The Newtown-New Fairfield co-op hockey team has a new head coach as Michael Campbell takes over for longtime leader Paul Esposito.

Campbell resides in Bethel with Lindsay and their daughter Millie. He works as a field estimator in the Sports Division for SNA Displays, an LED video display company, where he brings his expertise to large-scale sports projects.

As a player, he enjoyed a career at Western Connecticut State University, where he played four years, beginning in 2009, and served as team captain during his junior and senior years. Campbell was recognized with the Student Leadership Award. Prior to college, he competed for Bethel-Brookfield co-op where he earned All-State and All-Conference honors and captained the team in his senior year.

With a strong passion for hockey, Campbell has a wealth of coaching experience. He served as an assistant coach for the Bethel-Brookfield-Danbury team for eight years, helping develop young athletes both on and off the ice. He also held the role of co-hockey director and head coach for the Western Connecticut Junior Colonials for five years, overseeing player development, team practices, and managing the program’s logistics. During his early stages as a coach Campbell worked at Danbury Ice Arena with the New York Rangers Learn to Play program where he really grew his passion for giving back to the game. Several of his former Colonials’ players are now on his high school team.

“This has been a goal of mine since I started coaching right out of high school. As a prior coach to a lot of these kids at the youth level it’s exciting to see the impact I’ve made on their hockey careers and to see how they’ve grown over the years. As a coach it gets me fired up to see the kids continuing playing the game every day and wanting to be on the ice,” he said.

Among Campbell’s top hockey career moments include scoring a goal on Nick Niedert (a Minor Hockey League Legend, Campbell noted) from a pass by Adam Graves (former New York Ranger and Stanley Cup winner) during the Ranger alumni/Western JR Colonials youth hockey benefit game. And there was winning gold at Lake Placid CAN/AM Tournament as head coach of the Western Jr Colonials — on the ice sheet where the 1980 Olympic team won gold. Campbell also had tryouts with the SPHL’s Huntsville Havoc and FPHL’s Danbury Hat Tricks.

As for what he brings to the ice surface with Newtown-New Fairfield: “I’d say my style is work hard, play harder. I expect my players to come to practice ready to work, learn, and push themselves past their own limits. When game time comes I expect them to play harder than they worked the day prior,” Campbell said.

Esposito stepped down but not away after two decades leading Newtown varsity hockey; he continues to help out in the hockey program.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.