Kristen Campbell stumbled out of the gate, but over the last month has been one of the PWHL's best goalies. While she searched for her own confidence, PWHL Toronto never lost theirs for their netminder.
Kristen Campbell stumbled out of the gate, but over the last month has been one of the PWHL's best goalies. While she searched for her own confidence, PWHL Toronto never lost theirs for their netminder.
Kristen Campbell struggled. Through her first six games of the PWHL season, she only once surpassed a .900 save percentage.
The slide left Campbell off the February Rivalry Series roster and had fans questioning PWHL Toronto's crease situation. Despite that, Campbell's coach and GM for Team Canada, who happen to be her coach and GM for Toronto never lost confidence in the netminder they drafted and immediately signed to a three-year guaranteed contract.
"It's great to see her progression here this year," said PWHL Toronto general manager Gina Kingsbury. "A little bit of a shaky start, I think we all could admit that, and she would admit that as well."
Campbell was one of several goaltenders coming from the PWHPA who had not played regular games in years, and as Canada's third goalie she had no seen game time internationally either. It was a break in play that Kingsbury feels contributed to the start.
"When you look back, the pandemic, the fact that there is no league, it's probably even harder on goaltending. She wouldn't have played a ton, even with the national team as a third goalie. Without those starts, without that game flow for some it would take maybe a little bit longer to get back into the flow of things of what a game feels like and looks like and to be able to perform in those big games."
Over the past four games however, Campbell has found that flow and posted a sparkling 0.963 save percentage including two shutouts and four straight wins.
"For her maybe that as a little bit of an adjustment to get that volume in. We always knew and that's why we drafted her and that's why we wanted her in Toronto; she's a goalie that is one of the best in the world in my opinion and I still believe that and we're seeing now her getting comfortable and getting into that rhythm in net and showing what we've always seen in her."
For the first month of the season, Campbell looked like a goalie without confidence, it was a span that also included tough starts in the Rivalry Series and Canada's selection camp. Over the second month of the season, Campbell found the confidence her team had never lost in her.
"I think there's a lot of confidence now, she's like 'I'm good now, I got through that period where I wasn't quite myself,' but we stuck with her. We believed in her, we made sure she was good within that and felt supported by her teammates and us as a team and a program. Really proud she was able to kind of get out of it and be where she is right now."