1 week Ago By Mike Ganter
Article content TEN THINGS ABOUT PWHL TORONTO THAT ARE DIFFERENT SINCE YOU LAST SAW IT THE LOOK For starters, they have a name and a logo and new colours. Yes, it’s a lot to take in all at once, but the league did not want to rush this one and get it wrong so the generic labels PWHL Toronto are gone. In its place are the Toronto Sceptres with a flashy new logo many are suggesting looks a lot like something they borrowed from a Taylor Swift promotion.
The colours have are now a combination of blue, navy, gold and yellow. As for the name, Sceptres likely wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card when the guessing games began, but the team has already taken to it and has made it their own. ROSTER TWEAKS The Sceptres have added two highly prized free agents.
One is Daryl Watts, a Toronto native who netted 10-goals with Ottawa last year. Watts is a natural goal scorer and under-appreciated playmaker who Toronto defenders will tell you they are thrilled to not have to oppose anymore, at least not in real games. Then there is Emma Woods, another crafty veteran also gets closer to home with a move to Toronto from New York where she played in Year 1.
The Burford, Ont., native (near London), is familiar to the local hockey scene having played on that championship Toronto Six roster of the PHF, a team that included Watts, Sceptres goalie Carly Jackson and former Toronto forward Brittany Howard. Also incoming and expected to have an impact are draft picks London native Julia Gosling (1st round), Milton native Megan Carter (2nd round), and Minnesota native Izzy Daniel (3rd round).
MORE INTERNATIONAL FLAVOUR Toronto was one of the less diverse teams a year ago with two Americans and the rest of the roster Canadians, but that too has changed. Vying for roles on this team are free agent German standout Laura Kluge and Czech forward Noemi Neubouerova who was selected in the draft after playing a year in Sweden. NO LONGER ON THE ROSTER The aforementioned Brittany Howard retired to get her coaching career started while another trio of retirees included goalie Erica Howe, defender Laurianne Rougeau, and forward Jess Jones.
Not back after signing in Ottawa are forwards Alexa Vasko and Rebecca Leslie. NEEDS TO EARN CONTRACT IN CAMP Forwards Kaitlin Willoughby and Sam Cogan are both in this boat after productive first seasons on the team’s third and fourth lines, respectively. Same with defender Olivia Knowles, having played the bulk of the season as fifth or sixth on the depth chart.
Defender Jessica Kondas, who spent all last season on reserve is also back looking to earn a spot in the rotation on the blue line. NEWCOMERS TO KEEP AN EYE ON Defender Rylind MacKinnon is the first USports graduate to find her way into Toronto’s camp and her combination of rock steady defence and a penchant for physicality would appear to put her very much in line with what Troy Ryan is looking for on his blue line. Forward Noemi Neubauerova, a native of Kolin, Czechia, returns to North America where she attended both Colgate and did a fifth year at Providence.
Neubauerova played a year in Sweden before making the trip back to North America. The Sceptres took her with their fifth- round pick. Her physicality and defensive play would also seem, again, to align with Ryan’s coaching philosophy.
A NEW HOME The team loved its time at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (on the site of the old Maple Leaf Gardens) but actually outgrew the facility even before it moved on. So, this year, it’s on from the 2,500-seat property on Carlton Street to the Coca-Cola Coliseum on the Exhibition grounds. The Coliseum can squeeze close to 9,000 bodies into the arena and the fanbase in Toronto has already sold out the building.
It was home to their abbreviated and all too short playoff run a year ago. Despite the result, the players rave about the atmosphere in the building from those playoffs and hope to build on it this year as they play their first full season there. ON THE INJURY FRONT Natalie Spooner, the Sceptres’ leading goal scorer and the league MVP from a year ago, remains on the long-term injured list following knee surgery after that nasty collision in Game 3 of their semi-final with Minnesota.
Spooner is already ahead of schedule, but will proceed cautiously with the intent of avoiding re-injury. Her goal remains a healthy return for opening night (Nov. 30), but only on the approval of team doctors.
Spooner is fully prepared to wait longer to defend her MVP season if doctors deem it in her best interest. In a bit of a surprise second-round pick, defender Megan Carter was also put on the long-term injured list Wednesday. Carter suffered a lower body injury ahead of team physicals on Tuesday and will have to put off her PWHL debut until she recovers.
Carter and the team are choosing to keep the nature of the injury to themselves with no set timetable for a return. START AND LENGTH OF THE SEASON The Sceptres open the season on Nov. 30, more than a month earlier than the Jan.
1 start in the inaugural season. The number of games will also increase from 24 to 30 with all teams taking part in a handful of neutral-site games to help grow the popularity of the league. Toronto will be involved in four neutral site games, two as a host team and one each as visitors versus Boston and Ottawa.
THE COACHING STAFF Troy Ryan returns as head coach but he’s got a new face on the bench with him as assistant Jim Midgley joined his staff. Also added though in a coaching consultant’s role is women’s hockey pioneer Vicky Sunohara who will add the role to her job as head coach at the University of Toronto. mganter@postmedia.
com X: @mike_ganter.
