PWHL Toronto forward Sarah Nurse defends the puck from PWHL Minnesota defender Sophie Jaques as PWHL Toronto takes on PWHL Minnesota in the inaugural playoff game at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto on May 8.Sammy Kogan�/The Globe and Mail
For the top-seeded team from Toronto, the first playoff game in the Professional Women’s Hockey League was everything it could have asked for.
In front of a packed house of 8,473 on Wednesday night, Toronto pounded Minnesota 4-0 in the opening game of their best-of-five series – the initial glimpse of playoff hockey in this breakout new league.
Natalie Spooner etched her name in the history books for the second time this year, as the PWHL’s inaugural scoring champ scored the league’s first postseason goal. Toronto captain Blayre Turnbull had a two-goal night.
It was the league’s first game inside Coca-Cola Coliseum – a move prompted by big ticket demand in the city to see this team. Toronto had played its regular-season home games at 2,500-seat Mattamy Athletic Centre this season and sold out each one.
The PWHL says it has not yet made any decisions about where the Toronto team will play home games next season. But it’s hard to imagine a better audition for the franchise to play more often at Coca-Cola Coliseum, home of the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, than Wednesday’s game. The crowd was engaged, dotted heavily with blue jerseys, families, and lots of young girls with handmade signs with message such as, “MY PWHL.” Tickets for the game – ranging from $32 to $117 – were hard to secure. Most, outside a few in standing room, sold out in minutes.
The Toronto team expected to pack the place, especially after selling out the NHL rink in town for one game earlier this year.
PWHL Toronto players celebrate forward Natalie Spooner’s first goal of the game.Sammy Kogan�/The Globe and Mail
“Having home crowds like that really helps calm the nerves,” said Turnbull. “We kind of knew what to expect, after our game at Scotiabank [Arena], and then having these games sell out just as quickly as that one did.”
The league is exploring getting Toronto PWHL into a bigger home rink next season, if even for some games. Teams had 12 home dates in the first season’s 24-game schedule, but that will grow to a 30-game schedule next season, with 15 dates at home.
Per a unique PWHL playoff rule, top-seeded Toronto got to pick its first-round opponent, either fourth-seeded Minnesota or third-seeded Boston. The team from the State of Hockey was determined to make Toronto pay for that choice, but in fact, in Game 1, Minnesota didn’t at all resemble the star-powered group they had been at times earlier this year.
The past few days had not been comfy for Minnesota. The team backed into the playoffs, not on its own win, but thanks to a loss by Ottawa on Sunday. That’s when Minnesota learned it qualified for the playoffs. Then Toronto had 24 hours to decide who to play, leaving the other three playoff teams swinging for a day, waiting to make travel plans. The PWHL’s teams travel commercially, so Minnesota left home bright and early Tuesday for Toronto.
Spooner opened the scoring midway through the first period, when the Canadian Olympic gold medalist floated in on the wing and fired a wrist shot past Minnesota goalie Nicole Hensley, nestling it just inside the post. It was the Scarborough native’s 21st of the season in Game No. 25.
The stadium DJ blared Toronto’s goal song, Lady Gaga’s Applause, by now synonymous with the PWHL’s top-scoring team. A sign from one fan celebrated the 33-year-old player who juggles a toddler son: “Spooner=Mom Power.”
Minutes later, after doing a quick on-bench interview, Spooner was back on the ice, pouncing on a mid-ice turnover and racing in for a breakaway with a defender clinging to her. Minnesota thwarted that chance and was tracking Spooner’s every step, but she wiggled loose to make things happen all night.
Emma Maltais scored Toronto’s second goal, early in the second period. Sarah Nurse carried it end to end then dished a pass to Maltais, who cajoled Hensley across her crease then tucked it in the five-hole.
Toronto captain Blayre Turnbull had a two-goal night.Sammy Kogan�/The Globe and Mail
Spooner set up Toronto’s third goal, delivering a pass across the mouth of the net to Turnbull, who directed it in. Turnbull added another goal in the third. Toronto’s firepower was too much.
“Anytime Spooner has the puck and she’s close to the net, she’s either putting an accurate shot where the goalie is not, or she’s making a hard pass to someone’s blade,” said Turnbull. “Snytime she has the puck in the ozone, you know, she’s a threat.”
Toronto used depth, looked like a team balanced, confident and sturdy enough to weather a playoff run. Even the 13th forward got decent minutes. No need to lean too heavily on stars just yet.
“The success of our team is in the variance,” said Toronto Coach Ryan.
Minnesota – a talented squad spotted with U.S. national team stars, from Kendall Coyne Schofield to Grace Zumwinkle and No. 1 draft pick Taylor Heise – had chances. It outshot Toronto 26-19, 11-4 in just the second period.
But Toronto goalie Kristen Campbell kicked away or absorbed Minnesota’s attempts, including a slapper by Zumwinkle at close range. As Toronto fans have all season, they reacted to Campbell’s saves by hollering SOUP!
Toronto’s league-leading penalty kill was staunch again, denying Minnesota some prime opportunities.
As it has all year, Toronto blared Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 after securing the win, a nod to the women who now make a living playing hockey.
Game 2 will take place Friday in Toronto before the series swings to Saint Paul, Minn.
Boston and Montreal will play Game 1 of the other semi-final series at Place Bell, an AHL rink that seats more than 10,000, on Thursday in Laval, Que. Game 2 in the Toronto series is Friday night.
The final two teams will battle for the Walter Cup later this month.
With the playoff audience tuned in on Wednesday, the PWHL released some data on its inaugural season: total attendance of 392,259 for its 72 games; more than 40 corporate sponsorships; one million social-media followers and 238 million total impressions; plus 100,000 subscribers to its YouTube channel, with viewers from 88 countries.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
