Tara Slone: a HOCKEY PERSONALITY LIKE NO OTHER
By David Pagnotta
Photo by Lisa Macintosh
Growing up in Nova Scotia, Tara Slone didn’t have as many opportunities to lace up the skates as perhaps she may have liked, but hockey was, and still is, an important part of her career and her life.
As she formulated a career in music, moving to Toronto to pursue her goals, hockey always seemed to be in the background. As fate would have it, hockey pulled up to the front door and Tara was able to embrace it and champion a path on and off the ice, and in and out of the locker room in her own way.
We sat down with Tara to discuss her music and broadcast career, her affinity for the sport, core memories and the growing women’s game.
IW: Olympics, I assume you watched.
Tara Slone: I did. I did.
IW: Yeah, just the takeaways for the women and the men's game. Gold medal.
TS: I mean, this is statistically not the strongest women's team. We knew this. We knew this watching the rivalry series. We know that it was sort of, you know, veteran versus youth. I think the big heartbreaker about the women's final was that Canada came out swinging so hard and looking sort of like their old selves. And so it was just an absolute heartbreaking way to lose and it was so close. I know so many of those women on Team Canada and I remember Ron McLean and I doing an interview with some of the silver medalists right after Pyeongchang and I mean it was grim. For them, it's not winning silver, it's losing gold. So I know exactly how they feel and then watching Marie-Phillip Poulin's face like in tears, was just like too much to handle. So a heartbreaker, but you know, think all things considered, they managed to get through the tournament looking pretty good. The men's, it's just, I mean, they should have fucking won that game. Connor Hellebyuck had like the game of a lifetime, honestly. And there were some really, you know, some bad puck luck. Macklin Celebrini came so close. Yeah. Yeah. Just so like, just no puck luck on their side. And so that really was a heartbreaker because I just, I thought, I thought Canada was going to win.
IW: The Olympic game always or the Olympics always really catapulted the women's game and put it in like a different, a totally different spectrum. Now, obviously we have the PWHL, but what are some highlights for you that you've seen over the years from the Olympics specific to the women's game that really kind of stood out to you over these, however many years that you've, you've tuned into it.
TS: Well, I mean, I do think it is about this rivalry. Like, of course we all want more parity and that's been fun to watch and see, you now how many players we can name because we see some of them in the PWHL and, you know, just we see strong play from other countries and that's just going to keep on growing. But yeah, the Olympics, I think for Canada has been able to create at least a little bit of a star system for these players who are so deserving of it.
So, you know, for me, some of the women's finals have been, you know, the 'where were you when' moments, you know, just remembering like being at in 2014, being at the gym I went to in Calgary and like everything came to a stop and like everybody was watching. So it's just managed to provide those moments. But I think, you know, what we're seeing now is just, it's so great because there is this amplification due to the Olympics and then it's not gonna fall off. The bump will be experienced and it will hopefully ride into the PWHL and also just knowing that these women can continue to play best-on-best all the time and that there's now a young generation of young girls and boys who will never know, hopefully, never know a world without a women's professional league. And that to me is like really, like it makes my heart sing.
IW: What's one of your first memories of attending a women's game, whether it's hockey or another sport or whatnot, and what kind of stood out to you the most from it?
TS: You know, it probably wasn't until like the CWHL because when I was growing up, I mean, I'm old... like I grew up in White Hill, Nova Scotia; girls wore figure skates, boys wore hockey skates. And of course, you know, I would have seen some like stuff at Dalhousie University or Concordia, but I don't think I went to like a women's game probably until I saw some of that professional league. It hits you in the heart just a little bit differently. I think, you know, especially because for me, it just wasn't a thing, it wasn't an aspiration. So what always hits me is watching the young girls and young women in the stands and seeing their idols on the ice and that seeing themselves reflected. That's it stood out to me, you know, early on and it still stands out to me today.
IW: Were there other sports that you'd watched growing up that — tennis, golf, women's soccer or anything like that - that kind of you gravitated to a little bit or just kind of waiting until...?
