The Toronto Sceptres have lost a first-year teammate to a waiver claim.
Defender Olivia Knowles, relegated to the three-player reserve following training camp and therefore available to any team wishing to claim her, was snatched up by the undefeated New York Sirens, who have run into a little injury trouble on their back end.
Knowles, who played 20 games for the Sceptres last season and is a native of Campbell River, B.C., will head to New York to help the Sirens overcome an injury to Canadian national team veteran and a member of the Sirens top defence pairing in Ella Shelton, who was one of three finalists for defender of the year in the PWHL in Year 1.
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It is unknown how long Shelton will remain out.
As disappointed as the Sceptres are to lose Knowles from their tight-knit group, head coach Troy Ryan said the parting is somewhat bittersweet given the opportunity for which she’s leaving.
“You want the top athletes playing and in our present situation she was going to stay in a reserve spot, so I’m very excited for her and happy she is going to get an opportunity and I hope she makes the most of it,” Ryan said.
Knowles averaged just over eight minutes a game in the 20 contests she saw action in last year.
Coming back for Season 2, she knew competition on the Sceptres blue line was going to be deep and opted to spend the summer in Toronto to improve her game with what turned out to be near full-team workouts in Burlington from June through to the start of training camp.
The arrival of Megan Carter (who remains on IR), Lauren Bernard and a strong camp by undrafted defender Rylind McKinnon pushed Knowles to the reserves.
While her departure opens a spot on Toronto’s three-player reserve, Ryan said after consultation with GM Gina Kinsbury that the team will not rush to fill the spot, leaving it open if something interesting comes along.
At some point at least two players currently on the 23-player roster are going to have to be moved to make room for both Carter and last year’s league MVP Natalie Spooner who is also on IR.