Campbell’s perfect run earns place in history

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This article was published 02/01/2020 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s exceedingly difficult to beat perfection.

Last March, Brandonite Kristen Campbell earned shutouts in all three playoff games as her University of Wisconsin Badgers captured the NCAA Division I women’s Frozen Four hockey championship.

It was the capper to a sensational season for the 22-year-old goaltender, who has been named the 62nd winner of the Brandon Sun’s annual H.L. (Krug) Crawford Memorial Award, which epitomizes sporting excellence in southwestern Manitoba.

It’s a story of resilience, unexpected twists and turns, mental strength and a giant payoff at the end.

“To have somebody go out and do it not only from her position but as a team is pretty remarkable,” Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson said. “You’re not playing against soft teams, you’re playing against at that point of the season the top teams in whatever league you’re playing.”

“Somebody can tie the record, but nobody’s going to beat the record because it’s that impressive,” he added.

Campbell blanked the Syracuse Orange 4-0 in the NCAA quarterfinal on March 16 with a 15-save performance. That was followed by a 14-save shutout in a 5-0 victory over the Clarkson Golden Knights on March 22 during the Frozen Four, and then a 27-save blanking of the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a 2-0 victory in the championship game on March 24 in Hamden, Conn.

It’s the first time a goalie has pitched a complete shutout playing in every game in the tournament. In fact, she didn’t allow a goal on her last 69 shots over 210 minutes 36 seconds.

In her first year in Madison, the Badgers fell in the 2018 Frozen Four semifinals in double overtime, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Colgate Raiders.

“I had been envisioning that moment every single night since we lost last year,” Campbell said a day after the 2019 final. “Every time I feel asleep I was thinking ‘What’s it going to feel like, what am I going to see, what am I going to hear when I get to throw those gloves one day?’ It was like everything I ever imagined and more.”

The celebration even included the opportunity as a team to throw out the first pitch at a Milwaukee Brewers game. She said it took a while to put the event into some kind of context.

“At the time it was so busy and chaotic,” Campbell said recently. “Even getting to finals, because our final exams are in May, it felt like a couple of months flew by and then you’re already in the summer training. I was talking about this with one of my teammates the other day, how long were we in the phase of just soaking in what happened and celebrating, whether it was with our families back at home or with each other? Honestly I think it was four or five months where it was this dream experience.”

It was something she wouldn’t have dreamed of having at 17.

Campbell spent two seasons with the Westman Wildcats before moving to Shaftesbury High School in Winnipeg. She then headed to the University of North Dakota, redshirting for a year before finally seeing action in the 2016-17 season. After the women’s hockey program was unexpectedly shuttered, she made the momentous move to Wisconsin for the 2017-18 season.

Johnson and his staff tried to recruit Campbell before she originally headed to UND, so when the program folded, the relationship that assistant coach Jackie Crum had developed with Campbell paid off.

“Life happens and they dropped their program and what do you do next?” Johnson said. “Initially, having a relationship between Jackie and Kristen helped in the next step of figuring out where she wanted to go to school and so you start the recruiting process. Normally you don’t recruit kids who have already been in college for a couple of years, but life throws things at us that you’re not expecting.”

Johnson said it was an unusual situation for Campbell to walk in as a veteran player, trying to feel her way through a new school, city and teammates. She had played against some of her new Badger teammates, and suddenly had to join them.

Johnson said it wasn’t a problem.

“She’s just, I think, a very caring person and very focused, very determined,” Johnson said. “She seems to get along with everybody so I think her transition coming here was made easier just because of the way she’s wired. Once people hang around her for a period of time, they tend to gravitate and enjoy being around her presence and enjoy watching her work and trying to become better.

“A lot of things she had prior to coming here made her transition here a lot better, and over the course of time, a lot of people not only respected her but became good friends with her.”

In her debut season in Wisconsin, Campbell had a .941 save percentage and 1.17 goals-against average as the Badgers fell in the national semifinals.

She was even better in 2018-19.

She logged 2,384 minutes last season, with the other two goalies playing a combined 79 minutes.

In 41 appearances, she led the nation with 36 wins, an incredible 11 shutouts and a 1.03 goals-against average. She also posted a .940 save percentage, allowing one or fewer goals in 29 games as the Badgers finished 35-4-2, outscoring their opponents 155-43.

Campbell noticed a difference in the playoffs last spring.

“In my first year I wasn’t that experienced and I was kind of letting the pressure get to me,” Campbell said. “The second time around, I just feel so ready and prepared. It was ‘Bring it on, I’m prepared for whatever comes my way.’ That was my mindset the entire tournament. I felt just so confident going into it.

“You can look at the pressure as a bad thing but my teammate and I had this quote that pressure makes diamonds. We kept thinking that. It’s kind of a cheesy thing but it’s really not. You have to embrace that pressure because that’s what is going to make you a champion in the end.”

Campbell said the Badgers faced real adversity a couple of times during their dream season that pushed them to be better. One was a 2-1 loss to Bemidji State on Feb. 1.

“We were just not at our best,” Campbell said. “Nothing was working for us. I think that game was a real turning point because we were in this mindset where we just expecting to show up and everything was going to happen. Our leadership group took it upon themselves to have a meeting with us and we talked through everything. It felt like that was a bump on the road that really helped us down the line.”

Indeed.

