New York shuts out Toronto in PWHL’s first ever game

TORONTO, Ont. – On the scoresheet, it will look like any other game. A regular season, Monday matinee matchup, with New York winning 4-0 over Toronto. But for the 2,537 fans in attendance, it was a sports memory that they will never forget.

Toronto hosted New York at Mattamy Athletic Centre, formerly Maple Leaf Gardens, in the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s (PWHL) first game in league history.

The scoring started midway through the first period when New York defender Ella Shelton, whom New York drafted fourth overall in the 2023 PWHL Draft, shot a puck with eyes through a sea of bodies in front of the Toronto net, beating Toronto goaltender Kristen Campbell and giving New York a 1-0 lead.

After a scoreless middle frame, New York got their second goal just under three minutes into the third period as forward Alex Carpenter went top-shelf off the wing, a goal that made even the loudest of Toronto fans go “wow.”

Just two minutes later, forward Jill Saunier tapped in a pass from Jade Downie-Landry to extend the lead to 3-0.

New York’s goal scoring ways continued just three minutes after that, when forward Kayla Vespa took a pass and buried the puck to make it 4-0, which would end up being the final score.

With the score out of reach and the final seconds ticking, no fans went to the exits to get ahead of the traffic. Instead, all who could stood up, giving each team a standing ovation for their efforts.

It felt like the start of something special, of something new. While it may not have been a good start for the home squad, it couldn’t have gone any better for the league itself.