Hall of Fame call 'beyond my ultimate dream,' says Manitoba hockey star Jennifer Botterill
Botterill part of 8-person Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2025
One of Manitoba's most decorated athletes will now be able to call herself a Hockey Hall of Famer.
Jennifer Botterill — who was born in Ottawa but raised in Winnipeg — was announced Tuesday as a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame's class of 2025. She joins seven others who will become Hall of Fame members at an induction ceremony in Toronto in November.
Botterill and Brianna Decker will become the 13th and 14th female players inducted into the hall.
"I do feel like it's the ultimate honour of recognition," Botterill told CBC News Tuesday afternoon. "It's the highest recognition you can receive in the sport."
Her hall of fame resume is extensive.
After graduating from Winnipeg's St. John's-Ravenscourt, she starred on the ice at Harvard University, racking up hundreds of points en route to becoming the only player to win the Patty Kazmaier Award twice — a recognition for the top player in women's NCAA Division 1 hockey.
Botterill also collected gold medals at three different winter Olympic Games with Team Canada, and is a five-time world champion, where she won two tournament MVP awards.
She played professionally before retiring in 2011 and now works as a television broadcaster, among other ventures.
"To be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, I think, is beyond my ultimate dream," she said.
'Tell Jennifer to answer her phone'
Botterill found out about her upcoming induction on Tuesday, while out with her family and parents at West Hawk Lake in eastern Manitoba.
Her father, Cal, chuckled as he recounted how difficult it was to reach her when the Hall of Fame came calling.
The family was out for a boat ride, he said.
"She wasn't answering the phone, so we got a couple of calls from Jason, her brother, saying, 'Tell Jennifer to answer her phone,'" he said with a laugh.
When they got to the dock, another call came from Hockey Hall of Fame chairman Lanny McDonald and selection committee chair Ron Francis, Botterill said.
After the call, she celebrated with her family, including her husband and daughters, who were jumping up and down on the edge of the dock, she said.
"I think my heart … just felt like it was bursting," said Botterill. "I share this with my family, because they've always been so supportive of me on my journey, from a young age to my international career.
"And so to have the chance to just literally go over and share the news and share hugs with them … was a beautiful moment for me with those emotions."
'Surprised in a very delightful way'
Botterill has been eligible for the Hall of Fame since 2014, but she said couldn't let herself be consumed by whether the call would come.
In past years, Botterill said she was filled with excitement watching the induction of some of her teammates, or people she played against.
WATCH | Manitoba star Jennifer Botterill to be inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame:
"I was … spending time with my family and not expecting that 'OK, this is going to be the year,' or the call was going to come through," she said. "So I would say I was surprised in a very delightful way when the call came."
Cal Botterill echoed some of those thoughts.
"I think we felt all along, after we saw what she was accomplishing, that one day she might be a candidate," he said. "But it's still exciting to see her being honoured."
Botterill was also part of Sport Manitoba's Hall of Fame class in 2024 and Hockey Manitoba's in 2017.
She said she hopes her career will be a source of inspiration and motivation for others.
"You never know when that moment might be for a young athlete, to help them to believe in themselves, and what might be possible," she said.
"If there is some small way that can provide a little source of inspiration for someone, that would be the ultimate honour."
Another Winnipegger, defenceman Duncan Keith, who played for Chicago Blackhawks and the Edmonton Oilers, was also named as a Hall of Fame inductee on Tuesday.