Toronto Sceptres place Sarah Nurse on long-term injured reserve
One of the best players in the PWHL is going to be missing considerable time.
On Monday, the Toronto Sceptres announced they had placed forward Sarah Nurse on long-term injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. In response, the team signed forward Laura Kluge to a standard player agreement (SPA) for the remainder of the season.
Nurse suffered a lower-body injury in Game 4 of the Rivalry Series last Thursday. The 30-year-old was involved in an awkward collision with American forward and Sceptres teammate Jesse Compher, forcing Nurse to leave the game. It was certainly severe enough to keep her out of the Canadian lineup for the deciding Game 5, which Canada pulled out 3-1.
Per the PWHL’s LTIR rules, Nurse will be required to miss at least the next six games. She will be eligible to return to the lineup on March 6 when the Sceptres host the Montreal Victoire.
It marks the second year in a row that a star player has been hurt late in the Rivalry Series. Last season, Minnesota star Taylor Heise suffered a knee injury in the seventh game that put her out for several weeks.
Nurse has been one of the top players for Toronto this season and has started to increase her production, leading into the international break. The former Wisconsin star went into the pause on a four-game point streak, potting two goals and five points over that stretch. Overall, Nurse is third on the Sceptres with five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 15 games.
However, that opens the door for the most underrated Europeans in the game today.
Kluge was a healthy surprise during training camp, looking pretty comfortable among her counterparts in preseason action. However, while the German star performed well enough to earn a spot on the roster, Kluge’s commitment to the German military forced her to return home.
“We are excited to welcome Laura back to our organization,” general manager Gina Kingsbury said in a release. “Laura had a great training camp with us and left a great impression on our entire team. She will add to our team both on and off the ice.”
It hasn’t been like Kluge has been off the ice. With her hometown Eisbären Juniors Berlin in the DFEL, Germany’s top women’s league, the 28-year-old has scored seven goals and 16 points in 14 games. This past week, she helped her country qualify for the Winter Olympics for the first time in 11 years, posting two assists while Germany won its final three qualification games to punch its ticket to Milano Cortina next year.
Kluge has represented Germany in each of the last eight IIHF Women’s World Championships, making her debut with the senior national team at the age of 18 in 2015.
The Sceptres (5-0-4-6) are fourth in the PWHL, two points ahead of the Boston Fleet and Ottawa Charge for the last playoff spot in the league. Toronto returns to play on Tuesday night against the Minnesota Frost.