The Badgers went 12-0-2 the rest of the season, although the two ties with Ohio State cost Wisconsin the regular season conference banner, which went to the Golden Gophers instead.

“That added fuel to the fire because we got to face them in the conference final and in the national final so we had that bitterness in our mouths,” Campbell said.

The Badgers beat the Golden Gophers 3-1 in the conference final before shutting them out again in the national final. Johnson said Campbell’s game elevated in the second half of the season, and then hit another level near the end of the season.

“She just put it in her mind that people weren’t going to score on her,” Johnson said. “If you look at what happened in the last month, she was able to do that, which is tough to do. It’s tough to get a shutout, I don’t care who you’re playing or what level you’re playing at, those things are real challenging.

“The more important the games are, the harder that is, and she just dialled in, focused in and had her mind made up that this is what I want to do and here’s what I’m going to try to do and she was able to do it.”

The team lost several of its top players to graduation after winning the title last March, but came together as they trained in Madison from June to August.

Campbell, who serves as one of the team’s off-ice captains, said it’s important for the veterans to introduce the newcomers to the team’s culture.

“Having that experience of winning the championship last year and all that came along with it is really valuable heading into this season,” Campbell said. “Obviously all of us were there when we lost in double overtime the year before but all of us were also there when we won so we’ve been on both sides now. We know what it takes to make it all the way to the end now.

“I think we can do a good job of bringing our younger players up to speed on those things that we learned from our older players last year. We’re really headed in the right direction right now … I really think we do have all the tools to do it again so it’s just up to us now.”

It will be the senior’s final playoff run at Wisconsin, which is 18-1-1-0 this season.

Campbell is acutely aware that her college days are ending. It has made taking in every minute and treasuring them that much more important for her.

“It’s crazy,” she said. “It really does fly by. I’m so thankful for both my experiences, at North Dakota and Wisconsin. All you can do is make the most of what you have left. That’s where all us seniors are going to be in the second half.”

When her time does come to an end, it will cap what’s been a most unusual and prosperous journey. Campbell remembers how her four-hour drive from Grand Forks, N.D., has now turned into a 14-hour journey to Madison.

“It’s crazy to think how things unfolded,” Campbell said. “I’ve always said that I’m really grateful that I landed in Madison. They took me in and it’s been really rewarding experience. We had a transfer this year from Boston College and she’s actually my roommate now. It’s cool because she’s going through the same things that I was going through when I transferred. It’s just been really neat to help her along the way and to be an older player and one of team captains.

“It’s cool to see myself as a freshman at North Dakota to where I am now and to reflect upon that and be grateful for everything I’ve had the opportunity to do.”

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KRUG CRAWFORD AWARD WINNERS:

2019 — Kristen Campbell, hockey

2018 — Lara Denbow, track and field

2017 — Pat Lamont, trapshooting

2016 — Isabela Onyshko and Lorie Henderson, gymnastics

2015 — Braden Calvert, curling

2014 — Isabela Onyshko, gymnastics

2013 — Halli Krzyzaniak, hockey

2012 — Rob Fowler, curling

2011 — Mark Stone, hockey

2010 — Paul Sanderson, volleyball

2009 — Lisa Barclay, volleyball

2008 — Brayden Schenn, hockey

2007 — Mark Derlago, hockey

2006 — Jenna Kerbis, gymnastics

2005 — Eric Fehr, hockey

2004 — Neil Andrews, curling, baseball

2003 — Jordin Tootoo, hockey

2002 — Israel Idonije, football

2001 — Jerry Hemmings, basketball

2000 — Shane Moffatt, baseball

1999 — Reed Eastley, baseball, volleyball

1998 — Cory Cyrenne, hockey

1997 — Grady Manson, hockey

1996 — Carmen Hurd, track and field

1995 — Kelly McCrimmon, hockey

1994 — Pam Flick, basketball

1993 — Marty Murray, hockey

1992 — Sandra Hamilton, basketball

1991 — Joey Vickery, basketball

1990 — Trevor Kidd, hockey

1989 — Shirley Bray, curling

1988 — Patrick Jebbison, basketball

1987 — Mabel Mitchell, curling

1986 — John Carson, basketball

1985 — Al Robertson, baseball

1984 — Ray Ferraro, hockey

1983 — Cathy Woodmass, water skiing

1982 — Jerry Hemmings, basketball

1981 — Diane Ogibowski, figure skating

1980 — Dan Halldorson, golf

1979 — Dunc McCallum, hockey

1978 — Glen Hanlon, hockey

1977 — Dan Halldorson, golf

1976 — Bob Thompson, baseball, hockey

1975 — Karen Anderson, curling, fastball

1974 — Jack Brockest, hockey

1973 — Ron Chipperfield, hockey

1972 — Lawrie Lewis, track and field

1971 — Gary Howard, basketball

1970 — Don Sumner, baseball, curling

1969 — Vailla Hoggan, water skiing

1968 — Buck Matiowski, recreation

1967 — Gerry MacKay, baseball, curling

1966 — Juha Widing, hockey

1965 — Bill Robinson, gymnastics

1964 — Lynda Kidd, basketball, softball

1963 — Earl Dawson, hockey

1962 — Fred Pilcher, curling

1961 — Ron Maxwell, hockey

1960 — Jake Milford, hockey

1959 — Mike Doig, shooting

1958 — Jack Matheson, hockey, golf