From a Hometown Hockey Family to the NHL Draft

By Kimberly Dunbar

December 2005 –

Worcester is a city in the heart of a hockey state (of mind). Once home to the Worcester Ice Cats, it is still the home of many great hockey players including New York Ranger Tom Poti and the Campbell brothers. All four of them.

Recognize the Campbell name? Ed and Jim Campbell both played for the Ice Cats and their brothers Bill and John also used to lace up their skates. The Campbells grew up in a hockey environment, all four brothers playing the sport together. And yes, that made for lots of two-on-two matchups and plenty of sibling rivalry ~ a rivalry that seems to be here to stay. Jim and Ed made hockey history last season as the first brother act in Bridgeport when they both played for the Sound Tigers, but when they don different uniforms there is no mercy. “I try to kill him all the time,” Ed jokes.

Ed and his brothers were born in Worcester and grew up in nearby Westboro. After playing hockey at a prep school in New York, Ed was drafted by the New York Rangers in the eighth round (190th overall) of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. He has spend the past ten years skating around the AHL for teams like Binghamton, Hershey, Worcester, Providence, Hartford, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Bridgeport, and now Cleveland. While sports fans in Cleveland, the minor league affiliate of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, are partial to basketball and football, Ed says that hockey is still very much embraced by the community. But it does not compare to the love that Worcester shows for the sport.

“Massachusetts is a huge hockey state,” says Ed. “Worcester really is a great city. I was born there and would stay there my whole life.” Campbell spends his summers in MA, where most of his friends and family still live. During the off-season he trains with Holy Cross strength coach Jeff Oliver and frequents the 111 Chophouse and Sole Proprietor, two of his favorite restaurants anywhere. Ed plans to come back to Worcester when his hockey career is finished; the only reason he’d allow himself to be kept away from the city he considers home is if his wife wants to be close to her family in Michigan. “That’s the only other place I would go,” he says.

Ed’s favorite hometown memory is of the 2000-2001 season he played for the ‘Cats. “That year I played there we had the best record in the league and were first in our division. It was a lot of fun,” he said. Although the Ice Cats have moved on, Ed maintains that “There really should be a team in Worcester. It’s a great city with great fans. I would not be surprised if a team moved here in the next couple of years.” Ed’s prediction may come true as soon as next season; the Worcester Hockey 2006 campaign has attracted the attention of the Edmonton Oilers’ NHL franchise, currently shopping for a place to call their AHL home.

Despite hockey’s temporary hiatus from Worcester itself, the NHL is back in action this season after a year-long lockout that made hockey the first professional sport to lose an entire season to a labor dispute. “It’s too bad that had to happen,” Ed says of the strike. “But it is good that it has been resolved, it’s what’s best for the sport.” Campbell adds that the new NHL has made hockey more exciting for fans, opening up the play and creating more offense and more goal scoring.

With the changes in the game, Campbell, the most experienced Baron in Cleveland, is often looked upon to provide guidance to the younger players. “Some of them just want to know what goes on and how things work,” says Ed. “I just work hard and lead by example.”

Now I just had to ask this role model one final question, who the best player in the Campbell family is. “Me, of course,” Ed laughs, but quickly changes his answer to, “Jim. He scores more goals.” OK, but would Ed, Jim, Bill and John’s mother, the woman who drove the boys to practice and games at 6am every Saturday, agree with Ed’s final answer? “Nah, she likes me best!”