TSN logo
TSN, short for The Sports Network, is a sports-oriented Canadian cable television channel. Since 2000 it has been owned by Bell Media, which also owns Crave.
TSN broadcasts a significant amount of hockey, owning the rights to many Hockey Canada, IIHF, and CHL events. TSN held national cable rights to broadcast NHL games from 1987 to 1998 and 2002 to 2014 (from 1998 to 2002 and since 2015, those rights have gone to archrival Sportsnet). They also own significant rights to broadcast other Canadian and international sports.
TSN shares some programming with American sports network ESPN, which owns a 30 percent stake in it. Their flagship news shows also share a name, albeit with differing spellings: TSN's is SportsCentre and ESPN's is SportsCenter. Both shows use the same format, graphics, and theme song.
Personalities[]
Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole[]
Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole became co-anchors of SportsCentre in 2003 and made a name for themselves as an irreverent comedic duo on the late night edition. In 2013, they played a mock tourism video for Regina, Saskatchewan entitled "Experience Regina," causing it to go viral on YouTube; they later submitted it as their "decade-defining song." They left TSN in 2013 for rival Fox Sports Live, but returned in 2017 to host SC with Jay and Dan, something of a revival of their earlier broadcast. Dan was laid off in 2021, to the consternation of many fans, with the show rebranded SC with Jay Onrait.
Jay and Dan first appeared on the show as exaggerated versions of themselves in Great Day for Thunder Bay, which opens with them reporting on the imminent return of the Bay brothers to Letterkenny in a closing segment of SportsCentre. Dan expresses some skepticism about it, having grown up in nearby Peterborough, and having experienced a curling brawl and a cribbage brawl involving the townsfolk.
Their show revisits the town some years later during TSN's coverage of the National Senior Hockey Championship, where Ontario's team, the Kerry County Eagles, is noted for its three stars from Letterkenny.
Letterkenny…? About time something good came out of there. — Dan O'Toole (Miss Fire)
They also comment on JJ Frankie JJ being instrumental in Quebec's victories over New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, prompting Dan to play "Experience Regina."
Jay has also appeared as himself on two episodes of Shoresy, Never Lose Again and Don't Poke the Bear, both times alongside Tessa Bonhomme as a panelist on Anik Archambault's talkshow, Questionable Call. Anik mispronounces his name consistently, as "on-ray" rather than "on-rate." He regards Shoresy as the dirtiest hockey player of all time, relating stories of his antics on and off the ice, and his annoying habit of adding "Huh?" to every question. He also reports "an impossible amount of good-looking girls in Sudbury."
Kate Beirness and Tessa Bonhomme[]
Kate Beirness, who took over SportsCentre with Darren Dutchyshen after Jay and Dan's depature, is a host and reporter for TSN. Sudbury native Tessa Bonhomme, a former Olympic gold medalist and Canadian national women's hockey team member, joined SportsCentre as a reporter and host in 2014.
They are first seen interviewing Reilly and Jonesy in Miss Fire, asking about their play and about the whereabouts of Shoresy. In National Senior Hockey Championship they are seen co-hosting TSN's coverage of the titular event. Tanis is utterly starstruck at meeting Tessa, and is joined by Shania, Axe, and Slash on set when they agree to let her make a shoutout.
Tessa is later a panelist on Questionable Call, along with Jay Onrait, in Never Lose Again and Don't Poke the Bear. Having seen his antics firsthand at the national tournament, she is quick to name Shoresy as the "dirtiest player of all time." She also expresses great pride in her real-life hometown of Sudbury, if wary of Jay's opinion about its good-looking women.
James Duthie[]
The dean of Canadian sportscasters, James Duthie hosts TSN Hockey and other events for TSN, including the Olympics, for which he has won a number of awards. He appears in National Senior Hockey Championship hosting TSN's The Quiz, a panel show with reporter Darren Dreger, former NHL player Jeff O'Neill, and noted hockey commentator Bob McKenzie, all also hockey commentators for TSN.
In a non-canon crossover, however, Reilly and Jonesy made an appearance during his 2017 broadcast of TSN Tradecentre. They are aggressive toward him, calling him "Duthers" and mocking TSN. Duthie remains unflappable, calmly observing that they have been cut because their conditioning has been an issue, prompting them to go "tarps off."