I know there are hockey traditionalists who still think it’s somehow wrong for Jessica Campbell to be on an NHL bench, but she made it to where she is today in terms of merit, skill and knowledge. She is one of many women to have participated in the NHLCA Female Coaches Program, and it led to her landing a job with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, where the team found tremendous success under head coach Dan Bylsma and assistant coach Jessica Campbell. Campbell will tell you that her time with the Firebirds was invaluable because of everything she learned, and that brings us to Kim Weiss on the left side, who gets her chance tonight! Granted, it’s not yet a full-time assistant coaching gig at the AHL level, but her team has her as a full-time part of the staff and they promoted her to the bench for tonight’s game!Kim Weiss, pictured above, is the video coach for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles after being hired in 2024. She guest coached for the Avalanche in 2023-24 and has been on the ice for the last few Avalanche Development Camps, but Weiss has been honing her craft for some time before arriving in Colorado. In fact, she may have created a piece of history in one go, but coaching turns out to be a burning passion that she has been pursuing since her playing days ended in 2011!
Weiss played NCAA hockey for Trinity College, where she wore #12 and scored a ton of goals and points. In her first season of NCAA Division-III hockey, she exploded onto the scene with 15 goals and 27 points in 26 games with the Bantams, leading the team in scoring and helping her earn the Tara Borawski Award as Trinity College’s top player. She followed that stellar 2007-08 season with an 11-goal, 22-point season in 2008-09 and a 14-goal, 28-point season in 2009-2010. This was Trinity College’s first appearance in the Division III tournament before falling to top-seeded Amherst College 2-1 in overtime in the NESCAC Championship Final when Weiss recorded an assist.
In her final season with the Bantams in 2010-11, Weiss tore through Division III hockey, scoring 22 goals and 31 points in 26 games, earning her the NESCAC Player of the Year, while she was named a First Team All-American and nominated for the Laura Hurd Award as the Division III Player of the Year. In her four years at Trinity College, Weiss helped the Bantams to a 70-22-11 record while setting school records for most career points (108), most career goals (62) and most goals in a single season (22). Did I mention she also received her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience?
With graduation potentially ending her playing days, Weiss changed her focus when it came to sticking with hockey.
“When I graduated, I kind of knew that coaching was something I wanted to get into,” Weiss said told Trevor Sheehan about it Neutral zone. A year later, she was offered the head coaching job for women’s ice hockey, but decided to return home to coach her high school program. “I realized at age 22 that prep school wasn’t for me,” Weiss said. “As a young person, seeing my friends enjoying life in Boston and New York City was challenging. I needed a change.”
Weiss started coaching at Landon School, an all-boys school, where she began to find her coaching groove. She developed a relationship with the Maryland Black Bears of the NAHL, where she worked with players on skill development, and the Black Bears hired her as an assistant coach in 2021, helping the Black Bears to a 25-21-8 record before falling in the second round. from the playoffs to the Maine Nordiques.Weiss specifically helped the Black Bears on special teams, as their power play percentage increased from 16% to 24% and their penalty kill percentage increased slightly from 80% to 83%. As the players trusted her more, she was named head coach of the Black Bears and played three games in March 2023 as the first woman to serve as a head coach in the NAHL! It should be noted that she was 3-0 in the games in which she was head coach!
Things came full circle in 2023 when Trinity College was looking for an assistant coach for their men’s program. It was an opportunity Weiss couldn’t pass up, so she applied for the position. Trinity College head coach Matt Greason immediately hired her, saying, “It was an easy hire. Her work ethic and growth mindset are elite,” while noting that “Kim has great self-awareness and knows what she needs to do to improve. She also coaches and works to absorb every piece of material she can to master coaching. That drives Kim and improves everyone around her, including me.”
In 2023-2024, when Weiss was alongside Greason, the Bantams were a force in NCAA Division-III play, posting a 21-3-1 record with a goal differential of +60! They would advance to the NCAA Division III Men’s Ice Hockey Championship Game against Hobart College, where the magic would eventually run out as Hobart College won 2-0, but Trinity College had an undeniably incredible season!
On August 7, 2024, Weiss added another impressive entry to her resume when Weiss hired as video coach of the Colorado Eagles! Weiss had been working for the Colorado Avalanche organization in various capacities for a few years when the video coaching position became available, and she jumped at the new opportunity!
Weiss took her spot on the bench tonight in place of Derek Army, who was absent due to illness, and it wasn’t as exciting as it might have been with the Ontario Reign doubled the Colorado Eagles 6-3. It appears the scorers didn’t even have time to change the official score sheet, as Army is still listed as one of the two assistant coaches listed on Mark Letestu’s staff, but she was on the bench as shown on the FloHockey feed! Congratulations to Kim Weiss on her promotion!
Jessica Campbell is still the only full-time assistant female coach in the NHL, but it appears there are a handful of women who are on the verge of taking that next step. As this article shows, Kim Weiss has earned her chance on the bench through merit, skill and knowledge, and I hope this is the first of many for her and other women who have earned the opportunity to be there.
The Colorado Eagles may have lost the game, but hockey is better tonight because Kim Weiss earned her spot on the bench. Let’s hope that other organizations also give deserving women their chance.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
#undeniably #qualified