Kristen Campbell

When the University of Wisconsin reached the 2019 NCAA Frozen Four, Kristen Campbell did not allow a single goal across the entire playoff run. That performance made Campbell the first woman to backstop a team to an NCAA Championship while posting a shutout in every playoff game, and she was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. The Brandon, Manitoba native had already announced herself in her first season with the Badgers in 2017–18, earning WCHA Goaltender of the Year honors, an All-America selection, and a place among the Top-10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award. In her 2018–19 season, she set NCAA season highs in goals-against average, wins, and shutouts, along with a Wisconsin program record for wins in a single season.

Campbell's path to Madison began at the University of North Dakota, where she was redshirted in her first year of eligibility before appearing in five games in 2016–17. When North Dakota abruptly shut down its women's hockey program at the end of that season, she transferred to Wisconsin. In her final year with the Badgers — a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic — she helped the program finish atop the WCHA in the regular season and became the fourth goaltender in Wisconsin history to record 90 wins for the program.

On the international stage, Campbell has represented Canada across multiple levels. She was part of the Canadian team that won Olympic gold at the 2022 Beijing Games and has accumulated three World Championship gold medals (2021, 2022, and 2024) along with a silver medal in 2023. At the under-18 level, she helped Canada claim silver at the 2015 U18 World Championships.

Before the PWHL was formed, Campbell competed in the PWHPA, taking part in the 2021 season and the 2022–23 season — with a break in between for Olympic centralization in 2021–22. Playing for Team Scotiabank in the 2022–23 PWHPA season, she appeared in 11 games, winning five and posting a .920 save percentage. She was then selected 14th overall by Toronto in the PWHL's inaugural draft. In that first PWHL season, Campbell was named Goalie of the Year. She is currently a member of the Vancouver Goldeneyes.

Campbell runs her own KC Elite Goaltending Camp and has worked closely with goalie coach Brad Kirkwood — who also works with the Canadian national program through Top Prospects Goaltending in Calgary — as well as manual osteopathic therapist and kinesiologist James Wendland, whose off-ice training work with Campbell has been documented extensively by InGoal.

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

InGoal's coverage of Campbell spans both the technical and the physical sides of her preparation. In a series of Pro Drills pieces filmed with Kirkwood, Campbell walked through the details of crease movements, puck handling, and visualization work, including drills done with eyes closed ^[1]. As she explained in that piece, Kirkwood structures visualization around specific game situations, and Campbell finds that by the time pucks are flying, "it does feel like you have already done that drill and you are just more prepared to start with pucks." A subsequent drill breakdown focused on rotation and edge control in the butterfly, where Campbell described the emphasis on "rotating, getting that backside hand around, and driving with that backside hand," and noted the importance of "cradling and absorbing every puck" ^[2]. A separate Pro Drills installment documented a three-goalie puck-handling drill with teammates Carly Johnson and Erika Howe, with Campbell detailing Kirkwood's insistence on precise, hard, accurate passes — "Queens of 10-foot passes," in Kirkwood's phrase ^[3]. An earlier piece on crease movement work captured Campbell's articulation of the core habits Kirkwood reinforces: strong eye lead, back shoulder rotation, and intentional scanning ^[4].

On the puck-handling side, InGoal documented Campbell incorporating passing and puck touches into virtually every element of practice at the NET360 Goalie Camp in 2023, connecting that habit to advice from goalie coach Kirkwood and to principles Campbell shares with her national team work ^[5].

InGoal has also followed Campbell's off-ice preparation through a multi-part series with Wendland. Two recent articles for InGoal members documented exercises filmed at Campbell's KC Elite Goaltending Camp, including hip stability and alignment work using a Fitter First Rocker Board, Bosu Ball, and exercise ball, as well as a follow-up series of gaze stability drills incorporating Trac-Optics goggles ^{[6] [7]}. Earlier in that series, Campbell demonstrated Rocker Board exercises alongside WHL Vancouver Giants goaltender Matthew Hutchison ^[8], and Bosu Ball work in a subsequent installment ^[9]. The series began with a foot and ankle routine that Campbell said left her feeling "like my foot was finally opened up and unlocked," and that she credited for helping her become lighter on her feet and better at absorbing pushes ^[10].

Campbell also appeared on the InGoal Radio podcast in November 2021 alongside Dr. Chris Woo ^[11], and returned for a more recent episode ^[12].