Derek Campbell (born April 14, 1980) is a former

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player.

Career

Born in Nepean,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Campbell began his career playing for the junior OHL team, the

Belleville Bulls The Belleville Bulls were a junior ice hockey team, founded in 1981 and based in Belleville, Ontario. The team played in the Eastern Division of the Eastern Conference of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). The team relocated to Hamilton, Ontario, ...

. Campbell spent two seasons as a Bulls player, appearing in almost 150 games, scoring 73 points. For the 1999/00 season, Campbell signed for the Owen Sound Platers, another OHL team. Campbell would only stay one season, but in 55 games would manage a ratio of close to one point per game. He would also play for the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team, which currently plays in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In all of North American professional hockey, only the Orig ...

on ten occasions, totalling eight UHL points. For the following season, Campbell would continue at junior level, this time with the

Kingston Frontenacs The Kingston Frontenacs are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, based in Kingston, Ontario. The Frontenacs play home games at Slush Puppie Place, which opened in 2008. The team's history predates the Ontario Ho ...

. In 61 games, he would manage an impressive 72 points, his best total yet. Campbell would start his college career in the 2001/02 season, turning out for St. Thomas University of

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. In his three University seasons, Campbell played in 78 games and scored 89 points, with 239 penalty minutes. When his University level career came to an end in the 2003/04 season, Campbell took the opportunity to sign with an AHL team, the

Binghamton Senators The Binghamton Senators were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2002 to 2017. Nicknamed the B-Sens, they played in Binghamton, New York, at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The B-Sens w ...

, the affiliate team of the well-known

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

. Campbell's opportunities were limited however, and he made just three appearances for the Binghamton team all season. For the 2004/05 term, Campbell would be dropped down to UHL level, playing for the

Elmira Jackals The Elmira Jackals were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Elmira, New York. They were members of the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007 and the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. The Jackals played their home games at First Arena. ...

58 times, but managing just 18 points. In the same season, Campbell would play for Binghamton for a second time, but again managed just three appearances. For the 2005/06 season, Campbell changed clubs to sign for the Houston Aeros, a team affiliated with the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

. He would again struggle to make regular AHL appearances, managing just two for his new team. Campbell would split the rest of the season between two

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

teams, the Stockton Thunder and the Columbia Inferno, and despite a solid points output failed to settle at either. In the summer of 2006, Campbell would move to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

to play for the

Manchester Phoenix Manchester Phoenix were a semi professional ice hockey team from Greater Manchester, England. The club was formed in 2003 as a result of the efforts of supporters group ''Friends of Manchester Ice Hockey'' to bring top-level ice hockey back to M ...

under player/coach Tony Hand. At the time Phoenix played at

EIHL The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to internationally as the British Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey Superleague, it is the highest level ...

level, the highest standard of club ice hockey in Britain. In 59 regular season games, he managed 71 points as well as 224 penalty minutes. After his season in Manchester, Campbell decided to again move teams. He would stay in the

though, signing for the Newcastle Vipers. A second strong season would follow, and Campbell managed to total over a point per game throughout the regular season, with 66 points in 64 games. This productivity encouraged Newcastle head coach Rob Wilson to re-sign Campbell for the Vipers, and a deal which was announced in June 2008. A second high-scoring season for the Vipers would follow, taking Campbell to a total of 187 points in 178 EIHL games. His proven Elite League record convinced Paul Thompson to sign Campbell for the Coventry Blaze in the summer of 2009. After spending the 2010/11 season with the Sheffield Steelers, Campbell once again moved on within the

, signing with the Hull Stingrays for 2011/12. Derek started playing his 2012/13 season back in Sheffield with the Sheffield Steeldogs in the EPL. On October 6, 2013, while playing for the Hull Stingrays, Campbell was involved in a fight on the ice that saw him ejected from the game for driving an opponent's head to the ice. Shortly afterwards, he was seen outside of the opponent's dressing room, where he attacked another player from the opposing team. He was restrained by fans and led back to his dressing room. Three days later, the Stingrays released Campbell from his contract. Later that same day, he was suspended by the league for 47 games; 15 for fighting off the ice, 12 for an attempted eye gouge, 10 for a knee to the head and 10 for excessive force to the head resulting in an impact to the ice.

References

External links

*
Derek Campbell Personal Profile
Manchester Phoenix Official Website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Derek 1980 births Living people Binghamton Senators players Canadian ice hockey left wingers Columbia Inferno players Coventry Blaze players Elmira Jackals (UHL) players Fort Wayne Komets players Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players Ice hockey people from Ottawa Manchester Phoenix players Newcastle Vipers players Stockton Thunder players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States 21st-century Canadian sportsmen