Booth of Champions: Jennifer Botterill joins New York Islanders broadcast

Butch Goring has another new colleague with some championship bling.

Jennifer Botterill is joining the MSG broadcast team for select New York Islanders games this season as a studio analyst, beginning with Tuesday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks on MSG+.

Botterill is one of the most-decorated hockey players in history: She’s a three-time Olympic gold medalist for Canada, and also has an Olympic silver medal, a 1999 NCAA collegiate championship, and five first-place finishes in the IIHF World Championship, where she was twice named tournament MVP.

Where Goring, of the Islanders dynasty fame, used to be the chief ring holder in the booth, he’s now joined on broadcasts by Botterill and AJ Mleczko, herself an Olympic and world champion who joined the broadcast earlier this season. Both Botterill and Mleczko — opponents in international hockey — were teammates on that 1999 NCAA champion team at Harvard, when Botterill scored the overtime winner with an assist from Mleczko.

Botterill is the only two-time winner of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given to the top women’s U.S. college hockey player. She still holds the NCAA records for most consecutive games with a point and for most points in a hockey career. Since transitioning to broadcasting, the Winnipeg native has worked as a contributing host and hockey analyst for CBC, TSN and Sportsnet.

According to MSG’s announcement, we can expect to see her on about 20 games this season.