'Anything is possible': All-female team broadcasts Blackhawks game
Gold medalists Kendall Coyne-Schofield and AJ Mleczko were part of a history-making crew at the United Center on Sunday as NBCSN put together the first all-female crew to broadcast and produce an NHL game in the United States.
Kathryn Tappen and three-time Canadian Olympic gold medalist Jen Botterill anchored the studio coverage, and Kate Scott did the play-by-play.
“We hope our broadcast will help inspire young women watching to follow their dreams, because we've proven that anything is possible, and I'm proud to be a part of it,” Tappen said.
To prepare for the big day, Coyne-Schofield, Scott and Mleczko did two mock broadcasts — one at the United Center on Feb. 5 when the Hawks hosted the Bruins, and one in St. Louis when the Hawks fell 6-5 to the Blues on Feb. 25.
“Eleven goals — and one that was called back,” marveled Scott, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 2005 and currently anchors, hosts and does play-by-play for the Pac-12 Networks and NBCSN. “It had a little bit of everything, which was nice.”
Those games were done so that Coyne-Schofield — a Palos Heights native who won Olympic gold in 2018 and silver in 2014 — Scott and Mleczko could get feedback from network producers.
The three women sat together during the Hawks' morning skate Sunday and also jotted down notes while interviewing coach Jeremy Colliton for about 10 minutes after Colliton met the rest of the media.
Mleczko joked to Colliton that he should give Coyne-Schofield “one or two word answers” during the in-game interview in the first period.
Coyne-Schofield busted up laughing; and Colliton, obviously, ended up giving full answers to questions about the Hawks' strong start to the game and what it means for Dylan Strome and Alex Nylander to be able to skate on a line with Patrick Kane.
The broadcast was put together to celebrate International Women's Day.
Injury update:
Lucas Carlsson, who suffered a concussion when a shot attempt hit him in the face during the Hawks' victory over Edmonton last week, did not play against St. Louis on Sunday. It was the second straight game the rookie D-man sat out.
Carlsson had played in five of the six previous contests, recording his first NHL point by picking up an assist in a win over the Ducks on March 3.
Adam Boqvist, meanwhile, was able to play against St. Louis after sitting out Friday's 2-1 loss at Detroit with a hand injury.
“(Carlsson) waited a while for an opportunity and he came in and really did well with it,” said coach Jeremy Colliton. “To lose him and Boqi was tough cuz I think they both (have) been playing well, moving the puck really well and helping us break out and doing some things offensively.
“Want to get (Carlsson) back as soon as we can, no doubt.”
Nick Seeler, claimed off waivers in early February, dressed for the sixth time with the Hawks.
Slap shots:
Dennis Gilbert, who saw 13½ minutes of ice time in the 2-1 loss to the Red Wings, was reassigned to Rockford. ... Before facing St. Louis, Duncan Keith had 1 goal, 9 assists and was averaging 26:26 of ice time in his last 9 games. His time on ice was 27:11 or higher in six of those contests. ... Ryan Carpenter tied his career high for games played (68) and also made his 200th career appearance Sunday. Carpenter (3G, 12A) also played 68 games for Vegas last season.