ANAHEIM, Calif. — Ashali Vise worked the Vegas Golden Knights’ Oct. 20 game against the Carolina Hurricanes as if it were any other. She conducted morning interviews, pregame hits, and postgame press conferences after a 4-1 win. But that night was different: she was one week from her due date.
Five days later, on Oct. 25, Vise gave birth to her first child, Jameson, with husband Nick. Hours after delivery, still in her hospital bed, she had the Knights’ game against the Florida Panthers on TV. The next day, when the team played in Tampa, she watched from the hospital. “I was still in the hospital,” Vise said. “It’s like, ‘We’re just sitting here. What else are we going to do? We might as well flip on the game.’”
Vise, 31, found out she was pregnant in February 2024. She continued working through the playoffs and development camp, often hiding morning sickness. “It’s very interesting when no one knows that you’re pregnant and you’re standing in a locker room, dealing with some morning sickness and things like that,” she said. The Knights supported her, adjusting her schedule and ensuring she had time with family. She worked home games until she couldn’t, including opening night on Oct. 8 against the Los Angeles Kings. “People thought I was a little bit crazy, because I was quite large and ready to pop on the gold carpet,” she said.
During her maternity leave, Jamie Hersch, a former NHL Network host, filled in as rink-side reporter. Vise and Hersch supported each other. “I know what it’s like to be a mom and a pregnant woman in this industry, and it’s not easy. But I wanted to make sure that she knew that it is possible,” Hersch said. Vise returned to work in March to a standing ovation from players. “She was embarrassed by it,” broadcaster Daren Millard said. “For them to have the awareness of what Ashali had gone through … was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”
Vise now balances motherhood with her career, a struggle she calls “mom guilt.” But she finds perspective. “Now you go home, and there’s this child who fully depends on you for any and everything,” she said. “Everything that mattered before, none of it is really that big of a deal.” She will continue working through the playoffs, handling interviews at City National Arena and T-Mobile Arena. This Mother’s Day is her first as a mom, and she reflects on the journey. “Everything I imagined it would be, it’s been 10 times better,” she said.
