Toronto picks Minnesota but team not saying why

The pick is in.

Toronto has chosen to play fourth-place Minnesota in the first round of the PWHL playoffs, choosing a cooler team that has lost five games in a row over the hotter, third-place Boston that won four of its last five regular-season games.

But even with the choice announced Monday night, the game outside the game is still being played.

Toronto staff aren’t giving any clues as to why they chose Minnesota, lest they give up what narrow advantage they may have in preparing for the semifinals, which begin Wednesday at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto.

GM Gina Kingsbury spoke only in general terms.

Once the league announced how the playoffs worked — that the firstplace team would have its pick of the third- or fourth-place team in the first round — and Toronto clinched the top seed, Toronto’s discussions began.

“It was definitely not an easy decision,” Kingsbury said. “Minnesota was not necessarily the lead in that right away. There were a lot of pros and cons on picking Boston or Minnesota.”

Kingsbury, head coach Troy Ryan and the rest of the staff analyzed the numbers and how Toronto matched up against its prospective playoff opponents in the regular season. (Toronto beat Boston three out of five times; it beat Minnesota three games out of four). The staff also looked at how Boston and Minnesota have fared lately.

“Are they healthy? Are they banged up?” Kingsbury said. “Travel came into play. What does that look like? Where do we feel comfortable travelling to?”

The staff also consulted the players, talking first with the leadership group of captain Blayre Turnbull, Renata Fast and Jocelyne Larocque, then with the wider team.

As for what factor played the biggest role? Ryan won’t budge.

“It’d be somewhat irresponsible to tip my hat to the exact details,” he obfuscated. “At this point we’ll keep that within house.”

The way Minnesota has played lately likely was the main factor. After starting the season atop the league standings, Minnesota stumbled in its final days, eventually squeaking into the playoffs only when Toronto beat Ottawa in the regular-season finale Sunday. With that, Ottawa was out and Minnesota was in.

Still, Turnbull had plenty of positive things to say about Minnesota. She credited their goaltenders, Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley, who combined to allow the second-fewest goals this season behind only Toronto. She also praised Minnesota’s biggest stars.

“Obviously, we know how offensive their biggest threats are,” Turnbull said. “Kendall (Coyne Schofield) is obviously extremely fast and she’s been scoring a lot lately, and then Taylor Heise is such a natural goal scorer and offensive threat, too.”

There’s also Grace Zumwinkle, who finished tied for second in the league with 11 goals.