PHF Weekend Review: Toronto Six off to a good start with Cava’s OT winner

The PHF season is now underway after its first games this past weekend. The games are all weekend games, because the majority of the players have jobs outside of hockey to do during the week. That lack of financial freedom for the players to play hockey full-time is one of the frustrating elements of the PHF, but it’s also one of the things that makes it interesting. Since I’m all about silver linings, I’m happy that this gives us an opportunity every Monday morning to look back on how the weekend went. Welcome to the PHF weekend review!

As the Toronto Six kicked off their second season as a franchise, they hoped to build off of the momentum from their inaugural season, which saw them in the Isobel Cup playoffs, but losing to the eventual Cup winners, the Boston Pride. their season success was built off of high energy, great results from their top scorer, Mikyla Grant-Mentis, and stellar goaltending from Elaine Chuli.

This season, with new faces in the fold, it was imperative to keep that high energy to maintain success against teams that have more established chemistry.

Their first game of the season, and only game of the weekend, was against the Buffalo Beauts, who had a tough Season 6.

Here’s how Toronto’s lineup looked for the game:

 

If you want to learn a little bit more, we did a rundown of each of the players on forward, and the defense and goalies.

Both teams looked quite sloppy to start the game, but once Toronto’s powerplay got rolling, the teams found their groove and focus again. Toronto’s captain, Shiann Darkangelo, opened the scoring on this great tip from a Taylor Woods point shot:

It seemed like Toronto was going to have a tough time scoring any more than that, though, as one of the top netminders in the league, Carly Jackson, stepped her game up with a run of great play, including this spectacular scorpion save:

Then, Buffalo struck back with a rookie goal from Missy Segall, on a well orchestrated zone entry play, catching the Six being too aggressive on a puck side attack that failed:

Finally, Jackson showed some fallibility, as Toronto got their own rookie goal on this net-front clean-up play by Leah Marino:

They added another on this slick breakaway to the big-framed Lindsay Eastwood as she stepped out of the penalty box, showing off the skills that match her size:

Heading into the third period with a 2-goal lead, obviously the Six were hoping to hold out and walk home with a stellar performance. however, buffalo had other plans. they were able to tie the game up before the end of the third with two well-worked goals, catching Toronto’s sloppiness in defending the neutral zone and taking advantage of two very good rush chances:

That tie score held until the end of the third, and as given away by the post title, Toronto came away with the win on a one-timed winner from newcomer Michela Cava, off of a great assist by Mikyla Grant-Mentis:

In other action around the PHF, there were two two-game series’, one between the Connecticut Whale and the Metropolitan Riveters, and the other between the Boston Pride and the Minnesota Whitecaps. The Whale and the Riveters split their series, 1-4 and 6-5, and the Pride took both of their games against the Whitecaps, repeating last year’s Isobel Cup final.

The win is a great start to the season, but coach Mark Joslin will definitely want to see a better control of the game to hold on to a third period lead next time.

Toronto’s schedule has their next opportunity to play on November 20th and 21st in a 2-game homestand against the Connecticut Whale. No games next weekend. Get your tickets for the games HERE. I hope you enjoy rooting for the Toronto Six this season as much as I know I will!