With a role on TNT’s NHL broadcast on deck, Jennifer Botterill leans on mantra from her new book

While Jennifer Botterill will not be back on Sportsnet hockey broadcasts this season, the Canadian Olympic gold medalist and Hockey Hall of Famer confirmed she’ll work for NHL on TNT this year. She also has a new book hitting shelves.

Earlier this month, Sportsnet announced the studio analysts for its renamed Saturday Night Hockey, with Colby Armstrong in Botterill’s place on the Canadian broadcast, alongside Kevin Bieksa, Elliotte Friedman and long-time host Ron MacLean. Botterill had been a studio analyst on Hockey Night in Canada and Sportsnet telecasts for over five years. Neither Botterill nor fellow analyst Kelly Hrudey will be returning.

Botterill returns to NHL on TNT, where she has previously done studio and in-game work. The U.S. broadcaster expects to announce its plans this week, but Botterill said she’ll mainly be in the booth beside the play-by-play talent, doing in-game analysis.

She confirmed the TNT stint to The Globe on Monday during an interview about her new book Why Not You: My Story of Perseverance, Hockey, and Olympic Gold – set for release on Tuesday.

“I really enjoyed the seasons with the Rogers and Sportsnet team, especially in terms of colleagues and lifelong friendships. I am also very excited I have another opportunity,” said Botterill, adding she’s always loved being in the rink, overlooking the ice, commenting live on a game.

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In her new book, written with author and journalist Kristina Rutherford, Botterill brings readers inside life on the Canadian women’s national team and behind the curtain of Hockey Night in Canada, where she was the only female studio analyst, “addressing the most passionate hockey audience in the world.”

The book’s title, Why Not You, refers to a question Botterill’s sports psychologist father asked his hockey-playing daughter at 15, three years before Canada would name its first-ever women’s Olympic hockey roster for the 1998 Nagano Winter Games. That question became a life mantra for Botterill.

The Winnipeg native was the youngest player on that historic Canadian roster at 18. She went on to earn four Olympic medals over 12 years with Team Canada – three gold – plus five world championships. At Harvard she was a two-time Patty Kazmaier Award winner and remains the school’s all-time leader in points and goals.

The 47-year-old writes about intense Olympic training camps and her favourite of the 174 points she ever tallied for Canada (hint, she was on ice with a young Marie-Philip Poulin). Botterill gives her perspective on the flag-stomping controversy at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics. She also describes how Canadian coaches tried to dissuade her from leaving an elite training hub in Calgary to attend Harvard at a time when U.S. college hockey was a less-travelled path for Canadian females.

She documents her rise as a broadcaster, first trying it out at the 2011 women’s world hockey championships. Soon she was doing Olympic Games for men and women, the NHL, and was live at the Stanley Cup final. She was constantly striving to prove she belonged in the chairs where women had rarely sat.

Botterill recounts seeing the game differently from some of her fellow panellists and having some heated on-air debates, like with the former NHLers Bieksa and Jamal Mayers.

“There was often a follow-up to say, ‘Yes, we agree that we’re going to disagree,’” said Botterill. “Some of us on various shows have different opinions and we feel strongly about those different opinions, and that’s okay. Because the hockey fans, the viewers, there will be people that hold different points of view too.”

Her preparation was crucial, feeling that a little slip-up on air by a male analyst might be quickly excused, but not one by a female.

“I had played elite hockey, but I didn’t play in the NHL. … I don’t want to take this lightly,” said Botterill. “I knew people were going to be watching carefully in terms of what’s my knowledge of the game or how thorough is my understanding.”

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Sometimes Botterill’s opinions made her the target of negative comments from fans online, especially when she spoke out about “archaic revenge culture” or a player intentionally injuring another to “send a message.”

Botterill doesn’t agree that violence and fighting are simply part of hockey and if you don’t like it, you must be soft. She believes the game can evolve.

“I feel fortunate that the networks allowed me to be honest and sincere,” said Botterill. “I always knew I would never please 100 per cent of viewers, but I also received an amazing amount of support from people that were so thankful that my point of view was being articulated and shared on the show, because a lot of people felt the same way.”

Botterill and her husband, skills coach Adrian Lomonaco, also run a hockey performance business and coach their three daughters, ages 7, 9 and 11. She has enjoyed working on the book, too.

“I felt all the excitement and joy and elation again, but also the moments that were tougher and the challenges to overcome,” said Botterill. “Sort of felt like I was living it again.”