Sunday marked the third time the Toronto Sceptres have played in an NHL-sized arena this season.
The team talked very little about what it would be like to play in front of a sold-out Rogers Place, because they’d already played in the big arenas the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks call home.
But the Sceptres, despite being on a three-game win streak, came out flat, gave up a goal to Ottawa’s Gabbie Hughes on the first shot of the game, and were outshot 17-2 in the opening period.
Yet, they found their way back into the game, and when Daryl Watts scored a wraparound goal 51 seconds into overtime, it lifted the surging Sceptres to a 3-2 Professional Women’s Hockey League victory over the Charge.
It was Watts’ second goal of the game following a second-period power-play marker. Julia Gosling also scored for Toronto (6-2-4-6) with the man advantage. Gosling’s marker found its way through the pads of Charge goalie Emerance Maschmeyer with 23.4 seconds left in the second period.
Ottawa fell to 6-0-3-8 with the loss.
The Edmonton game was the fifth of nine PWHL “Takeover Tour” neutral-site games that are on the league’s schedule for 2024-25.
“This is such a cool experience for all of us,” said Watts. “It’s not everyday that you get to play in an NHL rink, especially this one, it’s so beautiful. It was electric. It was hard not to get incredibly excited.”
But, had it not been for the play of Sceptres netminder Raygan Kirk, there would have been no Toronto comeback. She gave up a goal on Ottawa’s first shot, but then held the Sceptres in the game, allowing Toronto to exit the first only down 1-0.
“Kirky played really well,” said Sceptres coach Troy Ryan. “She just looked confident in there. She was very solid and gave us a little time to get our legs under us.
“They (the team) just settled down and had a conversation between periods and built off the foundation that Kirky provided, and gave us a window back into the game.”
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Toronto outshot Ottawa 19-5 in the second, and scored two power-play goals to take the lead.
“I obviously really liked our first period, probably one of the best periods we’ve had all season,” said Charge coach Carla MacLeod, who hails from the Edmonton suburb of Spruce Grove.
But she said her team wasn’t ready for Toronto’s pushback.
“They were on their toes. We knew they were going to have to be that way. That’s the response to a period like they had in the first.”
Ottawa tied the game at 4:10 of the third, as the Charge’s Tereza Vanisova walked into a shot from the slot. It was the Czech’s team-leading eighth goal of the season.
Maschmeyer stopped 31 of 34 shots. Kirk made 33 saves.
Maschmeyer hails from the nearby town of Bruderheim, while Charge teammates Danielle Serdachny and Stephanie Markowski are from Edmonton. Each said they had to find between 70 and 100 tickets for friends, family and old coaches and teammates.
“We’re going to appreciate this moment far beyond this time, regardless of whether we won or lost,” said Serdachny. “It’s kind of special for everyone involved, and we’re grateful for the support we received today.”
“It’s a home game for us,” said Maschmeyer. “It’s truly a home game, in front of our friends and family and the coaches and the people we went to school with.”
Toronto scratched reigning league MVP Natalie Spooner, who made her return from injury in Wednesday’s win over Minnesota. With this being the team’s third game in five days, Spooner was given the afternoon off for “load management.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2025.
