WHAT IS HOCKEY UNFILTERED?
“You little shit!”
Hall of Fame legend Bobby Orr, while holding me in a headlock, complaining about an opinion piece I wrote about him.
“Ken Campbell is a rare gem in the hockey writing world. He can write games, off-days, features, report boldly on contentious subjects, tackle issues and offer fearless commentary. He takes names and takes sides. Someone needs to put him to work.”
Ken’s Mom…no, wait…Steve Simmons, Toronto Sun sports columnist
Well, Steve, you’ll be happy to learn that someone has put me to work. That person would be, well, me. Hockey Unfiltered with Ken Campbell is the culmination of over three decades covering the greatest sport on Earth. And look Ma, no ads! If you’re looking for comprehensive coverage of everything from NHL superstars to the issues facing minor hockey, this is the place you need to be. Over the past 35-plus years, I’ve covered literally every aspect of the game. In my time as a senior writer at The Hockey News and a beat reporter at the Toronto Star, I’ve been witness to 17 Stanley Cup finals, more than 20 NHL drafts, two Olympics, double-digit World Junior Championships and a host of Memorial Cups and NCAA Frozen Fours. I’ve introduced the likes of Connor McDavid and Connor Bedard to the hockey world and scoured bone-chilling barns in search of the next hockey phenom. Board rooms, dressing rooms, hotel rooms and media rooms…I’ve worked in them all, with the contacts to prove it. And I continue to do all that, and more, with the same vigor and healthy skepticism on a new platform.
WHY SUBSCRIBE?
It’s a valid question. With all the hockey content out there, why pay $6 a month or $60 a year to receive coverage and commentary from one writer? Well, for one, it will help support what I do. After all, those Bud Lights aren’t going to find their way into the fridge by themselves.
The biggest reason I can give you to part with your hard-earned money is that the coverage will be exactly what the title suggests – Unfiltered. There are no ads or sponsorship deals and there never, ever will be. Because of that, I am beholden to no one. Actually, I never have been, not to any team, league, player or agent. As Steve Simmons said, I take names and I take sides. And I take no prisoners, as Bobby Orr can attest. One on occasion in a Long Island dressing room, former NHLer Darcy Tucker and I went nose-to-nose about something I had asked him, then shook hands and laughed about the whole thing. When you read Hockey Unfiltered with Ken Campbell, you’ll be consuming coverage and analysis that is unbleached and free of any restrictions, corporate or otherwise.
Along with the deep dives, in-depth profiles, analysis and opinion, I’m also offering what I’m calling my…
SAME DAY GUARANTEE
That means when significant news breaks in the hockey world – provided I haven’t broken it myself – you’ll receive coverage, analysis and opinion on it that day. Not the next day. Not on the weekend. Not when I feel like writing something about it. That day.
ABOUT KEN CAMPBELL
Born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario, where it’s really cold in the winter and people can take the hint, I have hockey in my blood. I’ve played it (always very badly and continue to do so), refereed it, coached it and been privileged to have made a living writing about it. After short stints at newspapers in Timmins and Sudbury, I was hired by the legendary Bob McKenzie to be a copy editor at The Hockey News in 1988. Ten years later, I left for the Toronto Star as a beat writer covering the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL. In 2006, I was lured back to THN, this time as a senior writer, where I’ve written literally millions of words on every aspect of hockey imaginable.
Along the way, I’ve also authored or co-authored several hockey books, including Habs Heroes and Selling the Dream: How Hockey Players and Their Kids Are Paying the Price for Our National Obsession, which legendary columnist Roy MacGregor called, “The most important book on minor hockey that the game has ever known.”
