Tessa Bonhomme was among the honoured guests at the Halifax Convention Centre Thursday where the Canadian Progress Club hosted the 52nd Desjardins Sports Charity Dinner.
The hockey player turned sports reporter and broadcaster won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. She told CTV’s Brianne Foley she loves returning to the East Coast where she has family roots and enough fond memories from her playing days to consider herself an honourary East Coaster.
“Lot of good memories and a lot of good times out this way for sure,” Bonhomme said.
Events like the charity dinner give athletes a chance to show gratitude towards their fans and communities, Bonhomme said.
“It’s important to give back to sports and especially an event that has given you so much,” she said. “I feel like I know what sports, and hockey in particular, had done for me so to be able to come out here and to help contribute to an organization that helps support that, especially with athletes with disabilities, I think it’s very important.”
Bonhomme started working for the new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PHWL) in 2024 after 10 years at TSN. She said some of her best working years and fondest memories came with TSN, but the PWHL offered new opportunities.
“I want to work on something I’m extremely passionate about and there’s nothing I’m more passionate about than women’s hockey,” Bonhomme said.
After a successful first year, Bonhomme said she’s excited to be a part of the PWHL’s continued growth and development alongside the athletes.
“I really wanted to help promote all the great characters that the league has so I started a Jocks and Jills podcast with my co-host Julia Tocheri and we’re just having a ton of fun with it,” Bonhomme said. “We’re also helping to build out their digital media hub as well.”
Bonhomme said it’s no surprise the league is growing. She said the games are fun, there’s less corporate influence and the players are building connections with honest interviews and an online presence.
“There’s a really good fan-player connection there,” she said.
Halifax hockey fans hope to see the PWHL come to the city, a plan Bonhomme said she supports.
“I would love nothing more,” Bonhomme said. She promised to make a push for a team in Halifax and said she might have to buy local real estate so she can attend home games.
“I feel like as long as there’s a venue in place for the ladies to train and play in, a proper venue with proper seating, the fanbase obviously is going to be here.”
Bonhomme said despite the new responsibilities she has a better work-life balance in her new job and gets to spend more time with her family, so it’s a professional and a personal win.
“My heart feels full in the sense that I’m working on a passion project.”
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