She's Undeniably Qualified

I know there are hockey traditionalists who still think that Jessica Campbell being on an NHL bench is, in some way, wrong, but she made it to where she is on merit, skill, and knowledge. She is one of many women who took part 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 immense success under head coach Dan Bylsma and assistant coach Jessica Campbell. Campbell will tell you that her time with the Firebirds was invaluable due to all that she learned, and that brings us to Kim Weiss to the left who is getting her opportunity tonight! Granted, it's not a full-time assistant coaching gig at the AHL level yet, 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 was a guest coach for the Avalanche in 2023-24 and she's been on the ice for the last few Avalanche Development Camps, but Weiss has been honing her craft for some time prior to arriving in Colorado. In fact, she made a little history in one stop, but coaching appears 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 up with an 11-goal, 22-point season in 2008-09 and a 14-goal, 28-point season in 2009-10, marking the first time that Trinity College had appeared in the Division-III tournament before falling in the NESCAC Championship Final to top-seeded Amherst College 2-1 in overtime as Weiss recorded an assist.

In her final season with the Bantams in 2010-11, Weiss went on a tear through Division-III hockey, scoring 22 goals and 31 points in 26 games, earning her the NESCAC Player of the Year while being named as a First Team All-American and being nominated for the Laura Hurd Award as the Division-III Player of the Year. In her four years with Trinity College, Weiss helped the Bantams to a 70-22-11 record while setting the school records for most career points (108), most career goals (62), and most goals in a single season (22). Did I mention she earned her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience as well?

With graduation marking a potential end to her playing days, Weiss changed her focus when it came to staying with hockey.

"I kinda knew once I graduated that coaching was something I wanted to get into," Weiss told Trevor Sheehan of Neutral Zone. She was offered the head coaching job for women's ice hockey one year later but elected to return home to coach her high school program. "I realized at 22 years old that prep school wasn't for me," Weiss said. "As a young person, watching my friends have fun in Boston and New York City was challenging. I needed a change."

Weiss began coaching at Landon School, an all-boys school, where she began to find her coaching groove. She developed a relationship with the NAHL's Maryland Black Bears where she worked with players on skill development, and the Black Bears hired her in 2021 as an assistant coach, helping the Black Bears to a 25-21-8 record before falling in the second round of the playoffs to the Maine Nordiques.

Weiss specifically helped the Black Bears with special teams as their power-play percentage went up from 16% to 24% and their penalty-killing percentage saw a slight increase from 80% to 83%. With the players trusting her more, she was named as the Black Bears' associate head coach and spent three games in March 2023 as the first female to serve as head coach in the NAHL! It should be noted that she was 3-0 in those games where she was acting head coach!

Things came full circle, in a way, in 2023 as Trinity College was searching for an assistant coach for their men's program. That was an opportunity that Weiss couldn't pass on, so she applied for the position. Trinity College head coach Matt Greason hired her immediately, stating, "It was an easy hire. Her work ethic and growth mindset are elite" while observing that "Kim has great self-awareness and knows what to do to improve. She coaches and also works to absorb every bit of material she can to master coaching. That drives Kim and improves everyone around her, including me."

In 2023-24 with Weiss standing alongside Greason, the Bantams were a force in NCAA Division-III play, compiling a 21-3-1 record with a goal differential of +60! They would advance all the way to the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship Game against Hobart College where the magic would finally 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 resumé when Weiss was hired as the Colorado Eagles' video coach! Weiss had worked with the Colorado Avalanche organization for a couple of years in various capacities when the video coach position because available, and she jumped at another opportunity!


Weiss took her spot on the bench tonight in place of Derek Army who was out with illness, and it wasn't quite as exciting as it may have been with the Ontario Reign doubling up the Colorado Eagles by a 6-3 score. It seems the scorekeepers didn't even have time to change the official scoresheet as Army still shows as one of 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 seems that there are a handful of women who are on the verge of taking that next step. As shown throughout this article, Kim Weiss earned her opportunity on the bench through merit, skill, and knowledge, and my hope is that 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 give deserving women their opportunity too.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!