History in the making: PWHL's Toronto vs. New York begins new era in women's hockey
Karissa Donkin | for CBC Sports | Posted: December 29, 2023 9:00 AM | Last Updated: December 29
Sold-out Jan. 1 game at Mattamy Athletic Centre marks fresh start for women's game
It may have been the pre-season with no fans allowed inside the Utica University Nexus Center on a Thursday afternoon in early December, but the game between PWHL Toronto and New York was as physical, fast and intense as you'd expect from a game that matters in the standings.
Toronto held a lead three times during the game. But it was New York that prevailed, thanks to a Jessie Eldridge go-ahead goal with only six seconds left in regulation.
Asked if she had a welcome to the PWHL moment that week, rookie Toronto forward Emma Maltais said it was that energy, even with no fans in the building, that struck her the most in her first taste of professional hockey.
"Some of us have not played a game since March, and just to see that it's already that high end of a game and that fast and that physical is exactly what welcome to the PWHL is," Maltais said.
It was a preview of things to come on New Year's Day when the two teams will face off again in front of a sold-out crowd inside Toronto's old Maple Leaf Gardens (now the Mattamy Athletic Centre), this time with points on the line.
Coverage of the first PWHL regular-season game on Jan. 1 at 12:30 p.m. ET (New York at Toronto) will be available on CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, and CBC TV, beginning with a pre-game show at 12 p.m.
It will be the first ever Professional Women's Hockey League game, a start to something players have spent years building, and that they hope will be around long after they're done playing.
"It feels like history is going to be made, really," Toronto forward Natalie Spooner said earlier this month.
"The years we've put into trying to make a professional league, and in the past it's happened and failed. And now it just feels like we have all the right pieces in place and the right people in place, that it's going to be something that's around for a long, long time and for all those little girls that come up to dream of playing in."
Back-and-forth pre-season battle
Toronto looked dominant at times during the pre-season, darting out to an early lead against New York after first period goals from rookie Maggie Connors and Rebecca Leslie.
But New York wouldn't go quietly, with three comebacks powered by a hat trick from Emma Woods.
"They're a very good team and they bring a lot of speed and poise and it's going to be I think a grind every time we play them," Woods said about Toronto.
"They're physical and it takes a physical toll on us. But I think we can step up to that level and I think we can start to control games against them."
The last time Woods played at Mattamy Athletic Centre, she was wearing a Toronto jersey.
Then with the Toronto Six of the now-shuttered Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), Woods scored an overtime goal to keep her team alive in the playoff semifinals against the Connecticut Whale.
Toronto went on to win that series at Mattamy, and then won the Isobel Cup championship, before the PHF was sold and shut down to create the PWHL a few months later.
WATCH | Woods looking forward to being part of league's first game:
Hailing from Burford, Ont., about 120 kilometres southwest of Toronto, Woods will have lots of friends and family in the stands on New Year's Day.
"It's going to be extra special for me and I think same for a lot of girls on our team," Woods said.
On the other side, Spooner is expecting a battle from New York after her team was unable to put them away in the pre-season. They weren't the only ones. New York won all three of its exhibition contests, looking fast and skilled in the process.
Like Woods, Scarborough's Spooner will also be playing in front of a home crowd.
"There's so much talent, so we've got to bring it for the full 60 minutes," Spooner said. "I think that there will just be so much excitement that everyone will be skating around pretty fast. But at the same time, we've got to play our game."
'Soak it up'
Behind the bench, Toronto coach Troy Ryan doesn't expect he'll need a big motivational speech to drum up excitement for players who've been waiting for this moment for years.
He will tell them to feel everything when they step on the ice, and to embrace the big stage they're about to perform on.
"There's only going to be one ever first-ever Professional Women's Hockey League inaugural game, so I think we need to soak it up and enjoy the moment," Ryan said.
PWHL team previews:
- PWHL New York blue-line built around talented trio of young Canadians
- Sky is the limit for Poulin, Desbiens-led PWHL Montreal in inaugural season
- Swiss star Alina Müller among PWHL Boston squad boasting depth up and down lineup
- Familiarity an asset for PWHL Toronto heading into 1st season
- PWHL Minnesota enters season with firepower up front, led by 1st overall pick
- 'Focusing on us': PWHL Ottawa aims to build on team culture heading into inaugural season
Both teams were built from scratch over the last few months: Toronto by GM Gina Kingsbury, and New York by GM Pascal Daoust.
It started with a free agency period in early September that saw Toronto sign forwards Sarah Nurse and Blayre Turnbull and defender Renata Fast to three-year contracts. In the draft, Kingsbury opted to use the second overall pick on veteran defender Jocelyne Larocque, reuniting her with Fast, her D-partner on Team Canada.
With a number of players who've played on the Canadian national team together, Toronto may have an edge in the early part of the season when it comes to chemistry, something all teams in the league are still trying to build.
WATCH | Nurse to lead Toronto on and off the ice:
While Toronto has always been a training hub for national team players, and boasts lots of homegrown talent, the players on New York's roster come from far and wide.
"The fun thing about New York and this team is we all are so different," New York forward Jill Saulnier said during the pre-season.
"We've come really from all different places to this area that none of us have ever kind of been or lived. So it's been just all of us kind of uniting and figuring out how to do this and how to be the best."
Daoust began building his roster by signing Canadian defender Micah Zandee-Hart, who will be the team's first captain, along with American national team forwards Alex Carpenter and Abby Roque.
He prioritized defence in the draft, adding Ella Shelton and Jaime Bourbonnais in the first two rounds, giving him a solid base of three young defenders to build around over the next three seasons.
All Toronto home games sold out
Across the league, the Jan. 1 game kicks off a 24-game season for each of the league's six teams, culminating in playoffs that begin in early May.
It will be the first of 12 sold out home games for Toronto at Mattamy, the smallest arena the PWHL will use this season. At least two other teams, Montreal and Ottawa, have also sold out their home openers, with Ottawa expected to break a record for the most-attended professional women's hockey game in North America at TD Place on Jan. 2.
For the first time in professional sports, the league has launched with a players' union and an eight-year collective bargaining agreement that ensures benefits like a housing stipend and maternity leave. Players will be paid around $55,000 US on average, with a minimum salary of $35,000.
But just as important to the players are things like meals at the rink and access to the best equipment, especially for players who've played in previous leagues where they had to bring their own gear. Not only does the league have multiple equipment sponsors this season, including Bauer and CCM, but they've also signed sponsorship deals with big companies like Canadian Tire and Air Canada.
The six teams will begin the season without team names or logos, with players wearing jerseys that have the city name written across the chest.
Kingsbury, who played in two now-defunct professional leagues herself, told reporters last week that not having a logo or name is the least of her team's worries.
"We've been waiting our whole lives for a professional league to be able to compete, to be able to play and represent a team, regardless of what the colours are, the jerseys are, the name is," the GM said.
"As much as I know it's important for the public, it's important for the league and it's important to us as well, it's really low on our priority list in a sense of we get to compete, and we get to have these athletes actually play in a professional league."