TS: No, I mean, I wish I could say yes. I think it's a matter of exposure and that's always been sort of the argument for making sure that there are women's sports available to watch. You can play them all you want, but if it's in a vacuum and nobody's seeing it, and I mean, quite frankly, it wasn't that long ago that you wouldn't see any women's stats on the landing page of Sportsnet or TSN. Just starting to be able to consume the WNBA regularly, even though it's been around for 25 years.
I mean, tennis, think that's always been enthralling. And yeah, I mean, I think (tennis) helps shape the idea of what an athlete is and how powerful a woman's body can be. But in terms of team sports, no. I wish I was an early adopter, but it just wasn't even in my sphere.
IW: And now it's, it's everywhere you've got, and not just the hockey, but you know, the Toronto Tempo is starting in May as part of the WNBA. There's a lot more access everywhere, especially online and with the PWHL growing, added two more teams, they're going to be growing again. What have you seen from the, from the PWHL in its first few years that's really kind of stood out the most to you?
TS: What stood out to me is the culture, the atmosphere at PWHL Games. I mean, granted, I've only been to games here in Toronto, but my understanding is it really feels the same everywhere. It really feels like a community. It is really LGBTQ+ friendly. And I don't know, it's because I think these players have spent their lives... they have so much appreciation for the people who came before them -- so many of them give back in so many ways and have made themselves accessible. So there's also like, I feel like a different relationship between fans and players -- there's an accessibility, you can give them high fives, you can say hi. I mean, trust me, as I'm sure you know, like fans also, you know, they'll root against you and they'll hate you. The boos when Brita Pearl comes on the ice when Minnesota is in town, like it's for real. So it's not all like, you know, it's not all sickly sweet, but there is a community and there is a joy and an accessibility and price wise too, right? It means you can bring your whole family, which is incredible.
Photo by Duane Cole
“Well, never in a million years did I think that hockey would be a career for me, but I did grow up like many other Canadian kids watching hockey on Saturday nights. I watched with my dad. My family's from Montreal, so we were Habs fans and it was a real bonding experience.”
IW: And the other thing that at least we've noticed is the athletes utilizing social media to really show their personalities a lot more. And the NHL guys are slow to this, but that's a whole different culture/breed, to an extent, they haven't really been, you know, exploiting their personalities in the right way, whereas I find that the athletes in the PWHL have been able to do that utilizing social media more to their advantage. And, you know, as a performer for yourself and with SiriusXM, you can, people get to see your personality a lot more. Whereas for hockey players, the helmet's always on. So, just your thoughts on how these athletes are taking advantage of social media in order to show everybody who they really are.
TS: Yeah, I mean, I'm sort of guessing at the why. I do think again, it's a different culture coming up. I think that the culture of sort of team versus everything and silence and kind of like keep your, it's not about your personality, it's about the whole. And of course, somehow these women have managed to balance. Of course it's about the team, they love each other, and take care of each other as much as any teammates. But somehow it just hasn't made them afraid to sort of show who they are. I think there's also been a necessity, right? Again, these women don't make NHL salaries, even though they are getting paid at this point a living wage. So it's to their benefit also, you know. Like Sarah Nurse, I have, I can't tell, I don't know how much Sarah Nurse brings in, but I feel pretty confident in saying that her PWHL salary is a pretty small sliver of what she earns because she has so many endorsements and she aligns herself with products and businesses that she really believes in. So I think that there's also the women's players are not afraid to show their political stripes or, you know, sort of be asking for social justice. They haven't been trained. The personality hasn't been trained out of them. And I mean, I say that as a blanket statement, it's not fair because there's plenty of personality in NHL dressing rooms. But yeah, I think it's a combination between like necessity, you know, being the mother of invention and also just having a little bit more of a broad-minded culture.
IW: I mentioned that the league is growing and they're expected to add 2-4 more teams over the next two or three years. Your thoughts on that? The league's in a good spot. Is it growing too quickly? Is it growing just right? What are your thoughts about their growth?
TS: I mean, have to look into books, Dave. I don't know. I've heard both sides. I think there's a fear of growing too quickly. But I also think that there are markets that really want it. I mean, Vancouver and Seattle, think have been fantastic. So it's a matter of putting them in the right places. And I don't know, this financial model, is this ownership going to remain the same? I really don't know. They can't possibly be making money hand over fist at this point. So I'm just hoping that all the backers, or the backer is, is going to stick around until this thing really does start to make some money. But I think they expanded to the right places and clearly they're, they're looking at other markets where they know they're going to get some full rooms.
