Kimberly Newell

Kimberly Newell grew up attending Vancouver Giants games at the Pacific Coliseum as a kid. Decades later, she skated out of that same building as a goaltender for the PWHL's Vancouver Goldeneyes — in front of a sold-out crowd.

Newell was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, on October 4, 1995. She played college hockey at Princeton, where she became the program's all-time winningest goaltender. After graduating, she spent two years working in finance in New York City before returning to professional hockey. That return took her to the KRS Vanke Rays of the Zhenskaya Hockey League in Russia, and from there to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where she represented China — competing under the Chinese name Zhou Jiaying — a decision she described as rooted in representing her Chinese heritage as part of the first-ever Chinese professional women's team. She also appeared for Team Canada at the 2013 U18 World Championship, winning gold alongside teammates who would later become familiar names in the women's game, including Emerance Maschmeyer, Hannah Miller, and Sarah Nurse.

After the Olympics, Newell remained in the game through coaching, co-founding InPower Hockey and working with a U18 AAA program in Vancouver. When PWHL expansion brought a franchise to her hometown, she entered the expansion draft. On the podcast appearance where Kevin Woodley first asked about her path back, she put it plainly: "If I don't try, I think I might regret it." She described the comeback as physically demanding — managing a training load that included as few as one ice session per week through the summer, careful rehabilitation of an ankle injury she had carried into the 2022 Olympics, and a September trip to San Jose to work with her strength coach and neuromuscular therapist on a bridging program. The opening night skate-out at the Pacific Coliseum, with her parents and former players she had coached in the stands, is something she described in vivid terms: "I got, like, the little chills, you know, like, running down your back."

InGoal Radio episode 330 covers Newell's return to professional hockey in full — the training process, her philosophy on goaltender movement, and what opening night meant ^[1]. Her first podcast appearance, episode 178, came after the 2022 Olympics ^[2]. InGoal Magazine has covered Kimberly Newell in two podcast appearances.