Jesse Compher looks ready to take the next step in her PWHL career with the Toronto Sceptres. After a modest rookie campaign in 2024 where she registered five points in 24 games, Compher boosted her production last season, finishing with 18 points in 30 games, including nine goals. That improvement was enough to place her fourth in team scoring, and by the end of the year she had emerged as one of Toronto’s steadiest forwards.
This year, the opportunity is even greater. Toronto was hit hard by expansion, losing Sarah Nurse, Julia Gosling, and Izzy Daniel in the draft, while Hannah Miller and Hayley Scamurra departed in free agency. Those departures have created significant openings in the forward group. The Sceptres may eventually fill some of those holes with draft picks Emma Gentry, Kiara Zanon, and Clara Van Wieren, but those rookies will need time to adjust. In the meantime, Compher is poised to step into a leadership role and carry more of the scoring load.
Her spot in the lineup makes that role almost inevitable. As a natural right winger, she is locked into one of Toronto’s top two lines, with Natalie Spooner occupying the other right-side position. Down the middle, Blayre Turnbull looks like the #1 center, while Daryl Watts has become the top option on the left. That structure all but guarantees Compher significant minutes alongside Toronto’s best offensive talent.
Just as important is the extra motivation of the 2026 Olympics. Compher did not make Team USA’s roster (missing the 2023 and 2024 World Championships), a setback that fueled her motivation. As she put it: “Obviously being left off a roster wasn’t easy. I experienced some of the hardest days being left off, but that comes with knowing you’re going to have to work your hardest. I knew from the second I was left off that first Worlds roster, after being on it for consecutive years, that I wanted to get back on. I have one goal in mind — in 2026, I want to be in Milan.”
That hunger carried into Toronto, where she pushed the pace, used her wicked wrist shot, and showed she could be more than just a defensive specialist. Her development mirrors the rise of Miller, a utility forward who flourished with more responsibility.
Compher has learned how to use her frame and skating to create space, and she owns one of the best shots on the roster. Last season she fired 70 shots, and perhaps most impressively, she led the team with four “first goals” — the opening strike in a game — a statistic that underlines both her offensive ability and her composure.
For a player once seen primarily as a two-way presence, Compher has shown she has the tools to drive offense. Entering her third season, with both opportunity and responsibility in front of her, she is a strong candidate to be one of Toronto’s most important breakout scorers.