Jennifer Botterill was reflecting on the big news she’d found out just 24 hours earlier when she started laughing at the sight of her daughter, Wyllow, who was proudly holding up the sports section of the June 25 edition of the Winnipeg Free Press so that her mom could see it.

Wyllow was grinning ear-to-ear as she held up the paper with the headline Botterill gets call from Hockey Hall, featuring a picture of a very jovial Botterill jumping over the boards in celebration after winning one of many gold medals for Canada. Botterill’s youngest daughter had picked up the paper while the family was grocery shopping, because five-year-old Wyllow knew it was one they had to hang on to.

On Tuesday, Botterill got word that she’ll be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame, an honour that comes 14 years after she announced her retirement. The 46-year-old is part of a class that includes fellow players Zedno Chara, Brianna Decker, Duncan Keith, Alexander Mogilny and Joe Thornton, while Jack Parker and Danièle Sauvageau were elected in the builders category.

A three-time Olympic gold medallist, assisting on the Golden Goal in Vancouver 2010 — her Team Canada finale — Botterill is a five-time world champion, a two-time world MVP, and the only woman to win the Patty Kazmaier award twice as the NCAA’s top player. Now she’ll add Hockey Hall of Famer to that incredible resume. 

We gave the news a little bit of time to sink in before catching up with the Sportsnet studio analyst to get her thoughts on the honour. Botterill is on a family vacation at her parents’ cottage in Winnipeg with her husband Adrian Lomonaco and their three daughters, Wyllow, Brooklynne and Maya, and she was able to share the news with all of them shortly after she found out she was included in the 2025 class.

Botterill shares why she missed the first five calls from the Hall, what it was like to tell her family, whether she thought this day would ever come, and what she thinks about being the lone Hall of Famer on Sportsnet’s panel of hockey experts.

SPORTSNET: Congratulations! Can you take us back to the moment when you picked up your phone and got the news?

BOTTERILL:  Well, funny enough, I’m at my parents’ cottage out at the lake, and so my parents were putting their boat in for the day. So literally we were on a boat ride and I can’t hear my phone. So we docked the boat, and then I checked my phone. I was like, ‘Oh no, I’ve missed all these calls, is everything okay? What’s going on?’

I’m looking at my phone trying to figure out what is this number that I’ve missed five times, and then sure enough, that number calls back again and it’s Lanny McDonald and Ron Francis (they’re both on the HHOF board). They share the great news and so we talk for several minutes, and then as soon as I’m done the call, I go down to the lake to tell my parents and Adrian, and the three girls start jumping up and down on the dock, right by the lake. It was just such a beautiful scene.

How did your parents react?

They were so sweet. My mom has like a little laugh-cry, so it was tears of happiness and joy all mixed in one. And my dad got emotional and they gave me a big hug and just said how proud they were. And I think my mom knew more about all of the specifics and the timing of it than I did — she was paying close attention.

How many text messages did you get after it was announced? 

I’m going to say hundreds. It’s amazing. Like, everyone reached out. I’m just so overwhelmed. Childhood friends, aunts, uncles, cousins. Then in the hockey world, former coaches at every level…voicemails from Sami-Jo (Small) and Cassie Campbell-Pascall, or Poundy (Cheryl Pounder), and she spoke about it at the PWHL draft and someone sent me a video of the words she shared immediately after it was announced and it brought me to tears. Just really thoughtful notes. Cherie Piper, who I played with and was close friends with, Heffy (Jayna Hefford) sent me a beautiful message, and just so many Olympic coaches and former teammates, university teammates, everybody on the panels that I work with (at Sportsnet and TNT). Paul Bissonnette was one of the first to write me …

How many exclamation points were on Paul’s text?

Oh, it was several — several, absolutely, which was so great (laughs). Even management in the NHL reached out, people I’ve connected to or met over the years. I thought that was really classy. And it’s such a busy time for everybody in hockey with the draft and free agency. I was just really blown away by how many thoughtful notes I received. Even from my kid’s gym teachers. I couldn’t believe it. I have to get back to everybody…

Sounds like that’s going to take a while. Did memories of your career come flooding back?

Yes, I think all of them — and especially how I got started. For me, being back in Manitoba, it was one thing that first came to mind was how I first fell in love with the sport, and going down to the Wildwood Community Club (where she learned to skate and first started playing hockey). I think that’s what I reflected upon first, just going there with my dad or my mom or my brother. That’s when I fell in love with the game.

And then naturally, as the afternoon goes on, you start to go through everything and the messages you get from university teammates and Team Canada teammates or friends from club teams I played on in Toronto or from world championships, all the memories come up.

It was a very unexpected but just an amazing day to reflect. The biggest thing I feel is just gratitude, and I’m so thankful for teams and teammates and coaches and family and friends that have been a part of the journey. 

If you could relive one career moment, what would it be?

Probably Vancouver 2010, the gold medal game. That one, I think just for me, it was sharing it with so many family and friends, feeling great during the game, having the outcome that we wanted, passing (the game-winner) to (Marie-Philip) Poulin, all of those details. Poulin also sent a beautiful message to me.

There have just been so many moments, and everyone who’s sending a message, you think of moments you shared with them. But if I had to pick one, Vancouver is probably it.

Good choice. Have you pictured your plaque in that room at the Hall of Fame that features all the inductees, with a write-up and picture? It’s a beautiful room.

Oh wow, these are fun things I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about. Honestly, it’s a bit overwhelming and it feels like the ultimate honour and the ultimate humbling moment. When I look at the class that’s being inducted that I’m alongside and their careers, and then you think about those that have been inducted before, it’s just a really special time.

Adrian was asking me today how do I feel about it all. And I said ‘Oh, I don’t think about it too often.’ Right? But it’s just so nice to take the time, I guess, and just to share it with my kids. They’re at an age now, I was talking to Maya (nine years old) about going to the event and celebrating and what we’re going to see, and the other people that have been inducted. I think about sharing it with my kids and going through it with them. That makes my heart the most full.

After women were first inducted into the Hall of Fame (in 2010), did you expect this day to come for you?

I think there was a phase that I believed it might be a possibility and then a phase that I wasn’t sure at all if it was going to be or not. I know there are so many deserving candidates, and so I think in that sense I was just excited for those that were given the recognition and it was fun to go through the trips down memory lane with them (Botterill has attended ceremonies for former teammates who have been inducted, including Hefford, Caroline Ouellette and Kim St. Pierre).

There was certainly no guarantee or certainty that this was going to happen in my life or my career. So in that sense, it’s something that I feel extra thankful for. 

Do you think you’ll cry during your induction speech?

I’m known as an emotional person, but we’ll see how I do. It’s probably a given, but I’m going to try to be strong (laughs).

You’re the only Hall of Famer on the Sportsnet panel. That must feel good.

(Laughs) Wow, well, I hadn’t thought about that.

Kevin (Bieksa) and Kelly (Hrudey) and Ron (MacLean) and Elliotte (Friedman), they all reached out, and David Amber, Caroline Cameron, just everybody. Sam Cosentino sent me a beautiful message. They’re all just really, really nice.

Truly, I’ve just been feeling so grateful.