PWHL Toronto will be without forward Natalie Spooner for the remainder of the postseason after the club announced she would be placed on LTIR with a knee injury.
Spooner, who led the league in both goals (20) and points (27) in 2023-24, took a hit from Minnesota forward Grace Zumwinkle during the 3rd period of her team’s 2-0 loss on Monday. The 33 year old was in visible pain on the ice and had to be helped down the tunnel afterwards.
“It’s a big loss for us, obviously Natalie has been an important part of our success all year,” Toronto GM Gina Kingsbury said in a statement. “We have no doubt Natalie will continue to have an impact on our team, just in a different way.”
With their leading scorer out for the rest of the playoffs, Toronto has activated Jess Jones from their reserve list. However, the 34 year old forward is more likely to play a complimentary role for the team in the bottom 6, rather than being expected to slide in for top line minutes.
PWHL Toronto’s first line of Spooner, Blayre Turnbull and Hannah Miller have combined for 4 of the team’s 6 playoff goals thus far. Options to replace the potential league MVP include Jesse Compher or Maggie Connors, both of which bring positional versatility to the table for the team’s coaching staff.
Despite the loss, Toronto can still advance to the Walter Cup final with a victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night in a pivotal Game 4. The winner of the series will go on to meet PWHL Boston in the final, after they swept Montreal out of the playoffs in the first round.
Photo: John Mac. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.