The Toronto Sceptres are admittedly just starting to find their collective stride this season, but at least one area of the team is considered an upgrade over a year ago.
The trio of Emma Woods, Jesse Compher and Julia Gosling has given head coach Troy Ryan a boost over what he had a year ago when the team finished first overall in the regular season following an unmatched 11-game winning streak.
“I think they are as good as any third line in the league right now, the way they are playing. They all have the ability to score,” Ryan said Monday ahead of the team’s New Year’s Eve tilt with the Ottawa Charge (7 p.m. Coca-Cola Coliseum).
Woods, the veteran newcomer to the team signed to a two-year deal after spending Year 1 of the PWHL with New York, has two goals through six games and is a team best plus-5, but that’s not the sole reason for the line’s success.
“It’s also the consistency that Compher has been playing with this year,” Ryan said. “Last year I thought you would get a game and then it might drop down but this year it’s just been pretty steady.
And then I think their (Woods and Compher’s) consistency and physicality has just allowed Gosling to get a little bit more comfortable and play physical herself.”
Compher, like Woods, sits tied for second on the team with two goals. Gosling meanwhile got both her assists to date in the 4-2 win over Boston Friday night.
Woods likes the chemistry on the line.
“Where I’m at right now with Jess and Julia, I think we just play well together,” Woods said. “We have great communication and are always on the same page day in and day out. I vibe off their energy and I think it goes both ways. I think we are a bit of a gritty line but that pace and energy we are bringing is really impacting the game so we plan to keep doing that and doing what we can for the team.”
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THE WAITING GAME
Ryan’s normal routine is to choose the next game’s starting goaltender and inform them prior to the practice immediately preceding the game.
That didn’t happen yesterday primarily because Ryan and his staff are still making up their minds on who will be between the pipes.
Rookie Raygan Kirk started each of the past two games and was pivotal in helping Toronto snap a four-game losing streak Friday against Boston stopping 26 of 28 shots.
Champing at the bit to get back in net is Kristen Campbell, who started the first four games of the season and was a workhorse in season 1 starting 22 of 24 games and all five playoff games.
Ryan said he wanted to see the two in practice on Tuesday and confer a little more with his staff before making a call.
SPEAKING OF GOALIES
The PWHL has a total of 18 goalies on its six teams.
Four of them, including two of Toronto’s three starters, hail from the province of Manitoba.
Campbell was born in Brandon, Man. Kirk was born in Ste. Anne, Man., while Sirens goalkeeper Corinne Schroeder started out in Elm Creek, Man., and Ottawa backup Logan Angers began life in Winnipeg
That’s more than a fifth of the league’s goalies from one province.
Kirk was asked why she thought such an inordinate number of goalies playing in the league started out playing in Manitoba.
“I think we have just have a lot of good goalie coach’s in Manitoba through Gord Woodhall and Andy Kollar to just out of the Iceplex and they have really pushed us,” Kirk said. “Gord now is part of the (Sirens) so I don’t know. There should be a study on it. Maybe there’s something in the water.”