Former CBC host Tara Slone lands a new job with NHL team

Former Sportsnet and CBC broadcaster Tara Slone has announced that she's taken a job with the San Jose Sharks.

Check it out:

The longtime co-host of CBC's 'Hometown Hockey' was put out of a job earlier this year when Rogers elected to cancel the program in favor of traditional broadcasts on Sunday afternoons and evenings. Slone and MacLean had been a weekly fixture of Canadian broadcasts since the 2014-15 season, transplanting themselves into small towns in Canada to help celebrate the success of hockey communities across the country. But, while MacLean was retained following Hometown Hockey's cancellation, Slone was not and there was some real concern that she may not get a job in the industry again.

After all, her comments on longtime former CBC broadcaster Don Cherry left some in the industry with a bad taste in their mouths. Slone took Cherry to task calling his takes on the hockey world dated and bordering on bigotry and racist. But, Slone is a professional with years of broadcast hosting experience behind her, so personally I'm not surprised to see her land on her feet.

More from Slone in her introduction to Sharks fans:

In 2014, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to embark on what would be an 8-year ride as the co-host of a new weekly NHL broadcast called Rogers Hometown Hockey. All I knew when I heard about the show was that it would travel across the country telling local hockey stories, and that it would be hosted by legendary Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean. That was more than enough to convince me that this was the right next step for me.

I didn't know at the time how much Hometown Hockey would shape not just my love for the game, but it also would ignite a deep care for the game and the people who surround it. For those who never saw it, the show traveled to 25 or so communities throughout the hockey season. Our mobile studio and broadcast crew travelled every weekend, and we sought to find the stories that would best represent the city or town we were in. We wove these tales into our pregame and intermissions of our NHL matchup, and did interviews with local notables, NHL alumni, and Team Canada players. We were all about the grassroots of the game, and homegrown, hometown heroes. We met the people who were the heartbeat of hockey. It was a truly lovely show.

Hometown Hockey came to an end in June of 2022, and personal circumstances drew me to California. Like I said, I've never lived outside of Canada. Sure, I've travelled plenty and toured across many times the US during my rock and roll days, but never actually put my roots down south of the 49th parallel. So it's been a bit daunting trying to navigate a place that uses inches instead of kilometers, doesn't have socialized medicine, and I can't find the familiar glow of a Tim Horton's on every (or any) corner. But what the Bay Area does have is hockey, and hockey feels like home to me, no matter where I am.

I am thrilled to let everyone know that the next chapter of my journey will be with the San Jose Sharks, where I'll be hosting features and a podcast, and doing whatever else the team wants me to do - kind of like a Swiss Army Knife of content contributors. This team is SO exciting to me for so many reasons. Despite the palm trees and the relentless sunshine, San Jose is an amazing hockey market with a fiercely loyal fanbase, and an amazing legacy of success. The organization is committed to growing the game, and puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to making the hockey a positive and inclusive space. This is a team who wants to do right by its community. This is a team I can wholeheartedly get behind.

Sometimes the best things in life happen when you least expect them. A 7-year-old me wearing figure skates in Wolfville, Nova Scotia couldn't have imagined a career in hockey, and California was only a place I saw in the movies. But here I am, and it feels like the right place to be.