The PWHL Ottawa team was forced to give up their playoff dreams after Toronto won 5-2 in last night’s final regular season game at the Mattamy Athletic Center (the MAC).
This game had a very back-and-forth beginning, with Toronto forward Natalie Spooner scoring a goal a little over a minute into the game, and about ten minutes in, Ottawa forward Gabby Hughes, tied the game 1-1.
Shortly after Ottawa’s goal, the back and forth continued, and the score was 2-1 after Toronto forward Sarah Nurse, scored her first home goal this season. With a smile on her face and the room filling with laughter, Nurse shared reactions to her first home goal. “My coaches and Gina [General manager of the PWHL Toronto] were just chirping at me, saying it took me twelve games, but it felt good.”
About two minutes later, Toronto forward Jesse Compher faced a five-minute game misconduct due to boarding against Ottawa’s Malia Schneider.
In just under seven minutes into the second period, Ottawa forward, Daryl Watts, scored her 10th goal of the season, tying the game at 2-2.
After this point, the back and forth came to a slower speed. Ottawa was giving their all on the ice but couldn’t get the puck past Toronto goaltender Kristen Campbell no matter how hard they tried.
In the third period, fans could be heard from all the way outside of the rink doors chanting “Score 20 goals, Spooner,” and before we knew it, about 14 minutes in, Natalie Spooner scored her 20th goal of the season. That’s 20 goals in 24 games.
Spooner was announced as the top goal scorer and the points leader in the PWHL.
“It’s pretty special. It’s not really something I thought about before (…) it’s such a historical year in women’s hockey” said Spooner. She spoke about what type of team Toronto seems to be; “We’re threatening from a lot of different places on the ice, so I think when we play the way that we know we can play, we have a lot of success that way.”
Toronto was on fire during the last half of the third period, with Toronto forward Victoria Bach followed by Samantha Cogan scoring empty-net goals with less than two game time minutes remaining, securing a 5-2 win over Ottawa.
Toronto is expected to announce tonight, Monday, May 6th, who they are selecting as their opponent for the semi-finals that will take place at the Coca-Cola Coliseum on Wednesday, May 8th, and Friday, May 10th. They will choose between Boston or Minnesota.
