By Adam Floujeh
The Toronto Sceptres defeated the Boston Fleet on Saturday afternoon at Coca-Cola Coliseum by a score of 3-1, winning their home opener.
In the face of the city's public transport working against their fans, a step up in physical play and a red-hot goalie in Aerin Frankel—not to mention new rules changing the game—Toronto still found a way to win.
No public transit? No problem for Scepters fans
Exhibition GO, the closest train station to the arena was not in service, there was limited subway access across the city and the normal Harbourfront streetcars from Union Station weren’t running.
It was a challenge to get to the arena for fans but it didn’t stop Sceptres faithful, who had every excuse to not show up.
The announced attendance of 8,089 fans packed the Coliseum and got to see their team pull off the win.
“It’s incredible,” said Toronto forward Daryl Watts after her first game as a Sceptre, where she recorded a pair of assists.
“Toronto is like the Mecca of the world for hockey. It’s really special to play here, really special for me, for this to be my home city. So it was a really special game.”
Coca-Cola played host to the Sceptres playoff series against the Minnesota Frost and was announced as their new home arena over the summer. Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan described the energy during their time at Coca-Cola as feeling like the “fans were on top of you” at a practice earlier this week.
The transit issue wasn’t too much of an issue for Ryan though.
“Actually, last year in the playoffs, I used to bike or take a scooter. So It’s pretty cool.”
New rules and standards make their mark
What’s set the PWHL apart from other hockey leagues, is their willingness to try new things and be creative with its rules.
The ‘No Escape Rule’ has now made it so players on the ice at the time of a penalty assessed to their team must stay on the ice for the following faceoff. On Saturday, the rule proved impactful as Toronto’s first goal—a shorthanded, jailbreak marker for Sarah Nurse—came with an unusual penalty-killing group on the ice.
“I think it allows every single player in the lineup to be held accountable,” said Boston head coach, Courtney Kessel.
“I think actually, all three goals were related to the new rule,” she added. “Our power play, we scored pretty quickly. They got the jailbreak right away, and then their power play again at the end. So they wanted more power play goals, here we go.”
A new standard in the league is the physicality and level of body checking compared to what we saw last season. The league set new guidelines for what constitutes a body check this month but seems in no hurry to quell anything.
Toronto played a very physical style last season—a style that helped them finish first in the league—but it took time for them to bring that to the game against Boston.
While coach Ryan admitted to wanting more physicality in the game, he prefers it in a subtle way.
“I thought today there were some bigger, bigger hits that were part of the game,” he said. “I thought the first period, we were maybe watching a little more instead of getting engaged in some of the physical play. But it picked up as the game went on. So I like where we finished the game physically.”
At different points in the game, Izzy Daniels, Emma Maltais and Renata Fast all took hard hits that caused them to leave the ice in discomfort.
“I talked to Izzy. Izzy's fine. Maltais had a little bump but was fine. And Renata is one, obviously at the end there, I think she actually bit her lip, but she was fine. It looked probably worse than it actually was,” said Ryan.
Boston Fleet captain Hilary Knight doubled down on the physical play post-game, emphasizing the level of play to expect from the PWHL.
“You probably saw that in the Walter Cup push, we're a hard team to play against when physicality is up. But I think playing in the PWHL, the expectation is for it to be a physical game,” said Knight
All the goalie love
The player of the game was undoubtedly Boston goaltender Aerin Frankel, who made 38 saves in defeat. The New York product kept the Fleet in the game, especially in the third period where Boston only managed to register one shot.
“We saw that last year in the playoff push as well,” said Kessel. “She's, if not, the best goalie in the world. Game after game, we've seen that, and hopefully, we can be a little bit better in front of her.”
Across from her on the ice was Kristen Campbell, playing and celebrating a win on her 27th birthday.
The fans' constant “soup” chants—a regular occurrence last season that returned on Saturday—are proof enough of the city's love for the Manitoban. The loudest example of this came after a point-blank save towards the end of the second period to keep the game tied.
Campbell was the backbone of Toronto’s 2024 season, posting a .927sv% and a 16-6-0 record in 22 games played. The result was winning the PWHL’s Goaltender of the Year Award.
“I think a lot of the things we do are presents for Soupy,” said Toronto forward Hannah Miller, who scored the game-winning goal with under two minutes to go in regulation.
“Happy we got the win on her birthday.”
NEXT: The Sceptres head to Ottawa for the Charge’s home opener and Daryl Watts’ first game against the team who drafted her in 2023 on Dec. 3, at 7 p.m.
The Sceptres return to Coca-Cola Coliseum to host the Minnesota Frost in their highly-anticipated first-round rematch on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 2 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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