Leah Hextall is a reporter and alternate studio host on ESPN’s NHL coverage, and the first woman to call play-by-play on a nationally televised NHL game in Canada, on 8 March 2020. Hextall re-signed with ESPN on a multi-year deal in October 2025, entering her fifth season at the network. Hextall is the granddaughter of Hall of Famer Bryan Hextall Sr. and the first cousin of former NHL goaltender Ron Hextall.
| Full name | Leah Hextall |
| From | Brandon, Manitoba |
| Role now | Reporter and alternate studio host, NHL on ESPN |
| At ESPN since | 2021 |
| Family | Granddaughter of Bryan Hextall Sr.; first cousin of Ron Hextall |
| Known for | The first nationally televised NHL play-by-play call by a woman in Canada, 2020 |
| Previously | CTV Winnipeg, NESN, Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada |
| Education | Columbia Academy of Radio, Television and Recording Arts, 2003 |
Is Leah Hextall related to Ron Hextall?
Leah Hextall and Ron Hextall are first cousins. Ron’s father, Bryan Hextall Jr., and Leah’s father, Randy Hextall, were brothers — both sons of Bryan Hextall Sr. Ron’s son Brett Hextall is Leah Hextall’s first cousin once removed. Many pages describe Ron as her uncle, which is a generation out.
Who is Leah Hextall?
She is a Canadian broadcaster from Brandon, Manitoba who has covered hockey for roughly twenty years. Hextall graduated from the Columbia Academy of Radio, Television and Recording Arts in Vancouver in 2003, spent 2005 to 2012 at CTV Winnipeg, then two years at NESN in Boston as a host and rink-side reporter. Hextall joined Sportsnet in 2014 as a studio host and reporter on Hockey Night in Canada, and has been at ESPN since 2021.
Who was Leah Hextall’s grandfather?
Bryan Hextall Sr. was a New York Rangers winger inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969. Hextall scored the overtime goal in Game 6 of the 1940 Final against Toronto that won the Rangers the Stanley Cup — the franchise’s third championship, and the last one it would win for 54 years. Bryan Hextall Sr. had four children: Bryan Jr. and Dennis, who both played in the NHL, Dennis becoming the University of North Dakota’s first NHL player in 1968; plus Heather; and Randy, Leah Hextall’s father.
Did Leah Hextall’s father play in the NHL?
Randy Hextall was the Hextall brother who did not play professionally. Randy Hextall taught his daughter the game and died suddenly on 12 July 2019, at 66, in Brandon, Manitoba. Eight months later, when Leah Hextall called an NHL game on national television for the first time, she wore her grandfather’s Hall of Fame ring. Eighty years separate Bryan Hextall Sr.’s 1940 Cup-winning goal and his granddaughter’s 2020 broadcast.
How old is Leah Hextall?
Her date of birth is not public. Hextall has never stated one and no reliable outlet has published one — an encyclopedia entry estimates the late 1970s without citing anything.
Is Leah Hextall married? Does she have children?
Nothing about her relationship status or children is on the public record, and Hextall has not discussed either.
