TSN’s Kenzie Lalonde will make his this NHL season.
Lalonde will be in the TSN booth Tuesday night calling the Ottawa Senators vs. Toronto Maple Leafs, making her the first woman to be a television play-by-play announcer of an NHL team in Canada.
She is part of a rotating trio of announcers along with Gord Miller and Matt Cullen.
“If Sparty had whispered to this three-year-old girl that one day she would wake up on a Tuesday morning and call play-by-play for the Ottawa Senators, she wouldn’t have believed him,” Lalonde wrote in a post on X.
If Sparty had whispered to this three-year-old girl that one day she would wake up on a Tuesday morning and call play-by-play for the Ottawa Senators, she wouldn’t have believed him.
I am incredibly excited to be in the booth tonight for my first @Senators game on @TSN_Sports pic.twitter.com/OeZ4f4vqh4
— Kenzie Lalonde (@KenzieTSN) November 12, 2024
Lalonde follows in the footsteps of Leah Hextall, who was the first woman to call play-by-play for a nationally televised NHL game in 2020 as part of Sportsnet’s first all-female broadcast team. She signed with ESPN in 2021 and has since done play-by-play announcing in select games.
When not calling Sens games, LaLonde will continue working as TSN’s Montreal bureau chief and host of Montreal Canadiens games broadcasts. She has also called Montreal Canadiens games and Olympic soccer matches for Montreal’s TSN 690 radio and has been the voice of the IIHF women’s world championship since 2022.
In 2021, Lalonde called a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game between the Halifax Mooseheads and the Charlottetown Islanders, becoming the first woman to call a QMJHL game.
“It’s exciting,” Lalonde told The Athletic. “When there’s opportunities and an opportunity (that’s) with the organization that formed your foundational understanding of the game. It’s a dream come true and it’s an incredible responsibility. Ottawa is a crazy hockey market and it’s a smart fan base. It’s a passionate fan base, and it’s a well-developed hockey town.”
[Toronto Star, The Athletic, Image Credit: Eastlink]
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.