Soupy spectacular in toronto's 4-0 playoff victory
The Professional Women’s Hockey League has been crushing records left, right and centre for women's hockey in its inaugural season, and Brandon’s Kristen Campbell has been no exception.
Campbell was the second netminder taken off the board in the 2023 PWHL draft (14th overall) by PWHL Toronto. The 26-year-old has made an immediate impact for the team, helping them secure first-place in the league.
Top seeded PWHL Toronto elected to play against the fourth seed PWHL Minnesota in round one of the playoffs – a team Campbell had .927 save percentage against in the regular season while posting a 2-0-1-1 record.
On Wednesday, Campbell recorded the first-ever playoff shutout in PWHL history, stopping all 26 shots faced in a 4-0 win in the first ever PWHL playoff game, adding another amazing feat to her already dominant season.
In the regular season “Soupy” led the PWHL with three shutouts, was second in goals against average (1.99) and her .927 save percentage was good enough for fourth in the league among qualified goaltenders (a netminder must play 480 minutes to be considered qualified per. PWHL).
Campbell racked up these impressive numbers while starting the second-most games in the league with 22, only one game behind one of her Canadian Olympic goaltending partners, Emerance Maschmeyer.
Finding this level of utter dominance did not look so promising to start the year. Through the first five games, Toronto went 1-4, with a lot of the blame falling on defense and Campbell herself.
Looking back, Campbell may have needed some time to find her game. After a two-year stint at the University of North Dakota, Campbell played out her final three years of college hockey with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Campbell started a total of 110 games through those three years, putting up 27 shutouts, a 1.34 goals against average, a .930 save percentage and a 90-13-7 record.
After being one of the most outstanding backstops in Badgers history, the next three years didn't go according to plan. She started a combined total of 14 games over that period, split between the PWHPA and international play.
After a shaky start to the campaign, Campbell rediscovered her dominance and looks to be the future of Canada’s female goaltending. Campbell outplayed her Women’s National Team counterparts in every goaltending statistic this season.
“Soupy” has her hands full for the rest of this best-of-five series and will have to stay red hot against one of the most underrated teams in the PWHL for Toronto to make a championship run.
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