After making history last Saturday as the first woman to compete in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition, Kendall Coyne Schofield will take to broadcasting as an analyst for NBC Sports Network’s “Wednesday Night Rivalry” game between the Lightning and Penguins, according to USA Today Sports. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m.
The 26-year-old Palos Heights, Illinois native is no stranger to broadcasting as she graduated in 2016 with a communications degree from Northeastern University in Boston, where she won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the NCAA’s top female hockey player. She will be on the pregame show then go Inside the Glass with NBC’s Pierre McGuire, and appear during intermission segments.
“I love to be able to talk about the game and when this opportunity presented itself, I was more than ecstatic,” Coyne Schofield told USA TODAY Sports.
Coyne Schofield posted a time of 14.346 seconds in the fastest skater event, which topped Coyotes forward Clayton Keller (14.526) for seventh place in the eight-player field. Her time Saturday was actually slower than her 14.226-second run during Thursday’s testing.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid won the event for the third straight year with a time of 13.378 seconds.
Coyne Schofield was originally slated to attend the skills competition with three other female players to demonstrate the various skills but was asked by the Avalanche to be Nathan MacKinnon’s replacement.
She’s one of the most decorated female American hockey players, with a 2018 Olympic gold medal, five World Championship gold medals and a 2014 Olympic silver medal.
According to USA Today Sports, former U.S. Olympian A.J. Mleczko Griswold has also worked as NHL analyst for NBC and as a studio analyst for Madison Square Garden television network for Islanders games.