Familiar faces haunted the Sceptres, as ex-teammates scored and shut them down, highlighting their struggles and a league in flux.
The Toronto Sceptres’ road trip offered a stark reminder of how quickly the league has shifted around them. In a 5–0 loss to the Vancouver Goldeneyes, two familiar faces delivered the damage, while another former one shut the door entirely.
Sarah Nurse, whom Toronto did not protect in the expansion process and who signed with Vancouver, scored twice. Izzy Daniel, who played for Toronto last season and was selected by Vancouver in expansion, also found the back of the net. At the other end, former Sceptres goaltender Kristen Campbell turned aside every shot she faced for the shutout.
For Nurse, the result reflected a deliberate response after a tight loss earlier in the week in Toronto.
“In this league, everything’s so tight and you want to get as many points as possible,” Nurse said. “It was a disappointing loss in Toronto because I thought we played a good game and probably deserved a win, but to come out of there with one point was still a step in the right direction. Coming home, we knew we wanted to use home ice to our advantage, and I really think we did a great job of that.”
The result followed a similar pattern two nights earlier in Seattle, where Toronto fell 6–4 as two players claimed by the Seattle Torrent in expansion (Julia Gosling and Megan Carter) scored against their former club. In consecutive games, the Sceptres struggled with pace, puck management, and structure and former teammates capitalized.
Head coach Troy Ryan acknowledged the similarities between the performances, while urging perspective.
“I’m not going to get too caught up and deep into it,” Ryan said. “I have a lot of confidence in this group. If we start to play the right way, I’m confident they’ll find a way to dig out of it. Sometimes it’s just a bad game at the tail end of a road trip and you learn from it, but it’s important to turn the page and move on.”
At the same time, Ryan was clear about the style of play Toronto needs to play to be successful.
“We’re not a team that’s going to score a ton of goals,” he said. “We need to compete really hard defensively to stay in games. When you try to force offense that isn’t there, your habits and details drop. You don’t create offense, but you open up opportunities for the opposition.
“We’re not protecting the middle of the ice, we’re turning pucks over in dangerous areas, and teams are beating us in transition. You’re never going to win in this league if you play that way.”
The losses have come at a difficult moment for Toronto, which is slipping in the standings (17 points in 15 games, and lowest win percentage of all eight teams) heading into the Olympic break, with one game remaining before league play pauses. The team has only two points in their last five games, and 10 in their last 10 games.
Despite the recent stretch, the belief among the players remains.
“I can confidently say there’s still belief in this room,” assistant captain Allie Munroe said. “We need to look in the mirror and figure out how we can be better moving forward. Despite the last few games, there’s belief here.”
Toronto plays one more game in Montreal on Jan. 28 before the Olympic break, then travels back out west at the end of February.
Follow C Benwell on X @gamedayhky on YouTube @gamedayhockey and on Instagram @gamedayhky