Sceptres Gameday: Spoon!

Toronto Sceptres vs Minnesota Frost
7:00 Pm at Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto
Watch in Canada: Prime Canada
Watch in Minnesota: FanDuel Sports Network North

Outside of Canada you can stream games on thePWHL.com or their YouTube channel.

Right before the international break, the Sceptres won a key game against Ottawa and vaulted into fourth place by points. By Points % they are fifth with 0.422. The bottom four teams are all within three points of each other, which is one regulation win, so with half the season played, no one is guaranteed a spot except perhaps Montréal who sit on top of the standings.

Minnesota is second with 0.556 Points %, which is not really all that great. They are six points ahead of Toronto.

Toronto Player News

There's great news, good news and bad news.

The bad is that Sarah Nurse in on LTIR "indefinitely" with an injury suffered in the rivalry series game last week against USA. Per the Toronto Sun, she collided with Sceptres teammate Jesse Compher and did not return to the game on February 6.

The good news is that Toronto has signed forward Laura Kluge to a SPA for the remainder of the season, and she will join the regular roster. Kluge was undrafted last summer, but was invited to the Sceptres training camp. Again, per the Sun, she had to return to Germany for military service, but she is back now and part of the team.

She has been the star of Team Germany for several years and she recently took part in Germany's successful Olympic qualification games. Kluge has played her club hockey entirely in Germany, so it's going to be interesting to see where she fits in the PWHL ecosystem.

And now the great news!

NATALIE SPOONER RETURNS AND WILL MAKE SEASON DEBUT AGAINST MINNESOTA

The Toronto Sceptres announced today that 2024 PWHL MVP Natalie Spooner has been activated from long-term injured reserve (LTIR). Spooner will be returning to game action tonight against the Minnesota Frost at Coca-Cola Coliseum. “I’m excited to be ba…

Professional Women's Hockey League

With Spooner’s return to the lineup, the Sceptres have made two corresponding roster moves. Defender Lauren Bernard has been released from her Standard Player Agreement (SPA) and has signed a Reserve Player contract, and forward Sam Cogan has been subsequently released from the team’s Reserve Player list. 

We should likely not expect peak Spoon right away, but this is outstanding news for Toronto.

Minnesota News

The Frost signed defender Charlotte Akervik to a SPA (short-term, it appears) as defender Natalie Buchbinder is on LTIR.

Minnesota's last game was back on January 28, where they beat the Sceptres in a shootout. They are Team USA heavy, so a lot of their players were in the rivalry series.

Lineups will be available closer to game time, but until then:

Spoooooooon!