Prior to high school, she participated for the Madison Capitols Bantam boys team in 2005–06 and helped the team to state and regional championships. Kessel attended Shattuck St. Mary's in Minnesota. The 2007 edition of the team captured the U-19 national championship, while Kessel marked 102 points in 56 games. In her junior year, Kessel registered 44 goals and 56 assists for 100 points. She accomplished the 100-point mark in just 34 games and won her second consecutive U-19 national championship. She tallied 122 points and 55 assists in her final season. She was the team leader by 61 points.
NCAA
October 1, 2010: In her first game as a Golden Gopher, Amanda Kessel registered four points. The following day, Kessel scored the game-winning goal as the Gophers won by a 3–0 score. The game against Clarkson marked the first time in school history that the Gophers opened a season against a ranked opponent.
On December 10, Amanda Kessel assisted on a career-high four goals in a conference victory over visiting Ohio State. The Gophers enjoyed a 6–0 win.
November 18, 2010: Kessel registered five points as the Golden Gophers defeated the New Hampshire Wildcats by an 11–0 tally. This was the worst loss in the 35-year history of the Wildcats program.
November 19: Kessel earned her second hat trick of the series as the Gophers defeated New Hampshire by a 6–1 tally.
September 10, 2014, the Golden Gophers announced that Kessel would sit out the 2014–15 season as a result of lingering concussion symptoms she had sustained while playing for Team USA.
July 21, 2015: the Golden Gophers announced that Kessel would not be playing hockey for the 2015–16 season due to health reasons. Because she had previously taken a redshirt year on two prior occasions, she will no longer be eligible to play college hockey.
February 3, 2016: The Golden Gophers announced that Kessel returned to the team. Despite earlier prognoses, she continued working to gain clearance from doctors to play hockey and succeeded late in the 2015–2016 season in time for the February 5–6 series against North Dakota.
Team USA
As a member of the U.S. Women's National Team, Kessel has won a medal at all the international tournaments she has participated in:
Prior to being named to the U.S. Women's National Team, Kessel was a member of both the United States Under-22 Team and Under-18 Team. Kessel played for the United States Under-18 in 2009, and was named the World Under 18 tournament's most valuable forward. She scored six goals and 13 assists for 19 points to lead Team USA to a gold medal. In the 2008 Under 18 World Championships, she played in five games with Team USA and tallied 11 points, ranking third among all players in scoring. Kessel was named to the US team that participated in the 2010 Four Nations Cup. She did not play due to injury.
NWHL
Kessel was never drafted by a National Women's Hockey League team; league rules stipulate that a college player must be entering her senior year to be drafted, and Kessel's junior season was completed in 2013, before the league existed. Instead, she signed as a free-agent with the New York Riveters on May 1, 2016. Her contract of $26,000 was the largest NWHL contract to date. Kessel was named one of the two captains for the 2nd NWHL All-Star Game. Scoring a hat trick in the All-Star Game, the first to do so in NWHL All-Star history, she would also be recognized as the game's Most Valuable Player. After taking a season off from the NWHL due to national team commitments, she returned to the NWHL with the renamed Metropolitan Riveters for the 2018–19 season.
