‘Shoresy’: Tasya Teles Explains How Nat’s Leadership Is Tested in Season 5

It has been four years since an abrasive, offense-focused hockey player with a flair for colorful language was introduced to American audiences, brought in to provide a veteran presence for the last-place Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs in an effort to get “butts in seats.” Since then, Shoresy (Jared Keeso) has been named captain, led the Bulldogs to the Northern Ontario Senior Hockey Organization championship, carried them through a record-breaking winning streak, and ultimately helped secure a National Senior Tournament victory.

And through every high and low on Shoresy, every win and every setback, there has been Owner and General Manager Nat, played by Tasya Teles. Having inherited the Bulldogs from her mother, Nat has guided the team with a steady hand, her leadership and wisdom rivaling Shoresy’s own stubborn resolve. She has served as the emotional backbone of the organization, balancing tough love with fierce loyalty, ensuring the Bulldogs remained not just competitive but united, even when everything around them threatened to fall apart.

In Season 5, the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs face a new challenge as the future of the NOSHO hangs in the balance. A crackdown on traditional North American hockey, including hitting, charging, and other physical play, threatens the grit that defines the sport. In its place, a more European style favoring speed and finesse is taking hold, pushing the hard-edged North American game to the margins.

In Season 5, it is up to Shoresy and Nat to not just help the Bulldogs, but to protect the North American game of hockey against a rising European style.

TV Inside spoke with Shoresy star Tasya Teles about the new season, her role as Nat, her connection to Shoresy, and the future of the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs.

New Metric Media/Lindsay Sarazin

Throughout the series, everyone leans on Nat for all the answers, even when it’s clear she doesn’t have them. How did you approach playing a version of Nat who’s expected to be strong and decisive while dealing with uncertainty behind the scenes?

Tasya Teles: There is one scene [this season] in the office where she is in her sweatpants, and she’s just like, “I don’t know how I’m going to pull through this one.” But I think part of her is, “I know I’m going to,” because that’s part of being a leader.

There’s always going to be obstacles. You just have to get around them and figure out solutions, and that’s her insurance, and do together and for each other.

The relationship between Natalie and Shoresy feels part professional partnership, part sibling rivalry. How would you describe that bond, and how has it evolved, particularly in this season?

[She saw he] was a leader, but also, Nat’s favorite hockey player was Shoresy. So I think that’s where the bond started. And she started relying on him a little bit in the beginning, because in Season 1, she was like, “I can’t do this. I don’t know…I hired this coach. He’s not doing anything. We can’t get a win. It’s over.” And he comes in, “We’re gonna stack the team. We’re gonna never lose again.” And that was the contract that they made.

He got her on board on this whole journey to create a winning hockey team, win the NOSHO, and get all of their wins. So, over the seasons, they’ve really learned, “Hey, I can count on you. You might come up with crazy ideas, and I might come up with some crazy ideas, too, but together, we’re still making it work.”

[For example], he doesn’t want to be called the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs because Nat found a sponsor at the Blueberry Festival. That’s our main sponsor. So, there are some unpopular solutions, for sure, that Nat has brought to the table, and there are some unpopular solutions that Shoresy’s has brought to the table, where [Nat] is like, “What are you doing?” But it worked.

They’re co-conspirators, and they’ve really become a brother and sister, and got to know each other and on each other. And he even comes to her for some girl advice this season, which was really fun.

I remember when I was first approaching the character, I was looking at a lot of different sports, female sports figures, and the tropes, and I was trying to figure out how she lived in this world and who she is. I was working on it with a coach, and we chose to not make her someone who uses sex as a tactic. She’s a professional and a woman, but not in your face about it.

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I like that she has her flames, her guys, and that’s what works for her. Her job, her career, that is her focus.

Did you have female figures that you turned to for inspiration?

Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side. And Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation, [I like how] she’s trying to keep everyone lifted. Those were my main two.

Do you still feel Shoresy is an underdog story? What is the team’s legacy?

It’s senior whales**t hockey, but they have a full-on commitment to this Hockey League, to the NOSHO. That’s what makes it so brilliant: They’re treating it like the NHL.

My takeaway from this season was about hockey culture, for sure. It’s about spending so much time with the boys the last five, six years; We have come to understand and love and appreciate hockey and hockey players in such a deep way, I just absolutely adore them.

And there’s this nostalgia for a certain type of hockey that existed in the ’90s in North America, where the players take care of each other on the ice. They had their own way of managing: self-regulating.

This season, particularly, was a nod to that era of hockey. And I’m just kind of talking about the different styles of the sport, because we have the European style of the sport, and we have the North American style of the sport. So I love that they got Canadians and Americans together for the game this season.

Shoresy, Season 5, February 21, Hulu