The PWHL is taking its show on the road, and for Toronto that means at least one long distance journey, and likely a second.
The Sceptres will take on the Montreal Victoire on Jan. 8 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver as part of what the league is calling its Takeover Tour.
All told, nine neutral-site regular-season games will be played outside of the current complement of cities that host PWHL games.
“It’s exciting,” Toronto Sceptres captain Blayre Turnbull said. “I think any time we get to play in front of a crowd that doesn’t often get to watch us play, it’s an exciting opportunity for us to showcase our game in a new market. I know Vancouver has become a huge hockey city. I know the Canucks have had a lot of success there. I think the opportunity for us to play there is great.”
The nine host cities will include Seattle, Vancouver, Denver, Quebec City, Buffalo, Raleigh, N.C., Detroit, St. Louis, and a ninth city to be announced.
The Sceptres will be the visitors in that as-yet unannounced neutral site game with Ottawa as the hosts. That game will take place Feb. 16. A home rink for this game should be announced soon.
“When exploring potential locations for a PWHL game, the enthusiasm from cities eager to engage with our league was incredibly encouraging,” PWHL Senior Vice President of Business Operations Amy Scheer said. “The ‘PWHL Takeover Tour’ lets us showcase our game and exceptional athletes across a wider North American footprint — an exciting moment for our players and an important move for our business as we consider expansion.
The league announced earlier this fall that it will begin soliciting interest for two new markets for the league as soon as next season.
Tickets for Takeover Tour games will go on sale beginning with a presale on Thursday followed by the general sale this Friday. Tickets for the Jan. 19 game at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City are already being sold.
MINI CAMP UPDATE
The Sceptres will host one of two league mini-camps with the Minnesota Frost and the New York Sirens joining them at the Ford Performance Centre from Tuesday through Friday of this week.
In Montreal, the Victoire will be hosting Boston and Ottawa in the other camp.
All six teams will play twice as the league builds toward its Nov. 30 season opener in Toronto at the Sceptres’ new home, the Coca-Cola Coliseum.
In the league’s first year all six teams took part in one mini-camp at Utica, N.Y. Everything was new from teams to players. Even rule changes were being considered and later adopted from the testing at that mini-camp.
This year, it’s only about getting the teams ready for opening night and Turnbull, for one, couldn’t be happier with that change.
“Last year, it was completely new for everybody,” she said. “This year, there is more familiarity with everything. For us, the most important factor is we don’t have to travel. But this also isn’t a tryout for everybody (like last year). It’s a great opportunity for us to prep for the first game of the year.”
Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan believes his approach to the week will be quite different from a year ago.
“I thought last year there were so many unknowns going into that mini-camp that there was almost this urgency to have the best team you could have from Day 1,” Ryan said. “I think what we learned from last year’s exhibition series was that you just want to worry about own group. The win is not necessarily the biggest thing. It’s sorting out the players, sorting out some line chemistry. Even going through a game routine so you have your flow, you have your process. That is probably the biggest thing for us.”