1 week Ago By Jordan Ercit
PWHL Minnesota came into the playoffs hoping for a reset. Toronto had other ideas. Toronto’s dominance over the past two weeks continued right on into the playoffs while Minnesota’s struggles followed them as well.
The result was a one-sided 4-0 Toronto win in Game 1 of this first ever best-of-five PHWL semifinal. Toronto will try to make it 2-0 on Friday back at their new playoff home, Coca-Cola Coliseum. A sellout crowd of 8,473 were on hand for the win.
Both teams came out rather tentative, not wanting to make any big blunders early and give the other a boost of confidence. That said, both teams also had a few opportunities, but the steady goaltending of Kristen Campbell and Nicole Hensley on those few good chances kept the scoreboard at zeros. That changed just under 10 minutes into the game when Hannah Miller gained the zone and fed PWHL leading goal scorer and point getter Natalie Spooner.
With Lee Stecklein right on her, Spooner pulled the puck back and ripped one over Hensley’s glove for a 1-0 lead, bringing the sold out crowd at the Coliseum to its feet for the first time of the evening. It wouldn’t be the last. Toronto would get two more in the second period again involving the core of its roster.
Sarah Nurse and Emma Maltais hooked up for the second goal on a nice mix of speed and pinpoint passing. Maltais got in behind three Minnesota defenders and with little room to manoeuvre took a seeing-eye pass from Nurse before slipping one past Hensley for a 2-0 le.
