PWHL stars like Taylor Heise are set to go back to being foes after the friendship of the PWHL's 3-on-3 Showcase ended. Here's a look at Minnesota and Toronto's match up.
TORONTO, ON — PWHL hockey returns from the NHL All-Star break as Minnesota (5-1-2-0) heads to the Mattamy Athletic Centre to take on Toronto (3-5-0-0).
Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek, Nicole Hensley, Lee Stecklein, and captain Kendall Coyne Schofield suited up for either Team King or Team Kloss in the PWHL three-on-three showcase Thursday night in front of a packed Scotiabank Arena.
Among the thrilling All-Star festivities, Tate McRae helped Nathan MacKinnon draft his All-Star team, serving as one of four celebrity co-captains. Heise, who has 'exes' by McRae as her goal song and recreated her album cover 'THINK LATER,' hoped their paths would cross during All-Star weekend. While it hasn't happened yet, Heise remains hopeful she will see McRae before the weekend is over.
"She ended up having to get out of there before [I could see her]. I was gonna sit in and be a media person and raise my hand and ask a question," Heise said, alluding to attending a McRae All-Star press conference. "But I'm manifesting it; it's gonna happen at some point."
Linemates To Opposition
The three-on-three showcase saw Minnesota's stars pair up or face off with some of the best talent the PWHL offers, including players whom the State of Hockey will go toe-to-toe with Saturday in Toronto. Sarah Nurse and Heise were frequent linemates Thursday night, getting reps together and generating scoring chances.
Today, Heise will line up opposite her All-Star linemate as one-seed Minnesota takes on six-seed Toronto.
"There's just a lot of people who we know in Toronto, and It's a US-Canada rivalry in itself, so I'm really excited," Heise said. "I take every game seriously, but when you have the rivals, you know, we played them already once—it's a big game. It's one-versus-six right now, but it doesn't matter ranking-wise. They're still a great team, and we're going to have to go out and play our best, and it's exciting to always play against the best—they got a lot of really great girls on their team."
Pannek also suited up alongside Toronto stars and against Heise during the PWHL showcase. Her team, Team King, won the contest 5-3 over Team Kloss. Pannek enjoyed reconnecting or connecting with fellow PWHL stars on Thursday.
"The more you play hockey, the more you play with different people," Pannek said. "Some of those players that are on Toronto now, I played with last year internationally or at college, or whatever it may be, so it's fun to reconnect with people—the hockey world is really small, so chances are you've played with or against or know someone who has, and it's all in good fun."
Schedule Breaks for Minnesota
Today's matchup is Minnesota's first game in nearly a week, and it will be their only game until Feb. 14, as the 2023-24 rivalry series takes center stage. Given the scarcity of PWHL games scheduled for the coming week, head coach Ken Klee understands the importance of being mentally prepared against Toronto.
"It'll be about, to me, who comes mentally prepared, and they know it's their only game for two weeks, so it's a grind," Klee said. "Our whole schedule this year has been tough; we've had a lot of long trips, and this is no different. Noons going to come awful fast, and I know some of the girls are used to it, and some are not, so it will be interesting to see how that goes with a 12 o'clock start."
Minnesota snapped their two-game losing skid against PWHL New York last Sunday, entering All-Star weekend on a high note. That game, which came on the second day of a back-to-back, featured an overtime goal from Abby Boreen, who will play her fourth game of the season in Saturday's matinee matchup.
Boreen's Adjustment to the PWHL
Boreen signed her 10-day contract on Jan. 24. The second-year pharmacy student played against Montreal that night and put up seven shots in her PWHL debut.
Through three games, Boreen has moved up the lineup swiftly and, most notably, notched the game-winning goal in Minnesota's recent game, emerging as a standout top-nine forward. While she stood out in the preseason, Boreen went unsigned through the first few weeks of the PWHL season; since joining the squad, her adjustment to on-ice play has gone about as smoothly as anyone could have hoped.
"Being able to practice with the team and getting the reps in every day has been really helpful," Boreen said. "My teammates are helpful, and I mean, I'm just going out there and playing hockey at the end of the day."
Minnesota takes the ice at the Mattamy Athletic Centre for the first time this season as they take on PWHL Toronto. Catch the game on Bally Sports North, CBC, or stream it on CBC Gem or the PWHL's official YouTube channel. Puck drop is at 11:00 a.m. CST, 12 EST.