By Adam Floujeh
The Montreal Victoire defeated the Toronto Sceptres by a score of 4-3 in overtime on Saturday afternoon at Coca-Cola Coliseum, extending
Toronto’s losing streak to four straight games.
The Sceptres scored first—and second—but the Victoire refused to let the game get away. In the extra frame, Laura Stacey sealed the deal.
Here are four takeaways from a special return to action at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
For Howie
Oftentimes in sports, the real story comes from off the ice and Saturday was one such occasion.
No matter what the score was at the end of play, no matter how highlight-worthy a goal was, nothing was going to be a bigger story than Erica Howe.
The former Toronto Scepters goaltender was diagnosed with breast cancer in August. It’s a battle she continues to fight.
Saturday’s matchup was the Toronto Sceptres’ Cancer Awareness game. It goes without saying that the afternoon came with a deeper meaning for the Sceptres.
“She's a tremendous teammate, a tremendous person,” said Toronto defender and former teammate of Howe, Jocelyne Larocque. She said the whole team is behind their former goaltender, who was in attendance for the game.
“It was great to see her and to have her speak, it brought chills. We love her, and we're just so proud of her fight and her and she's just incredibly inspiring.”
Howe received a heartfelt standing ovation from Sceptres faithful as she was shown to the crowd on the jumbotron during the first TV timeout. There were also video packages of teammates cheering Howe on in her fight against cancer.
This love came not only from teammates and fans, but from the opposition as well.
“She's one of my best friends,” said Montreal forward Laura Stacey post-game. “It was the first time I [have seen] her since. I've talked to her a ton of times, but to see her in that vulnerable state, it's pretty tough to see. It's emotional."
Stacey highlighted the “amazing support group” behind Howe—including from the entire Sceptres organization and the fans—and offered a dose of confidence for her friend.
“I know she's got this,” said Stacey.
The Montreal Victoire arrived at the arena wearing shirts supporting Howe and even contributed to Toronto’s bra drive upon arrival at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
The bra drive was an effort to collect new, unused bras and donate them to local shelters. The Sceptres played off the Teddy Bear Toss and had fans participate in a Bra Toss.
The Sceptres, the PWHL, the Canadian Cancer Society and Mississauga Fire community all came together to help fundraise towards Howe’s goal of $27,000 for cancer research.
The goal was surpassed, with donations sitting at $31,922 as of this article being published. Donations can be made here.
“Today was bigger than hockey,” said Montreal head coach, Kori Cheverie, adding the day highlighted how special the women’s hockey community is.
“Erica is someone that we've all played with, played against, coached and coached against, and it's about praying for her recovery and acknowledging that there's bigger fights out there than just the rivalry between Toronto and Montreal.”
Montreal’s push-back earned them a win
From puck drop, the game seemed to be under the control of the Victoire. Despite Montreal leading 12-6 in shots on goal at one point and the Sceptres struggling to create zone time, Toronto grabbed the lead. They scored twice in 42 seconds in the dying minutes of the first period, courtesy of Jesse Compher and Sarah Nurse.
“I think out of those 20 minutes, 17 of them were awesome,” said Stacey. “Unfortunately, hockey is a tough sport. If you have three minutes that aren't as great, sometimes other teams can capitalize, and that's exactly what happened. We tried to forget about those three minutes.”
Montreal pushed back early in the second. Forward Abby Boreen danced around Toronto’s ever-steady defender Renata Fast for a highlight reel goal, getting the Victoire on the board and back in the game.
“I don’t even know where to start on that,” said Boreen with a grin on her face.
“Honestly, I don't even know what happened. Just kind of flipped the puck through her and then around her and just tried to get a shot off.”
The goal inspired the visitors, who pushed for more immediately.
“All of us on the bench, our jaws dropped,” said Stacey. “It was a beautiful goal.”
A few minutes later, Maureen Murphy redirected an Amanda Boulier shot to tie the game for Montreal.
Although Izzy Daniel grabbed Toronto’s lead back in the later stages of the second, Montreal never stumbled. Lina Ljungblom tied things up in the third before Stacey buried the overtime winner just 15 seconds into the extra frame.
Heading into a matchup with the Minnesota Frost on Saturday, Dec 28, Stacey said the Victoire can build on their hard work through the two-week international break.
“It's a stepping stone for us,” she said. “Obviously there's plenty more for us to learn and for us to grow with, but our breakouts, moving pucks north, we're connecting a lot more than we had the first three games.”
Steps forward for Toronto
With a point earned in the overtime loss, the Sceptres can reflect on the improvements they’ve seen in their game, rather than the negatives of a four-game losing streak.
Toronto’s struggling penalty kill, which had surrendered a goal in every game prior to Saturday, killed all four Montreal power plays, including a five-minute major handed to Rylind MacKinnon for a check to the head penalty.
Toronto head coach Troy Ryan reflected on the PWHL’s new “no escape rule” post-game, saying his team got some luck to have “ the right people on the ice.”
“Also, the people that maybe aren't regular penalty killers, they just did their job they needed to do for 10 or 15 seconds so we could get the right penalty kill people on the ice,” he added.
Ryan also praised the confidence of his normal penalty killers, remarking on how their play can help inform the rest of his squad and instill the right mentality to the penalty kill.
Kirk shines in debut start
One of the bigger stories heading into the game was in net for the Sceptres.
After relieving Kristen Campbell in Toronto’s 4-2 loss to the New York Sirens on Wednesday, Raygan Kirk was given the goal against Montreal.
“That was amazing. I had a lot of fun,” said Kirk post-game. “As a goalie, you just want to get in there and get the feel of it, get to play and prove to yourself that you can play in this league.”
Despite some nerves, Kirk stood tall and made key saves to keep her team in the game, especially during the five-minute Montreal powerplay.
Ryan said he thought Kirk showed some positive signs. He highlighted her willingness to leave the net to stop pucks and make plays, along with her “aggressive assertiveness.”
“It's so easy to stay back in your net when you're playing that first game,” he said.
“Hats off to her for just stepping in with some confidence and giving us the confidence to be able to make it a close one,” he added.
The Sceptres return to Coca-Cola Coliseum to host the Boston Fleet in a rematch of Toronto’s home opener on Friday, Dec. 27, at 7 p.m. EST.
Check out Intermission Sports' Instagram for game-day Sceptres content and much more. Stay tuned for lots more coverage of the PWHL from our team here at Intermission.
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