cornell. In her four years playing for Cornell, Campbell secured 46 goals and 54 assists.
As Campbell’s debut made headlines, Glaser shared an Instagram Story post in which she revealed that a number of people had mistaken her for the NHL coach.
Sharing a headline regarding Campbell’s official debut, Glaser wrote: “Thanks to everyone who congratulated me today. I’m ready for this challenge.”
In a follow-up post, Glaser shared a photo that showed Campbell standing behind the bench on Tuesday, adding the caption: “So proud of my team.”
Nikki Glaser/Instagram
Jokes aside, Campbell spoke about making her historic debut, telling NHL.com: “The year ahead is going to be a lot of fun. But to know and to understand that obviously there’s still at the forefront the thoughts of other women and other people who have the same aspirations as I do. So, to carry that torch every day and keep my focus on being a coach, but it definitely puts meaning into the work.”
Following her stint at Cornell, Campbell went on to the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, where she spent three seasons playing for the Calgary Inferno. She would secure 29 goals and 21 assists in her time there.
Campbell also represented Canada’s national team, securing three medals. She secured a silver medal with Canada Women’s National Under-18 Ice Hockey Team in 2009, a gold medal in 2010, and a silver medal in 2015 when she played for Canada in the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship.
She retired from Canada’s national team in 2017 and transitioned into coaching. She owned JC Powerskating, where she coached players like Tyson Jost and Joel Edmundson.
Campbell was hired by the Coachella Valley Firebirds in 2022, which is the top minor league affiliate of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken. Campbell made history as the first woman employed on a full-time basis as a behind-the-bench coach in the AHL.
