Toronto Sceptres face daunting task upon return from Olympics

Article content

That hole the Toronto Sceptres are digging for themselves just keeps getting deeper.

Article content

A 3-0 loss to the Montreal Victoire, marking the second consecutive game they have been shut out, gives the Sceptres losses in seven of their past eight games heading into a month-long break for the Olympics.

Article content

Article content

Head coach Troy Ryan said before this latest loss that he thought the club would have to win somewhere around 10 of the final 15 games in order to get into the playoffs.

They now have just 14 games to get those 10 wins.

Following are our takeaways from the loss at Place Bell Arena in Laval:

BETTER BUT STILL NO FINISH

It was going to be pretty hard to be worse than they were in the 5-0 loss in Vancouver that pre-dated this one. Give the Sceptres credit for at least a better effort Wednesday night despite another donut on their side of the scoreboard.

Montreal is a strong defensive team that pressures the puck as well as any team in the league. Couple that with a positively locked in Ann-Renee Desbiens between the pipes for the home side and scoring was always going to be tough for the visitors.

Article content

Article content

But every time Toronto looked like they were going to mount an offensive attack, the shot would go wide or Desbiens would smother it to get her side a stoppage in play.

On no more than two occasions did it look like Desbiens was even in trouble. The point shots, when they did come, either got blocked or eaten up by Desbiens, who was rarely screened on the night.

Again, credit the Sceptres for winning more board battles than they did in Vancouver and at least showing some signs of improvement, but as far as generating legitimate high-end scoring chances, there just wasn’t enough of that from a Toronto perspective.

HOW ABOUT ANN

As stated, we did not believe the Sceptres gave Desbiens a very tough night at all. But on the occasions when she was called upon to bail out her team, Desbiens was there.

She’s been this good, and really much better for the better part of the last two months. Which brings us to her next assignment and that is backstopping the Canadian Women’s National team at the Olympics next month in Milan/Cortina.

Article content

Desbiens appears to be peaking at just the right time for such a competition. There’s no question Canada is going to need her to steal a period or two or even a game, particularly playing that feisty and super confident American side. And she’s quite capable of doing just that.

ABOUT THE PHYSICALITY

After a few games where the physicality seemed to be an afterthought (with a new noted exceptions), the Sceptres seemed to lean back into that part of their game Wednesday night. Toronto’s defence corps in particular seemed determined to set the tone with Renata Fast, Allie Munroe and Ella Shelton all stepping up their game. It came at a bit of a cost as both Fast and Munroe were penalized for their efforts, but that is a price the team is willing to pay in order to play to their strengths. As Fast said after the game, “Obviously we want to stay out of the box, but I think we’re a team that is confident in our penalty kill and we want to play a little on the edge.”

Toronto is at its best when it is using its size and penchant for physical play. It didn’t result in a win Wednesday night, but that was another area the team improved in from its previous showings.

Article content

HOW CAN THIS CLUB GENERATE SCORING?

That is the million-dollar question when it comes to the Sceptres. And it felt like that was possible even against a defensively-sound club like the Victoire. What might have helped Wednesday night was a little more willingness to stand their ground in front of Desbiens and at least make it harder for her to track the puck.

Ryan saw this too. “Offensively we’ve just got to do more difficult things. I thought there was not a lot of traffic in front of Desbiens, a lot of one and done offence when you’re just settling for a wrist shot at the top of the circle with no net drive or no traffic and giving them some easy breakouts in transition.”

We would add to that the at least two occasions where Toronto skaters got right into the slot area with traffic between them and the net and rather than use that screen opted to go for the prettier pass to the side for the tip in. Those passes didn’t connect and the chances were wasted. It’s nitpicky for sure but when you’re having as much trouble scoring as this team, every opportunity wasted stands out.

Article content

SO, WHAT TO DO?

Well, not to put too much pressure on assistants Rachel Flanagan and Jim Midgley, but the pair have a job in front of them in this next month.

With both head coach Ryan and GM Gina Kingsbury attending to their Olympic duties, that duo will be in charge of keeping the 14 skaters not headed to Milan in playing shape, and hopefully finding some offence at the same time.

The good news is the Sceptres as a whole have fine-tuned these breaks to the point where they are some of their best learning points of the season. It wasn’t always that way.

Player and coach feedback after breaks during the inaugural season led the team to change the format, and last season Ryan called those breaks some of the most rewarding periods of the year just based off the improvement from the players that took part in them.

Bottom line, the Sceptres need to probably catch and pass both New York and Ottawa in the standings over the final 14 games if they have any hope of making the playoffs.

New York has a seven-point edge on Toronto while Ottawa is five points better. All three teams have played 16 games. Toronto has three games remaining against Ottawa and two against New York so in that sense the schedule is favourable. Seven of the 14 remaining games are at home.

The odds aren’t great, but this team has shown to be capable of runs in the past. They’re going to need another good one to be playing in May.

mganter@postmedia.com

Article content