The Toronto Sceptres suffered some huge losses in expansion, with centers Sarah Nurse and Hannah Miller departing for Vancouver, then all three top draft picks from last season selected by one of the two new teams (Julia Gosling and Megan Carter by Seattle, Izzy Daniel by Vancouver).
However, the team starts out training camp with new size and grit among their ranks, and the same goal that they had in the first two seasons: win the Walter Cup.
"I mean, day one, you want to win a Walter Cup. That's our goal. We just had a meeting about it. Figured, why not deal with the elephant in the room, right off the bat," said coach Troy Ryan. But also, we want to make some adjustments ourselves as coaches. We have to kind of look ourselves in the mirror on why, for the past two seasons, we've had really, really slow starts."
Renata Fast said, "I think it's a win now league. Year one, you're just taking it all in. You always want to win. Year one you’re just taking it in, year two you're hungrier, and you still don't win the Walter Cup. Year three, you want to win it, so you're going to put everything out there to win."
"Obviously our goal coming in is we want to win the Walter Cup. We've fallen short the last two years," said Natalie Spooner, who is skating noticeably better than last season. She will have a huge role in whether this team can rebound and compete with the formidable squads out west.
One difference in the team is that they added size throughout the lineup. Trading their first-round pick for Ella Shelton makes the blue line bigger, and drafting forward Emma Gentry adds immediate impact to the top six.
"I felt small out there today," Fast said with a laugh.
"Looking to my left and right. I was like, oh, my gosh, our team is huge. It's exciting because we're big and we can also move. So in a league that is physical and it's fast and you have both those assets on your team, I think we're going to be in a really good spot to make it really difficult on our opponents."
Spooner (who is 5' 10" herself) said, "Even skating around, I was like, we are big. I mean, I am like, average height out here. So, it was pretty cool to see and I think we're going to have a great team and a hard team to play against."
Shelton will give the Sceptres one of, if not the, strongest defensive groups in the league.
"When you're that strong in the back end, it just changes the way you may approach the game offensively. and defensively. She brings a different dynamic leadership-wise, the quality person she is," said Ryan.
GM Gina Kingsbury traded the team's first-round draft pick to get Shelton from the New York Sirens.
"It probably was the hardest trade Gina could ever made. It's probably the best situation for a coach. You're bringing in a physical, strong, a great leader, a great teammate, a good offensive player, a good defensive player, and a good human. So you're like, 'yeah, thanks, Gina'."
Fast added, "That's a massive pick up. You don't come across a talented defender like Ella very often, especially in this league. And to be able to bring her to Toronto, it just bolsters our blue line so much and adds so much depth and, not even just for her hockey, it's also just who she is as a person. She comes in, she's an immediate leader. She's experienced. She can handle pressure at moments. She can eat big minutes. So a player like Ella on and off the ice is just a huge, huge player for us."
Goaltending is another area where the team will have a new look. Gone is the hot-and-cold Kristen Campbell, who won Goaltender of the Year in season one. Added is Toronto native Elaine Chuli, who backed up Ann Renee Desbiens for the first two years of the league, and who has proven that she can carry the load. With Raygan Kirk already in place, the team will have a strong tandem and be able to ride the hot hand.
"They're both goalies that, have been in backup roles, with their respective teams. They're both looking to hopefully earn a number one spot," Ryan said.
"I think right now, the best thing we could do is give them both opportunities and see who kind of rises above. And if it kind of stays equal, then we'll keep that tandem approach."
Training camp continues this week, then the Sceptres will play two pre-season games in Ottawa on November 16 and 17.