Bill Zonnon and the Power of Representation

Boko Imama had heard good things about his fellow Montreal native Bill Zonnon going into last summer's NHL Draft. So, when the Penguins took the forward with one of their three first-round picks, Imama quickly got on his phone.   

“Right away, I texted (Special Assistant to the President of Hockey Operations and GM) Trevor Daley to just to express my excitement for Pittsburgh drafting Billy Z,” Imama said with a smile.

A few weeks later, Imama and his friend Anthony Duclair hosted their annual hockey camp back home in Quebec. They had gotten the idea during the pandemic, when Black Lives Matter protests arose following the death of George Floyd. Between that movement and their personal experiences of being on the receiving end of racism during games, Imama and Duclair wanted to take action in some way.

They invite special guests to come in, spend time with the kids and share their stories. Imama reached out to Zonnon to see if he’d be willing to join the group.

“Great kid that he is, no hesitation,” Imama said. “He came down to our camp. He spent close to two hours there. He went on the ice with the kids after, took pictures and all that. I feel like Billy is just a really good teammate, great person.”

When Zonnon joined SportsNet Pittsburgh’s Unobstructed Views altcast for the team’s annual Black History Game earlier this month, hosts Hannah Mears and Max Talbot asked the 19-year-old about the power of representation, and being someone who can impact the next generation.

“I think for me as a kid, it was huge just seeing those guys playing at the highest level and just being themselves and having an impact on kids like me,” Zonnon said. “And it's pretty crazy to think that now I can be one of those guys as well. So, I take a lot of pride in that. Just be myself, be a good role model for all those kids.”

P.K. Subban was the NHLer who left the biggest impression on Zonnon.

Bill’s parents, Augustin and Mathilde, immigrated to Canada from Togo, Africa to attend college and then start a family. They had two children, Bill and his younger sister Keshia, who plays hockey at one of the top prep school programs in North America, Stanstead College. Augustin and Mathilde knew nothing about the country's most popular sport when they first arrived.

“But obviously, everyone knows that hockey is so big here in Montreal, so it's almost impossible to not hear about it or not watch any of the games,” Bill told Mears and Talbot. “My love for it started when I was around five or six years old, watching P.K. Subban and the Canadiens.

“So, I told my parents I want to start playing hockey. I went to the store, and we got some gear, even though I didn't know anything about hockey. And obviously, over time, we kind of realized I was pretty good at it.”

Throughout Bill’s hockey journey, Augustin and Mathilde have brought unwavering positivity.

“My parents are super chill. They don't tell me anything about my games, honestly, because they don't know enough,” Bill said with a smile. “But you know, I find it pretty crazy, like... even if we lose 10-nothing, they'll still find a way to tell me I had a good game.”

He has so much admiration for his mom and dad, first-generation immigrants who built a life from scratch. Augustin works as a quality control manager for a concrete company, while Mathilde is a senior cash analyst at a bank. They made sure their children realized the value of hard work and respect.

“I have so much love for them. You know, I'm here because of them,” Zonnon said. “They went through so much to be in a position they are in today. For me as a kid growing up, I had to look at them and use them as mentors. I think when people watch me play, they talk a lot about my compete, but I just think it runs in the family because of my parents. They started with nothing, and look where they are now. It's a great story, I think, and it takes drive. I get it from them as well.”

Academics have always been important to Augustin and Mathilde, so they supported Bill moving to Lake Placid at age 14 to play at Norwood School for a couple of seasons, even though it was a big adjustment.

Bill then got drafted by the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and returned to Quebec, though he was still far from home, with Montreal a seven-and-a-half-hour drive away.

After putting up 83 points (28G-55A) in 64 games during his third season with the Huskies, Zonnon was a top prospect going into the 2025 NHL Draft. Shortly before the event, which took place in Los Angeles, Zonnon got the chance to meet Subban for the first time after they had started messaging a couple months prior. The interaction meant just as much to Subban as it did to Zonnon.

“For his story to be connected to me playing in the NHL is really, really cool,” Subban said. “Really cool. Part of me still has to pinch myself when that happens. It's really flattering, but it's insane to me, because it feels like yesterday I just started playing in Montreal. It still kind of blows me away.”

Zonnon said that for him, the most exciting part about watching Subban during his career was the swag he brought to the ice.

“And even off the ice, he was such a big role model for kids here,” Zonnon said.

In 2014, the defenseman formed the P.K. Subban Foundation, which committed $10 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. To this day, it is still the largest philanthropic commitment by a pro athlete in Canada.

“I think that when you want to be great at what you do, you don't want to just be great at parts of it. You want to be great in all aspects of it,” Subban said. “A lot of those things just became important to me at an earlier age, and I prioritized certain things like charitable initiatives and giving back.

“Kids, their parents said, ‘he plays hockey, he gives back, all those things.’ For somebody to hold on to that and to really build around that is just really, really cool. It does make me feel really good.”

And speaking of parents, Subban said a couple of times how impressed he was by Zonnon’s family.

“I’m like, this kid's great, but his family's remarkable, and that's why I know he's going to have an amazing career and be a great person to work with and work around, I'm sure,” Subban said.

“I look at him and he's got a big smile on his face, he's happy to be there. But not only happy to be there, he's hungry. He’s hungry for the opportunities that lie ahead. There’s a quiet confidence to him, too. He wants to be respected for his play on the ice. And I could feel that right away.”

One piece of advice Subban passed along to Zonnon is to leave it all on the ice.

“And he has high compete,” Subban said. “That's what put him in the position he's in now. So, just to continue to do that.”

Before the draft, Zonnon had gotten traded to Blainville-Boisbriand. His debut was delayed, as Zonnon was sidelined to start this season, missing the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo. He then dealt with another injury in November.

But now that Zonnon is healthy, he has been able to show what he can do. Zonnon, who describes himself as a power forward, has registered 10 goals and 31 points in just 25 games played. And while the offense has certainly been coming, he takes pride in playing a complete game, getting in the dirty areas and winning battles.

He knows there is a lot of work ahead to reach his goal of playing for Pittsburgh, and is doing so much to realize that dream, like working with a posturologist to improve his skating. It's all about embracing the process.

“At the end of the day, I think I got drafted in the first round for a reason,” Zonnon said. “I have the talent, I have the skill, I have the mindset to be a good player. So, I think it's up to me to do the right stuff and work every day to just become the best version of myself. And yeah, I think that I got drafted there for a reason, and up to me to prove it to everyone.”