Daniella Ponticelli is a Canadian play-by-play broadcaster who called the first regular-season game in Professional Women’s Hockey League history, and the first goal scored in it, on 1 January 2024. Ponticelli works PWHL games across CBC, TSN and the league’s own broadcasts, and was part of CBC’s women’s hockey commentary team at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics. Ponticelli was born in South Africa, never played hockey, and learned play-by-play calling roller derby.
| Full name | Daniella Ponticelli |
| Born | Cape Town, South Africa; moved to Winnipeg as a child |
| Role now | Freelance play-by-play, PWHL — CBC, TSN and league broadcasts |
| Known for | Calling the first game and first goal in PWHL history |
| Firsts | First woman to call WHL play-by-play on television (2023) |
| Playing career | None — her background is dance, cheer and aerial acrobatics |
| Education | Red River College and the University of Winnipeg, communications, 2012 |
Who is Daniella Ponticelli?
Daniella Ponticelli is a play-by-play broadcaster who works primarily on women’s hockey. Ponticelli was born in Cape Town and moved to Winnipeg around the age of ten when her mother took a job there. Ponticelli did not play hockey — the athletic background is dance, cheer and acrobatics, including performing as an aerial acrobat with Team Canada at the World Gymnaestrada. Ponticelli studied communications at Red River College and the University of Winnipeg, graduated in 2012, and spent a decade in Manitoba and Saskatchewan newsrooms before sport became the full-time job.
How did Daniella Ponticelli get into play-by-play?
Roller derby. Daniella Ponticelli joined a Saskatoon roller derby league in 2016, watched women commentating a bout, and decided that was the job she wanted. Ponticelli became a certified derby announcer and worked the sport’s biggest events — the WFTDA International Championships in New Orleans and Montreal, the Continental World Cup in Omaha, the Junior Roller Derby World Cup in Philadelphia.
Did Daniella Ponticelli call the first PWHL game?
Yes. Daniella Ponticelli called the PWHL’s first regular-season game in Toronto on 1 January 2024, alongside analyst Cheryl Pounder, and called Ella Shelton’s goal — the first in league history — with the line “History is hers.”
How old is Daniella Ponticelli? Is she married?
Daniella Ponticelli has not published a birth date or age, and no outlet has reported one — the only date on the record is a 2012 graduation. Almost nothing about Ponticelli’s personal life is public. Ponticelli has referred once to a partner living in the Greater Toronto Area, where she relocated in December 2023. There is no public information about marriage or children.