IW: So, just growing up in Montreal and Nova Scotia, the hockey connection obviously is strong there, but also your career and how that took off into the music industry. I know you've been asked this a million times, but how did that come about and how did enter that world.
TS: Well, never in a million years did I think that hockey would be a career for me, but I did grow up like many other Canadian kids watching hockey on Saturday nights. I watched with my dad. My family's from Montreal, so we were Habs fans and it was a real bonding experience. I happened to be young at just the right time. I remember the '86 Cup and Mats Naslund was like by far my favourite player and it was the only time I was allowed to swear openly, which was fun. But that was always just sort of my pastime, something I liked to do. I will add that I also had a Montreal Canadiens puffy coat in high school, which I wish I still had. I guess I can't wear it now, but, but the music, but music was always my focus and what I thought would, I would do with my career.
So I studied classical music in school. I also worked at ‘Sam the Record Man’ all through high school. So initially I thought I was going to be an opera singer, but that did not go as planned. And then, I moved to Montreal to go to school, I joined a rock band and then I actually moved to Toronto to pursue sort of theater and film and ended up joining Joydrop and that sort of took off.
It feels like such a long story because it's just like my career has been long, which is amazing. So yeah, two albums with Joydrop and a solo album. And then it stint on a reality show. And really it was the reality show that kind of, you know, where the fork in the road occurred and TV came my way. So I started in entertainment and then I really wanted to steer my career towards sports when I really started to do TV in earnest and it was clear that's where I was going to reside. I don't know, you say you have to be good to be lucky or lucky to be good. I feel very fortunate because I just, I happened to be working at breakfast television in Calgary; I had met Scott Moore, who at the time was the president of Sportsnet. It was just a series of events and I happened to be around and on his radar when Hometown Hockey was born. For me it was a very intentional, like that's a show I want to be involved in. And I maneuvered my way into it.
IW: Did you have a say in how things were kind of pieced together or produced with hometown hockey?
TS: Yeah, we all did. I mean, it was the most collaborative TV experience I've ever had. We were kind of left to our own devices. We were obviously on the road; we have had our own group of producers. I mean, it was a pretty giant machine, but in terms of the content, when it came to researching the stories, we were very intentional about making sure that we weren't just telling stories about white men. Because of course you can always find an NHL alumnus somewhere. You have to dig a little deeper for some of the other stories. So yeah, best teamwork. Like it was an incredible eight seasons and it was our decision to also do a land acknowledgement before every broadcast, which I think we were the first. So yeah, we're very, very, very proud of everything we were able to feature.
IW: And you featured a lot. And there were a lot of great stories that came out of all that. Are there one or two that stood out the most in that regard, or at least are kind of in your brain the most?
TS: I mean, there's honestly, there's so many, even like, I look around my living room now and like, there's so many things in this room alone that have a connection to my travels. I do always talk about the real immersion and the incredible generosity and hospitality offered to us by First Nations across Canada. We were hosted in two First Nations, but like specifically on the nation, but we also were welcomed by many nations across the country that collaborated with the cities that we were in. So I would say those stories, that kind of learning, highlighted what we didn't learn in school. And we felt very privileged to be able to, to do that.
I think a lot about this kid, Alex Louie, who unfortunately he passed away. He was 15, but we met him and he was an avid hockey player and he had a form of cancer and ended up losing part of his leg. He was from Niagara Falls and he was a huge Ovi fan. So it was just one of those things where you can kind of use all the tentacles of the connections through Sportsnet, through the NHL, and we were able to facilitate him meeting Alex Ovechkin and he was at a game where Ovi scored a hat trick and just sort of moments like that, which were so incredibly special.
Photo by Amanda Cain
“I grew up in White Hill, Nova Scotia; girls wore figure skates, boys wore hockey skates. And of course, you know, I would have seen some like stuff at Dalhousie University or Concordia, but I don't think I went to like a women's game probably until I saw some of that professional league. It hits you in the heart just a little bit differently.”
