North America is increasingly embracing women’s professional sports, and Toronto’s professional women’s hockey team continues to inspire their city throughout the playoffs.
Toronto’s head coach Troy Ryan said in Monday’s post-game press conference the team is ready for Wednesday’s game four and will not go down without a fight.
“This team has played great. This team has played consistently. They have played the game the right way and have honestly been a top team in this league,” he said.
Toronto, with a win on Wednesday, will move into the final round of the championships. Game 4 against Minnesota will be played at Xcel Energy Center, in Saint Paul, MN.
“I’m quite confident that we can just turn the page on this and be ready for game 4,” Ryan said.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), is a collection of six all-women’s teams from across North America that debuted in August 2023.
The first PWHL game set a women’s hockey attendance record at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, with a crowd of 19,285, said TSN. They sold out the stadium.
In the post-game press conference, Ryan said his team can and will do better than their performance in game 3.
“[The loss] was shocking if you base it on the year. Probably not shocking if you base it on that period. A lot of times you get what you deserve, and we just didn’t deserve a whole lot more offense in that period,” Ryan said.
Natalie Spooner, Toronto’s leading scorer, left the game early with an injury. Spooner led all players in the initial PWHL season in goals.
Fans and team members are hopeful Spooner will be ready to go for game 4. Toronto fan Luke Campanella said he expects the intensity of the games to turn up after the hit on Spooner.
“It’s going to send a message across the league that the playoffs are a different beast than the regular season,” he said.
Toronto is ranked first in the PWHL league, with a win percentage of more than 70 per cent. The team was expected to sweep the Minnesota series. Toronto chose them as their first opponent in the finals.