Top playoff seed locked up in win
Toronto gets to choose opponent for post-season starting next week at Coca-Cola Coliseum
Players have experienced many new things in the PWHL’s inaugural season: from travelling great distances for road games to new rules such as the jailbreak, which ends a penalty if a short-handed goal is scored.
The league’s first playoffs, which start next week, are about to introduce new challenges.
For Toronto, those will include choosing their opponent and hosting games at a different rink.
The race to the top mattered not only for home-ice advantage throughout the four-team playoffs, but also because the No. 1 seed gets to choose its opponent in the opening round: the third- or fourthplace team. It’s a system that some fans of other leagues such as the NBA have clamoured for, but only the PWHL has adopted.
Toronto — which had been tied with Montreal for first place in the six-team league heading into Wednesday night — locked up top spot with a 4-1 win over Minnesota at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Natalie Spooner boosted her league-leading goal total to 18 with a pair.
Toronto will wrap up its regular season against Ottawa at Mattamy on Sunday. Minnesota, Ottawa and Boston are battling for the last two playoff spots.
Toronto head coach Troy Ryan said his team hasn’t given too much thought to potential playoff matchups, but admitted the exercise adds drama to the final week.
“I think it will be fun for staff to voice their opinions, fun for athletes to voice opinions and fun to dive into statistics of it,” he said before Wednesday’s game.
“The things that make you successful in the regular season don’t (necessarily) make you successful in the playoffs, because a lot of those typical equations get thrown out of the window.”
While a playoff opponent might be more fired up if the first-place club chooses them, Toronto seems more focused on its own preparation.
“Different teams have different things to throw at you, but I’m really confident against any team,” said star forward Sarah Nurse, who had a hat trick in Toronto’s 6-2 win in New York on Sunday.
The other change, for Toronto and Montreal, will be the venue. It was announced Tuesday that Toronto will play its first two post-season games at Coca-Cola Coliseum at Exhibition Place.
The 8,140-seat arena is home to the Toronto Marlies, who were bounced from the AHL post-season on Sunday by the Belleville Senators.
It’s a welcome change for PWHL players who expect more energy from a bigger crowd than at 2,600seat Mattamy Athletic Centre.
“We are excited to get in that arena and fill it and create a great playoff atmosphere there,” team captain Blayre Turnbull said.
“Every rink is different, for sure. The ice is different everywhere, the atmosphere is different.
“Mattamy has been a great facility for us — we totally love the atmosphere that our fans create there — but for us to be able to play in front of even more people at our home venue is really exciting.”
Playoff tickets go on sale next week. All of Toronto’s regular-season home games at Mattamy sold out, and a February game against Montreal at Scotiabank Arena set a record for the women’s pro game with a crowd of 19,285 — broken in Montreal two weeks ago.
Nurse said the change of venue won’t affect performance that much.
“We played Montreal five times this year at five different locations,” Nurse said.
“So I think we’re definitely used to change, and our staff do a great job of making everywhere we go feel like home.”
The first two games in Toronto’s best-of-five semifinal series are set for May 8 and May 10.