ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Rochester has a strong connection to the NHL, with four head equipment managers in recent memory hailing from the area. Among them is Jeff Camelio, the head equipment manager for the Seattle Kraken.
“To reach that, the pinnacle of the equipment manager profession, I guess was pretty special,” Jeff Camelio said.
Camelio has been with the Seattle Kraken since their inception, making the move in 2020. His journey began in Rochester, where he started working with the Amerks at just 13 years old.
“I think every one of those guys, their love for hockey came from watching Amerks hockey,” said Kevin Oklobzija, an Amerks reporter for Pickin’ Splinters.
And it was with the Amerks where Camelio began his career in the early ’90s, helping out with tasks like filling water bottles and changing trash cans. Jeff left the Amerks in 1998 before working four seasons in the ECHL and three more in the AHL before being an NHL assistant from 2005 to 2020. The hard work paid off, just last month, he won a gold medal with Team USA at the IIHF World Championships.
Camelio’s son, Anthony, now works with the Kraken as well.
“There’s definitely been some, some showing off of the gold,” said Anthony Camelio.
Anthony followed in his father’s footsteps, starting with similar tasks and working his way up to be the head equipment manager for the Rapid City Rush during the 2023-2024 season.
“Well, there are definitely a lot of phone calls back to Seattle asking on things I like to pick his brain,” said Anthony.
“I got a lot of phone calls. Hey, dad, how do you fix this? Hey, how do you fix that?” Jeff said.
“Not many people can say that they’re living their dream job, working with their father or their family. And that is incredible,” Anthony said.
Jeff Camelio has dreams of working in the Olympics, and both he and Anthony hope to achieve more in the future.
“You know, who knows? Maybe one day I’ll have that chance. But, it’s it’s such an honor to know that he did that,” Anthony said.
Other Rochester natives working as head equipment managers in the NHL include Nashville’s Pete Rogers and Buffalo’s Dave Williams. J.C. Ihrig served as Colorado’s head equiptment manager until the 2023-2024 season. Camelio previously worked under Rogers with the Predators.
Anthony lived in Rochester and attended Spencerport until his sophomore year of high school.
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