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“I thought, now I get it,” he said. “Why she was the captain for Canada for so many years.”

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That leadership was evident again Monday, even as Campbell-Pascall pushed back on being cast as a central figure in the women’s movement.

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“I know what’s been done behind the scenes,” Campbell-Pascall said. “But that’s not really how I see myself.”

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Bukauskas, however, offered a different view — one shaped by both observation and conversations with others in the game.

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“She’s a builder,” Bukauskas said. “Whether it was building the national program as a player, helping open doors in broadcasting, or what we’re seeing now with the women’s game, it all connects.”

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Campbell-Pascall’s résumé supports that assessment. She captained Canada to Olympic gold in 2002 and 2006, becoming the longest-serving captain in Canadian women’s hockey history. She later broke ground as the first woman to work as a colour analyst on Hockey Night in Canada and has remained a visible advocate for the women’s game.

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The book also touches on the modern evolution of women’s hockey, including the launch of the Professional Women’s Hockey League in 2023 — a milestone she and others had long worked toward.

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Still, the title Just a Girl resists the idea of grand narrative.

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It reflects both the dismissive phrase often directed at young women in sport and Campbell-Pascall’s own grounding in her roots — a girl from Brampton, Ont., who simply followed her passion.

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That humility helped shape the tone of Monday’s event in the days ahead of the annual PGA TOUR Champions stop in Calgary, which blended inspiration with candid reflection.

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Blakes Women’s Day is designed to bring together women from across the city for networking, conversation and golf, but Campbell-Pascall’s story offered something more personal: a reminder that success is rarely linear.

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“There are victories,” Campbell-Pascall said. “But also doubts, setbacks and decisions where you don’t always know the next step.”

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Her career has moved through those stages — player, captain, broadcaster, coach and advocate — and she said the book is meant to reflect that evolution rather than simply catalogue achievements.

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“It’s a more personal book than a sport book,” she said.

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That distinction may be what makes Just a Girl resonate beyond hockey audiences.

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The medals, the broadcasts and the milestones are all there. But they are not the whole story.

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Campbell-Pascall said Fitz-Gerald, who first approached her about writing a book more than two decades ago, helped shape the narrative into something more reflective than celebratory. The memoir is written in the present tense, allowing each stage of her life to be experienced as it happened.

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“He told my stories the way I would have wanted them told,” she said.

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For Bukauskas, that authenticity is what stands out most.

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The same competitor who once led Canada is still present — only now, the story is told in her own voice, with both triumphs and struggles given equal weight.

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And perhaps that was the most fitting message for a morning built around community and conversation.

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Campbell-Pascall has spent a career breaking barriers, but she remains reluctant to frame herself as anything larger than she is.

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She is, as the title suggests, Just a Girl.

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Only this particular girl helped change Canadian hockey along the way.

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Just a Girl is scheduled for release Oct. 6, 2026, and is currently available for pre-order.

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