Kristen Campbell

When Kristen Campbell backstopped the University of Wisconsin Badgers to the 2019 NCAA Championship, she did not allow a single goal in the playoffs — becoming the first woman to win the Frozen Four title without conceding a goal. That same season, she set a Wisconsin single-season record for wins and posted NCAA season-highs in goals-against average, wins, and shutouts. She was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Campbell was born in Brandon, Manitoba, on November 30, 1997. She first arrived in college hockey at the University of North Dakota in 2015-16, where she was redshirted in her opening year before returning to action in 2016-17 and appearing in five games for the Fighting Hawks. When North Dakota abruptly shut down its women's hockey program at the end of that season, Campbell transferred to Wisconsin, where her impact was immediate: in her first season with the Badgers, she earned WCHA Goaltender of the Year honors, a spot on the All-America Team, and a Top-10 Finalist nomination for the Patty Kazmaier Award. In her final year at Wisconsin — a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic — she helped the Badgers finish atop the WCHA regular season and became the fourth goaltender in program history to record 90 wins.

On the international stage, Campbell has been a fixture with Canada across multiple age groups and competitions. She helped Canada claim silver at the U18 World Championship in 2015. At the senior level, she collected World Championship gold medals in 2021, 2022, and 2024, along with a silver medal in 2023. In 2022, she was part of the Canadian team that won Olympic gold.

Before the PWHL's formation, Campbell spent two seasons with the PWHPA — in 2021 and 2022-23, with a break in between for Olympic centralization in 2021-22. In the 2022-23 PWHPA season, playing for Team Scotiabank, she appeared in 11 games, winning five and posting a .920 save percentage.

Campbell was selected 14th overall by PWHL Toronto in the league's inaugural draft. In that first PWHL season, she was named Goalie of the Year. She has since moved to the Vancouver Goldeneyes, where she wears number 50.

Campbell also runs her own KC Elite Goaltending Camp, which has served as a filming location for several InGoal Magazine training features. She works with goalie coach Brad Kirkwood, with whom she collaborates both on the PWHL side and with Team Canada.

InGoal Magazine has covered Kristen Campbell in two podcast appearances, four drill breakdowns, and six InGoal articles.

Much of InGoal's coverage has centered on the on-ice and off-ice work Campbell does with Kirkwood. A four-part Pro Drills series ^[1][2][3][4] traces PWHL Toronto practice footage through crease movements, puck handling, visualization, and butterfly rotation drills. On the importance of scanning during crease work, Campbell explained her evolution: "When I started working with [Kirkwood] he would always yell at me for scans but in games I don't think you can ever scan too much" ^[1]. Her philosophy on visualization drills — including exercises done with eyes closed — is detailed in ^[3], where she described the effect: "I find then when we get into a goalie session it does feel like you have already done that drill and you are just more prepared to start with pucks." On the butterfly rotation work captured in ^[4], Campbell described the focus: "It helps a lot with control and controlling your edges and then also controlling your body."

An earlier article on her puck-handling approach at the NET360 Goalie Camp in 2023 ^[5] draws a direct line between her habits in practice and her role in the Canadian national team system, with Kirkwood describing how his goaltenders are integrated into the breakout.

InGoal has also featured Campbell prominently in its off-ice training content with manual osteopathic therapist and kinesiologist James Wendland. She appears in the Rocker Board ^[6] and Bosu Ball ^[7] installments of Wendland's "5 Damn Things" series, and in the feet and ankle edition ^[8], where she described the change she noticed after doing the foot work: "Having not done it much before, it felt like my foot was finally opened up and unlocked." Two more recent pieces filmed at her KC Elite Goaltending Camp ^[9][10] are available to InGoal subscribers and cover a six-exercise hip, alignment, and balance warm-up series, along with gaze stability drills using a Fitter First Rocker Board, Bosu Ball, and Trac-Optics goggles.

Campbell also appeared on Episode 147 of the InGoal Radio podcast ^[11] alongside Dr. Chris Woo, and on Episode 277 ^[12], where she was among the voices in the conversation.