TORONTO — Hannah Miller scored the game-winning goal and Daryl Watts contributed a pair of helpers as the Toronto Sceptres opened the 2024-25 season with a 3-1 victory over the Boston Fleet on home ice on Saturday.
And just like that, Season 2 of the PWHL is here.
Saturday marked the beginning of a new season not just for the Sceptres, but for the entire league — a much-anticipated follow-up to the rousing success that was the inaugural campaign. The Original Six teams enter Year 2 with new names and new threads, a 30-game slate and a new opportunity to be crowned Walter Cup champions at the end of it all. After a season of firsts across the league, the excitement for seconds was palpable.
A fresh slate for the Sceptres also brought a new top line for the home side — one that fans will surely see plenty more of in the games to come. A busy off-season for the Sceptres saw them land sought-after free agent Daryl Watts, who after leading the Ottawa Charge in scoring last season signed a contract with her hometown team and wasted no time endearing herself to the Toronto crowd on Saturday alongside Sarah Nurse and rookie Izzy Daniel. Known as a smart sniper and a gifted goal-scorer, it was Watts’ deft playmaking that made her standout on Saturday, assisting on Nurse’s first-period jailbreak goal and Hannah Miller’s power-play game-winner, too.
The line was fun to watch — and as Watts said after the win, it was fun to play on, too. “It just felt really good to get the game under our belt, as a team, get the first win,” said the Toronto native.
Watts’ first assist was a tape-to-tape cross-ice dish to set Nurse off on the breakaway — a play the team had rehearsed as part of penalty-kill preparations. The shorthanded goal also showed fans the power of the PWHL’s new “No Escape” rule, which forces a penalized team to keep the same line on the ice until after the first face-off following a penalty.
Ryan praised his top-line’s quick chemistry, Nurse’s strong defensive position perfectly complementing the offensive firepower and skill of her new set of wingers.
“Every time Watts touches the puck, there’s usually something there offensively,” said Ryan. “The speed that she can attack defenders against, there’s very few people in the league that can play offensively like Daryl.”
Ryan also praised Daniel’s poise, positioning and game management.
“I think they all just complemented each other really well,” Ryan said. “The joy for me, as a coach playing a line like that, is I felt comfortable playing them against Boston’s top line, but also if I could get a good line matchup and let them get a little bit of freedom offensively, I felt I could play them offensively or defensively.”
The top line wasn’t the only new unit to shine in its debut Saturday. The third line was a force, too, headlined by Hannah Miller’s move from the wing last season to centre this year and featuring Jesse Compher on her right and rookie Julia Gosling to her left. The trio of power forwards brought exactly that — power, and plenty of it — to a roster brimming with skill, but one that could use a dose of physicality considering it’s opening the season without last year’s leading scorer, Natalie Spooner, who continues to recover from off-season knee surgery.
“Spooner’s a huge part of our locker room and our group. And obviously, the season she had last year was incredible. So, it’s definitely something that we’re missing,” said Miller. “But at the same time, we have such an incredible group, a deep team, and it’s kind of next-person up, everyone kind of step up. We know that she’s working extremely hard to get back with us as soon as she can.”
Spooner’s net-front presence was missed — as spectacular a game as Boston netminder Aerin Frankel put together, Ryan mused about what this game could’ve looked like had Toronto had its leading scorer (and noted net-front puck-pouncer) in the lineup.
“With us being able to put 40-plus shots on goal, it’s hard not to think of the pucks that Spooner would collect in the position at net-front when we’re getting that many directed at net,” he said. “But we’ll learn as a group as well. If we’re putting that many pucks on net, if someone gets to that Spooner area, there’ll be some goals there for them.”
Perhaps that’s a role for Gosling to grow into.
Amid all the new, is a new home for the Sceptres, too. One year in, the team had already outgrown its first home — while Mattamy Athletic Centre offered up an energetic atmosphere in the heart of the city for the team’s inaugural campaign, its 3,850-seat capacity simply couldn’t meet the overwhelming demand from fans clamouring to watch Toronto’s newest pro squad.
Coca-Cola Coliseum, longtime home of the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and a historic barn steeped in Toronto history, was dressed for the occasion on Saturday. Marlies history adorned the rafters, the maple leaf logo painted at centre ice and around the perimeter, but evidence of the Sceptres — still a Toronto team in blue, but of a lighter and icier hue — made it clear the new tenants will be a popular attraction all season long.
Custom banners hung from the railings at the front of every section of the stands, one for every member of the Sceptres. Emma Nation is right beside the Fast Lane, for fan-favourites Maltais and Fast, respectively; starter Kristen Campbell’s says “Soup Bowl,” while beloved third-string netminder Carly Jackson’s signature hairstyle is honoured with “Mullett Village”; you’ll find a Goose Crossing sign for rookie Julia Gosling at one end of the rink, and Blayre Turnbull’s Captain’s Quarters at the other. Fans were equipped with white rally towels draped over every seat and light-up wristbands that blazed blue and gold. Many brought their own signs, young girls donning their minor-hockey sweaters holding up homemade declarations of their status as future PWHLers. A few fans even brought their own sceptres.
All 8,089 were rewarded with an energetic season-opener, complete with special teams in the spotlight. Not a single goal was scored at even strength. Hilary Knight’s game-opening goal was scored on Boston’s first power-play just three minutes into the game, and Toronto’s Sarah Nurse evened the score with a short-handed “jailbreak” marker eight minutes later while shorthanded. Miller’s game-winner in the third frame came on the power play. Emma Maltais’ late insurance marker was scored on an empty net.
A few familiar questions have clearly carried over from Year 1 — particularly when it comes to the physical side of the game and how it’s called. The most notable case came late in the third frame, when Fleet captain Hilary Knight sent Fast crashing into the end boards with a dangerous hit from behind. Fast was slow to get up — and Knight appeared to recognize her error right away, hanging back to check on Fast while the play went on at the other end of the ice. Knight was issued a two-minute boarding penalty, but the shower of boos that rain down from fans reflected the sentiment that a harsher call could’ve been made, considering the league’s proposed crackdown on reckless checks.
“I thought she was in the process of turning, so I was just trying to finish the play and pinch the puck off and we just got caught up,” Knight said of the hit. “You never want to see a player go into the boards like that, so I was just making sure she knew that she could stay down, someone was right there, just in case she was injured.”
Fast was just fine, and after a brief trip to the bench was back on the ice for the next shift — just in time to help set up the game-winning goal on the ensuing power play. The result was the stuff coaches dream of:
“There’s nothing better than a hit like that against a key player on your team, she’s safe — she’s OK, she gets up, and you go right back and score a power-play goal to win the hockey game,” said Ryan. “Those are the team-building things … and Renata was fine, she was able to play the rest of the game. Those are huge momentum shifts in a game, for sure.”
One win is not enough to indicate momentum, but it’s a start for the Sceptres. And with one season already under its belt, the PWHL has all the momentum going its way as Year 2 begins anew.