Kaitlin Willoughby is on a mission, Izzy Daniel flashed her high-end skill, and the coaches worked to figure out the PWHL's new rules. Here's three takeaways from the first Toronto Sceptres' preseason game.
This afternoon the Toronto Sceptres took to the ice at the Ford Performance Centre in Etobicoke for their first preseason game against the Minnesota Frost.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Willoughby is on a mission
After a slow start to the season last year Kaitlin Willoughby is on a mission to start camp and you can easily tell by the way she played this afternoon.
She was all over the ice for the Sceptres, taking advantage of the blazing speed she possessed and was a name that stood out for the Sceptres.
Offensively she had multiple quality chances in front of the net and scored the only goal of the game for Toronto with a shot that beat Minnesota’s Lucy Morgan just over the shoulder.
“There is a lot of pressure put on me when I know that I'm trying out for the team still, said Willoughby. “I like to go into it with the mindset of, you know, just enjoy yourself and play hockey like you know what to do out there.”
“I’m just focusing on what the coach wants us to do, while also showing my skill and what I'm good at,” she added.
Willoughby's performance in today's game showed Toronto staff that she is ready to fight for a spot with the team.
Izzy Daniel flashes her high-end skill
Throughout camp, Izzy Daniel has shown everyone present that her game without question will translate to the PWHL. Today was just another example.
While Daniel didn’t score a point during the game, her combination with Victoria Bach has seemed to click.
In the first period, Daniel fed Bach with a beautiful behind-the-back pass after drawing in multiple players, leaving Bach wide open in front of the net.
In the last two minutes of the second period, her passing was on display again as she sent the puck through the legs of two Frost defenders and just out of reach of Bach who was wide open on the other side.
Coaches review process
The PWHL announced yesterday that a set of new rules will be added ahead of the start of the 2024/25 season.
One of those new rules is the addition of coach's challenges for a puck over the glass.
When asked about it, Troy Ryan’s offered his thoughts.
“A lot of it's just trust based," said Ryan. "We assigned our video coach, Steph Thompson, who does a great job. She is someone I've worked with previously and do trust a lot of her decisions because she gets a quick review of it before we'll ever get that quick review.”
Coach Ken Klee also made the point that with the league adding iPads to the benches mid-way through last season makes things a lot easier for coaches and allows them to make a more sound decision.