For the Toronto Sceptres, their opening round loss to Minnesota last postseason still stings. It's why they've had their first meeting with the Minnesota Frost this year circled on their calendar.
It didn’t take long when Toronto Sceptres’ captain Blayre Turnbull was asked during training camp if the first game of upcoming season against the Minnesota Frost had any special meaning for the team.
“We’ve had it circled - even the first mini-camp game,” she stated. Since then, coach Troy Ryan and the players have tried to downplay the importance of the rematch, but beneath the surface, you might notice that there is a little revenge brewing.
“I don't think it's any different, to be honest. I know a lot of people want to go down that road of last year in the playoffs but that’s beyond us right now,” the coach said.
When the first PWHL regular season ended, Toronto was in the enviable position of finishing atop the standings and having the unique privilege (an innovation of the league) of choosing their first-round playoff opponent.
At the time, the fourth-place Minnesota Frost had limped into the playoffs, losing five straight games, and qualifying only when Ottawa failed to gain the points necessary for a spot in their final game.
Minnesota looked in complete disarray. It wasn’t a difficult choice, and Toronto made it. They selected Minnesota, who also had to book travel quickly and get to Toronto in a rush. The first game of the series followed the script as Natalie Spooner scored the first-ever PWHL playoff goal and Toronto cruised to victory.
However, the five-game series turned when Spooner was injured in Game Three. Minnesota showed signs of life, winning 2-0 and 1-0 in double OT in their home arena, and closed out Game Five with Taylor Heise delivering the final dagger.
It didn’t sit well with the team that had orchestrated a storybook season and one of the largest turnarounds in hockey (let alone women’s hockey) history. Toronto constructed a record 11-game win streak to get themselves from the basement of the standings to the top. And much was expected of a team that looked at times indomitable.
“You could say a lot of things went wrong, but at the end of the day, we had a 2-0 lead we had multiple opportunities to cap it off and we didn’t so I think there’s a lot of reflecting we can do on what went wrong,” said goalie Kristen Campbell after the playoff loss.
Minnesota went on to win the first Walter Cup and enjoyed its own redemption narrative. But turmoil for the team in the off-season (with the release of GM Natalie Darwitz) has put some doubt in observers’ minds about whether they still have the caliber of a championship team.
Heise has been nursing an injured knee, and goalie Nicole Hensley looked vulnerable in the first game, which they lost in a shootout to New York but played well and defeated Boston in their second game.
Toronto, meanwhile, has looked shaky out of the gate. They rallied to beat Boston in their home opener, but were outplayed by Ottawa in their second contest and lost 3-2. There are question marks all over the lineup for a team that still doesn’t have Spooner back and is looking to find early chemistry.
“[Missing Spooner] opens up a little bit of a hole for someone else to maybe step into. What it does is give a little window of opportunity for someone that, you know, either an individual to step up and produce offensively or collectively as a group, we'll find a way to create that offense,” observed Ryan.
With Minnesota visiting, the importance of finding their game is clearly heightened. And the motivation to do so goes without saying.
“I think from a player perspective, we need to look at ourselves and realize the opportunity that was in front of us, being up two games and being the top seed going into the playoffs and not getting the job done,” said defender Renata Fast in May after the series loss.
“ And I think that has to hold a place in us – that feeling of disappointment.”