By the end of the workday, the longest on the Canadian sports television calendar, Cheryl Pounder had time for only a partial wardrobe change. She threw on a set of sweats before getting onto the ice to skate with a minor hockey team: “I left the makeup on the face, so the kids found that quite entertaining.”

She had been on the air since 8 a.m. with TSN’s all-day coverage of the NHL trade deadline, discussing acquisitions and rosters, along with greeting a personal hero live on the air. Pounder is also coach of the under-15 Brampton Canadettes single-A team, where her eldest daughter plays, and she felt duty-bound to attend practice despite her arduous schedule.

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“Then,” she said with a laugh, “I went home for three glasses of wine and I crashed.”

The Canadian Olympic hockey veteran has been making cameo appearances on sports broadcasts for a decade, but the frequency is increasing this season, and her schedule is only expected to get busier. She was part of TSN’s lead panel on deadline day — her studio debut for the event — and that fell less than a week after she made her first appearance as a panelist for a Maple Leafs game on the network.

Her work has drawn praise from viewers and colleagues, as well as from TSN executives.

“What she has is an energy that kind of comes off the screen,” said Steve Dryden, the senior managing editor for hockey at TSN.

“She’s impressive,” said Ken Volden, vice-president and executive producer at the network.

Pounder won gold as a defenceman with Canada at the Winter Olympics in 2002 and 2006, but she has no formal broadcast training. She has been learning on the job, both in the booth and in the studio, with TSN’s regional coverage of the Senators, as well as Leafs TV coverage of the Marlies, in the AHL.

In February, she was part of the CBC’s highest-rated broadcast of the Beijing Olympics, working as the colour analyst as Canada edged the United States for the gold medal in women’s hockey. (She and play-by-play voice Bryan Mudryk called the game from a booth at the CBC’s headquarters in Toronto.)

“When you first get an opportunity in it, you really don’t know what you’re looking for, because you’re listening to a producer, with a camera on, and all those kind of things,” she said. “I think that now it’s more frequent — and there’s more reps — it’s a little more natural.”

Pounder decided to seek those reps — the broadcast opportunities — during the pandemic. With more time to think during the various shutdowns, she realized how much she enjoyed being on air, and how it afforded her a chance to stay close to the game. For the first time, she started making calls.

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“I’d never really pursued it,” she said. “I don’t know whether I had the gumption or the confidence to pursue it, or whether it was just being content.”

Pounder has a home in suburban Toronto, but in practical reality, she lives at the rink. In addition to the under-15 team, she also coaches her youngest daughter’s team. In any given week, she can expect to be inside a rink for all but two days.

Most of her family tree has been shaped by the game, and by a life in sports. Her maternal grandmother earned a contract to play in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which would become the inspiration for the 1992 film “A League Of Their Own.”

Dora Wimmer was a pitcher, and Pounder has been told stories of how baseball fans in Montreal would line up on days she was scheduled to pitch. (“She was awesome,” Pounder said. “Never let me win at cards.”)

Wimmer’s husband, Phil, was an executive who helped built the Montreal Junior Canadiens into a team that won back-to-back Memorial Cup championships, in 1969 and 1970. Those rosters were loaded with future NHL players such as Gilbert Perreault, Réjean Houle, Rick Martin and Ian Turnbull.

Pounder’s husband, Mike O’Toole, was a forward taken by the St. Louis Blues in the 1986 NHL Draft (sixth round, 115th overall). He played at Michigan State University, but a serious knee injury derailed his professional ambitions.

Craig Button, the former NHL general manager now working as an analyst for TSN, said Pounder has blended her personal experience into the broadcast in a way that gives viewers a deeper understanding of what they might be watching. It can be as simple as the anecdote she provided before Canada’s gold medal final, he said, where she outlined what it looked like through her eyes as a player.

“Nobody would know what that’s like, to prepare for a gold medal game,” he said. “She took the people right through it, and it was phenomenal.”

She can also react on her feet. Leading into the NHL trade deadline show, TSN had asked its hosts what jersey they would most covet. The segment would run during a lull in trade activity — there would be a lot of quiet time in the broadcast — and would also let viewers learn a bit more about the broadcasters.

Martin Biron, the former NHL goaltender, picked Canadiens legend Ken Dryden. Dave Poulin picked Pat LaFontaine. Mike Johnson opted for Paul Coffey.

Pounder picked Angela James.

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A moment later, James appeared from a hiding spot backstage to present Pounder with that jersey. (The producers had been trying to keep her out of sight through the whole broadcast, sometimes shepherding Pounder away from certain rooms during commercial breaks to maintain the surprise.)

Pounder rushed from her chair to embrace James, who was one of the first women inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. As she pulled back — “Sorry, welling,” she said, motioning to her eyes — she paid tribute to James.

She told viewers how James had signed a copy of her book to Pounder’s daughters. She told James she was a “legacy” and an “awesome human being,” and smiled as she reminded her former teammate how she “did straight-arm me at practice when I got by once.”

Without prompting and without notes, Pounder also relayed a story from the 1994 world championship, when both women were playing for Canada. Pounder told viewers she did not get on the ice for a single shift in the final game, but that James encouraged her: “Hey kid, Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

“I was taken with that,” said Dryden, the TSN hockey executive. “In that moment, she had the composure – which clearly was an emotional moment for her, based on her reaction — and she could summon those two stories just like that.”

Volden, the network vice-president, noticed how Pounder was, like a player on the ice, also able to read and react during the exchange. She was aware of her surroundings, he said, and knew where the camera was positioned to maximize the exchange for viewers watching at home.

“Through the years, we’ve had a lot of people who are really smart — who were accomplished athletes — who couldn’t project and be on camera,” said Volden. “She certainly projects and lights up in a very likable way. You pair that with the fact that what comes out of her mouth is really smart and intelligent — that’s a pretty winning formula.”

Pounder is also at least the third member of a Canadian Olympic dynasty to break into the broadcasting world. Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Jennifer Botterill also won gold with Canada at the Winter Games in 2002 and 2006, and both have developed prominent roles in Sportsnet’s hockey coverage.

As it turns out, Pounder is also adept at navigating cross-town traffic after a long day in the studio. She made it to the minor hockey rink, but it was close.

“I’m glad I didn’t put my seat back in the parking lot for 10 minutes,” she said with a laugh, “because I probably would have woken up after practice.”

(Photo: Courtesy TSN)

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