Jan 25, 2025, 6:00 PM (ET)
TORONTO (Jan 25, 2025) – The Toronto Sceptres soared to a 4-2 victory over the New York Sirens in front of a sold-out home crowd of 19,102 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday afternoon, winning the Battle on Bay Street presented by Scotiabank for the second straight year. The Sceptres opened the scoring with a goal from Hannah Miller–– her first of two in the game–– to ignite the packed arena and give her team the lead heading into the first intermission. Ella Shelton evened the score on the power play halfway through the second period, but Miller struck again with just over a minute remaining in the second frame to give the Sceptres their second lead of the game going into the final period. Miller now has sole possession of the league lead in scoring, with six goals on the season. With just a minute gone in the third period, Abby Roque evened the score once again for New York to tie the game at two. With under six minutes remaining in the third period, Sarah Nurse regained the lead for Toronto on the power play for her first tally in seven games. The Sceptres secured the win in front of a roaring crowd with an empty-net goal from Kali Flanagan. Raygan Kirk earned her second win of the season in net for Toronto, turning aside 17 of 19 shots. Corinne Schroeder made 31 saves on 34 shots between the pipes for New York – the second-highest shot tally she’s faced this season.
QUOTES
Toronto forward Sarah Nurse on ending her goal drought: “It was kind of a long time coming, a couple of posts, a couple of missed opportunities–– so, definitely frustrating, but I had a lot of support from [my teammates], especially on the bench today so it was huge. It was a really big power play goal, which was good for our momentum and our PP group.”
Sceptres Head Coach Troy Ryan on what’s been working for Hannah Miller this season: “All kinds. Plays the game the right way, is responsible defensively, scores a lot of goals, whether power play or transition. I was very happy for her. I think one thing that’s been really cool with her this year is she’s played right wing, left wing, centre, and seems to not really miss a beat wherever we put her. She deserves a lot of credit even just dealing with the emotions that come with that.”
Sirens Defender Jaime Bourbonnais on playing in her hometown: “I think result aside, that game was so special to play on that ice. Even just looking down at the ice and seeing the Maple Leafs logo in the middle, that was pretty cool. I grew up cheering for a lot of Leafs games, and I still cheer for them. It was pretty surreal to play and even though the crowd wasn’t cheering for us, it was pretty electric. I am just proud of myself, and I played for little Jaime out there today.”
Sirens Head Coach Greg Fargo: “There’s a lot to learn from tonight—I think we’ll look at what we did, and we must find ways to establish our game a little bit more. We saw it in moments where we need to be more heavy and hard, while being willing to get pucks in and out at times so that we can play our game. We didn’t see enough of it tonight. But, going into Monday, Ottawa is a team much like Toronto where they come at you with a lot of speed and they themselves play a heavy game. So, we have to be willing to match and exceed the effort for a complete 60 minutes.”
