Former Olympic hockey player talks about her memoir Just a Girl in Calgary on Oct. 13

It would have been oh-so-easy for Cassie Campbell-Pascall to write a book where she recounted all the highs of her otherworldly career.

She could have talked about captaining Canada to two Olympic gold medals and winning six Women’s World Championship gold medals during a career that earned her a place in the IIHF Hall of Fame.

Who wouldn’t have wanted to read about her journey in broadcasting, where she was a regular on Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts and ESPN.

But that was never what Campbell-Pascall set out to do when she started the process of writing Just a Girl, her new memoir that was published this month.

“It was a deep dive, and I always knew I didn’t want this book to be ‘Ra-Ra, look at all these things I’ve done,'” Campbell-Pascall explained. “I really wanted it to be truthful and personal and hopefully I can help people understand that everyone in life goes through hard things and faces hard things. . . It doesn’t matter if you’re in the public eye or not, life can get hard.”

Campbell-Pascall will be appearing in Calgary, the city she calls home, on Tuesday, Oct. 13 on the opening night of Wordfest to promote her book during a conversation with another iconic Canadian athlete, speedskater Clara Hughes.

The focus of the conversation will be about more than their athletic achievements, however. While terms like “trailblazer” and “Canadian hero” might rightfully get attached to Campbell-Pascall’s name — and while her role in helping grow women’s hockey is undeniable — that’s not something she’s especially comfortable with.

When it came time to write her book and consider her own story, her on-ice accomplishments weren’t where she saw the most value.

“I’m hoping some of my hard experiences can help kids navigate through divorces or help teenagers understand that sport can save them like it did for me,” said Campbell-Pascall, who also addresses the topics of infertility and trying to have a family as a healthy athlete. “Some of those stories, I hope they resonate with people in a time when I think social media really makes us believe that everything is perfect. . . It (reality) is so far from it.”

And, “isn’t that what life is about?” she adds. “Challenges and adversity and ups-and-downs.”

Just a Girl does include many stories about Campbell-Pascall’s time as an athlete and demonstrates how the process of reflecting on her life and career illuminated some of the relationships and moments that shaped her.

In the book she writes about the three Olympic coaches she had. Those relationships weren’t always easy and there were testy situations along the way. With the benefit of hindsight, though, she sees how important those moments actually were.

“In the moment, you sometimes don’t see it, but you do when you get a chance to reflect on it,” Campbell-Pascall said. “There are so many things I remembered that weren’t who scored the goal or who got the assist. A lot of things I remember from my career are sort of the adversity moments more than the winning.

“I think reflecting on those, and how important they were for me learning and becoming a better leader and player, I think those are really great.”

The book does look back on some proud moments for Campbell-Pascall, to be clear. There’s one, in particular, that stands out, and that was the formation of the PWHL.

“I could see it was going to last, unlike so many others that we had before. . . Even working and playing a small role in the league, that was the moment where I finally felt like I don’t have to do anything anymore,” said Campbell-Pascall. “I felt like I had to push and do so much stuff behind the scenes; I felt like I owed it to the sport and I was obligated to do it, and I wanted to do it — don’t get me wrong — but I don’t feel that anymore. I know the game’s in good hands with this generation.”

Bookmark this website and support our journalism: Subscribe now so you don’t miss the Calgary news you need to know and sign up for our free newsletters.