IW: And now with your work with SiriusXM and the San Jose Sharks, how are those experiences going? You mentioned, we talked about personalities earlier, you've got a couple on the Sharks there with Will Smith and Macklin (Celebrini). How's that duo doing?
TS: They're hilarious. They're, mean, when you see them just hanging out, you remember that they're children. I don't say that pejoratively, but like they're kids, but when it comes to hockey, they take it really, really friggin seriously.
This is my fourth season with the team. We knew last year what was coming, but I'm not sure that we knew it was going to happen so fast. And so it's just been remarkable. The Tank, I can't hear myself think, it's so loud. I think the rest of the season is entirely sold out. It's just such a feel good story, and of course, rightfully Macklin is a generational talent and Will is incredible, but there's a lot of other pieces to this puzzle that have been just really fun to watch. I think like the Toffoli's, collectively... if the Sharks ever win anything, I think Cat Toffoli gets the team building award, because they've really been such a galvanizing force. Tyler's obviously a veteran, but that family, they're the ones who invite people over and make sure that the team's hanging out together and having fun. Ryan Reaves has been incredible. You know, he's sort of come to life there and really see his value. These players that maybe you didn't think would be, you know, such an asset and they are. And so it's a really nice locker room to be part of.
IW: What have you enjoyed the most with respect to the work that you do with the Sharks? Because I know you've got a segment, Making Waves, is that correct?
TS: Yeah. So I kind of have two. I have my one job is with NBC and that's the rink side reporting. And then for the Sharks themselves, I do a show called The Undercurrent, which has a podcast, and then Making Waves, which is a video feature, series that focuses on the Bay Area more specifically; people kind of making a difference in hockey in the Bay.
I think the highlight for me with the team is that I frankly felt at Sportsnet, I'm so grateful for my time there, but I felt like I was always pushing in a direction that wasn't necessarily well received. Like I understand that I want to focus on women and I want to focus on marginalized or racialized groups. Like I want to be inclusive. That's annoying for some people. And I felt like the Sharks created a job for me, NBC created a job for me, and they both did it knowing exactly who I was, and I feel celebrated there as opposed to just kind of tolerated. But I do want to clarify that with Hometown Hockey, I didn't feel that way. Hometown Hockey was universally great.
IW: And your SiriusXM Show, how's that going?
TS: I have a weekly show called No Filter, which is a woman's focused show. And then once a month I do a pop culture panel show, called 'No Offense, But.' So it's, it's fun and it exercises is a different part of my brain and my skill set. So it's been a nice compliment. You know, it's nice to be able to do a little bit of everything.
I believe I read this correctly that back when Saku Koivu made his return (from cancer) and you did the anthem, is that right? Against the Leafs I think. What was that experience like? The Forum was nuts, Bell Centre is nuts. If you can reminisce about that experience...
TS: So he was on the ice, but he wasn't playing yet. So he would have played probably like the next game or the game after that. And they were honoring a bunch of Olympians actually, a bunch of speed skaters, I remember. And Saku Koivu, Toronto, Montreal, Bell Centre, Saturday night, they were showing the anthem on Hockey Night in Canada. And I must have sung the anthem a thousand times that week leading up. I have nerves, I wouldn't say I have stage fright, but I get nervous. This was probably the most nervous I have ever been in my entire life. But I popped through it. Like man, my family was there. You know, it was just one of those full circle moments where it's like the team I watched, grew up watching with my dad, you know, there I was.
IW: Cool. Well, I'm gonna leave it off of this. What would you like to see next for the women's game of hockey and the PWHL and whether it's now or a couple years or whatnot, how would you like to see the immediate evolution take place for the league and the game?
TS: Well, I don't know if this is going to be a popular opinion, but it is my own. I do think it can be a little hard to find. I appreciate that they have different deals with different networks and it makes it viable, but I think it would be great if there was a broadcaster where you always knew where to find it. I would love if they would, you know, pair it on Saturdays, have a Saturday night game, you know, give it the sort of Hockey Night in Canada treatment or Hockey Afternoon in Canada treatment. So that's why I would just sort of like it to be more universally accessible, you know, to view remotely.