Sceptres’ Notes: Power Play, Faceoffs, And Goaltending

Toronto Sceptres' head coach Troy Ryan discussed some pressing topics on Friday as the team heads to Hamilton to play the Seattle Torrent in the team's second game of the PWHL Takeover Tour.

Ryan acknowledged that Toronto’s power play hasn’t produced at the level they'd like, but emphasized that opportunity — or lack of it — matters.

"We've been lopsided on our power play opportunities. We had a lot at the start of the year.  Now we're not getting many. It's really hard to have any power play success when you're only getting one power play opportunity.

“We can’t just keep doing the same thing and expect different results,” Ryan said. "I think part of it is a personnel thing. You try to connect last year's power play success to this year's team, and it just doesn't add up."

"But I think we just we need to get more reps for some people, because they're trying to play a position they're not used to playing."

At today's practice, Kiara Zanon moved to the first power play unit with Turnbull, Watts, Fast, and Hjalmarsson. Emma Gentry will see some time with the second unit, potentially with Spooner, Compher, Maltais, Shelton, and Flanagan.

Ryan’s comments on goaltending offered insight into how the team processes difficult games like the one against Minnesota.

Rather than immediately breaking down plays for the group, Ryan described a video review process designed to encourage players to step up.

“I don’t tell them what the situation is, there’s no conversation,” he said. “We just play it. I’ll play it again and ask, ‘What did you see?’”

Players are encouraged to speak up whether they were directly involved in the play or not. If someone sees an issue that needs tidying up , their input is welcomed.

Against Minnesota, the staff reviewed three goals that occurred after D zone faceoffs : "The first thing we've got to do as coaches is say, structurally, what happened here? Is there an adjustment we need to make structurally? What we saw was a lot of individual habits and details broken down. And, on two of them, I think our goalie could have made a save as well.

“That’s an opportunity for a goalie to say, ‘I need to have that,’ and explain why,” Ryan said.

"The biggest thing for goaltending, if you are creating a tandem and you want one of them to potentially be a number one, consistency is probably the most important factor in all of that.

And, you also don't want them to feel the brunt of losses. But I think [Chuli] felt the benefit of the win in Montreal. And now she feels the tougher side of the loss in Minnesota. So you just want more consistency from, either one of them or both of them."

While faceoff results have drawn attention — particularly in the defensive zone — Ryan cautioned against focusing solely on percentages. The moments immediately after the draw, he said, are often more consequential.

“The faceoff percentages are big, but the edge battles are probably even bigger. If my favorite is a clean win, my next favorite is actually a lost faceoff but won possession. I think they can change the dynamics of the game."

Ryan pointed to instances where Toronto won the draw but lost positioning or failed to tie up sticks, allowing pressure to continue. Structurally, he said the team is often lined up correctly; the challenge has been executing the individual battles that follow.

“You can lose some of those battles,” Ryan said. “But you can’t have three of them lead to goals in a game.”

Ryan also explained his perspective on offense and a shooting mentality. While Toronto has skill throughout its lineup, he warned against waiting for perfect plays or relying too heavily on perimeter puck movement.

"You put pucks on net and you go to the net," he said. "That's how goals get scored. You take away goalies' eyes, you crash, you look for rebounds.

“Skill plays come from retrievals — shot, retrieve, skill play. That's where the magic comes. You've got to create a breakdown. Everybody thinks of the end result. And then they try to recreate the end result, when the end result was created because of a shot mentality and a puck retrieval, and the skill that follows.

"At every level the best players in the world shoot pucks, they retrieve them, that's a big part of it. It's not magic. It looks like magic when you see the highlight of it, but there's some hard work and grit, and then a ton of skill to score those goals."