PWHL New York Shuts Out Toronto in Inaugural Game

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Ella Shelton etched her name into history 10:43 into the first period. Her shot came from the outside of the right faceoff circle and beat Toronto’s Kristen Campbell five-hole. It was the first of four unanswered goals on the way to New York’s shutout win over Toronto.

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Surly a lot of time will be dedicated to covering the spectacle of the inaugural game of the Professional Women’s Hockey League. While this game represents years of hard work, I still want to focus on the product on the ice. Sixty minutes of hockey played by a group of some of the best female players in the world.

PWHL Toronto Caught in the Moment

“A lot of nerves right now,” Toronto’s head coach Troy Ryan said on the broadcast just before the start of the second period. “Players [were] uncomfortable trying to soak in the environment. Hopefully, we got that out of our system.”

No one can blame Toronto’s players for wanting to pinch themselves as sports and feminist icon Billie Jean King stood at center ice inside Maple Leaf Gardens to drop the ceremonial puck. The old barn was the home of the NHL’s Maple Leafs for over 60 years. Any lifelong hockey fan would consider themselves lucky to skate on the ice let alone call it their home barn.

A sellout crowd of 2,537 was not there just to cheer on their new team but also to live through this moment in hockey history. “I think the emotions are just surreal right now,” Shelton told CBC’s Anastasia Bucsis during the first intermission.”This crowd and coming to play your first professional hockey game in 2024, it’s quite the bang to start off the year.”

Goalies Get Wins

New York held the reins to the game through the first period outshooting their opponents 13-8 in the opening frame. Not to say that Toronto didn’t have their own opportunities to etch their name into PWHL history. Unfortunately for them, New York’s Corinne Schroeder wouldn’t allow anything to cross the goal line.

Using momentum from a power play to open the second period, Toronto tested Schroeder with 16 attempts to get themselves on the board. Penning their opponents into the offensive zone, they limited New York to just four shots on goal in the second period.

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In the third period, New York would reward their netminder’s stellar performance with another goal less than three minutes into the final frame. Alex Carpenter carried the puck into the zone and launched it beating the netminder between the pads. Less than five minutes of game action later, the New York squad held their insurmountable lead of 4-0.

Schroeder received first star of the game honors at the end of regulation stopping all 29 shots fired her way.

Toronto Moving Forward

“Did it look like a first game for us?” Toronto’s Jocelyne Larocque asked the Toronto Sun postgame. “Yes, it did and that’s OK. There was a lot of emotion and a lot of nerves and that’s normal. Our first 10 minutes, that was a lot of nerves. The good thing is that a lot of the things we need to tweak are pretty simple – like picking up sticks in front and things that don’t involve a lot of skill, but just a mindset and a decision. I think tweaking those things – it will be a totally new team next time out. I feel a lot of confidence in that.”

Toronto won’t be able to hide from the embarrassment that comes with losing their first game. Being shut out only causes the embarrassment to compound. Before puck drop on New Year’s Eve, The Hockey News ranked Toronto fifth out of the league’s six teams. You have to think that potential fans looking for a PWHL team to cheer for might look elsewhere. Even if Toronto has stars of the game like Sarah Nurse, Natalie Spooner, Jesse Compher, Brittany Howard, Blayre Turnbull, and Emma Maltais, it might not be enough to attract fans outside of their local market.

Rematch on Friday

If you had a jam-packed New Year’s Day and missed the game don’t fear. Toronto will have a chance for revenge on Friday when they travel to Total Mortgage Arena to take on New York in their first home game of the season.

Canadian fans can watch PWHL games on CBC, TSN, and Sportsnet throughout the season. In the United States, it depends on your region. In the Northeast, fans can watch games on MSG Networks and NESN as part of a regional agreement with the league. If you’re an American outside of New England you can watch each game on the league’s official YouTube channel. 98,000 fans streamed the league’s first game.