Brian Wesley Campbell (born on May 23, 1979,
Strathroy, Ontario) is a professional ice hockey
defenceman who plays for the San Jose Sharks of the
National Hockey League.
Brian grew up in Strathroy, Ontario, Canada, where
he attended elementary school at Colborne Street
Public School and high school at Strathroy District
Collegiate Institute. His parents are Ed and Lorna.
He has two brothers, Craig and Darryl. Darryl also
played pro hockey. He played four seasons in the
ECHL, last for the Mississippi Sea Wolves.
Brian received national attention in Canada in 2003,
not for playing hockey, but because of SARS. Brian's
sister-in-law Vagia, who works at Toronto's Mt.
Sinai Hospital visited him on March 24, 2003.
Shortly after, she started showing SARS symptoms and
was subsequently hospitalized. This led to the
quarantine of both Brian and then teammate Rhett
Warrener. Campbell missed three games before being
cleared to play again. Neither player had any SARS
symptoms.
Brian was taken by the Ottawa 67's in the OHL as a
third round draft pick in the 1995 OHL Priority
Selection. In 1998-99 he won the Red Tilson Trophy
as the OHL's Most Outstanding Player. He also won
the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL's Defenceman of
the Year and the William Hanley Trophy as the OHL's
Most Gentlemanly Player, and to top it off Brian was
also awarded the CHL Player of the Year.
He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres as their 6th
round pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. He played
his first game for the Sabres in the 1999-2000
season, and stayed with the team, wearing number 51,
until February 26th, 2008 when he was traded to San
Jose. During the NHL lockout in 2004-05, he played
for Jokerit in Helsinki, Finland and won the silver
medal in the SM-liiga Finnish championships.
Not known as a physically imposing defenceman, Brian
achieved notoriety during the first round of the
2006 NHL playoffs when he applied a bone crushing
open-ice bodycheck to Philadelphia Flyers' R.J.
Umberger, leaving Umberger sprawled upon the ice
with a concussion.
On January 9, 2007 he was the leading vote getter
amongst Eastern Conference defenceman for the 2007
NHL All-Star Game, earning him his first All-Star
appearance. As a result of the Sabres rotating
captaincy, Brian was named an alternate captain for
the month of November 2007 and Captain for the month
of December under the Sabres 2007-08 rotating
captain and alternate captains system. Brian was
selected again in 2008 NHL All-Star team.
At the trade deadline on February 26, 2008, Campbell
and a 7th round draft pick were traded from the
Buffalo Sabres to the San Jose Sharks for Steve
Bernier and a 1st round pick in the 2008 draft.
