Sceptres hold off Sirens to win ‘extra special’ Battle on Bay Street

TORONTO — Scoring in front of a sold-out crowd at Scotiabank Arena felt so good that Hannah Miller had to do it twice.

And then, Sarah Nurse joined her with the game-winner to lift the Toronto Sceptres past the New York Sirens 4-2 in the Battle on Bay Street.

Miller is no stranger to scoring on Toronto’s biggest hockey stage. She found the back of the net once in last year’s Battle on Bay Street before coming back in 2025, a year later, to do it again.

“Anytime you get to play in front of a crowd like this it’s extra special,” Miller said after the game that moved her to the top of the PWHL in goals scored with six.

Nurse’s goal, however, was born out of a little bit more frustration. The Sceptres’ star struggled to finish all night, and after a game-leading six shots on goal, she finally converted with her seventh.

“It was kind of a long time coming,” Nurse said. “A couple posts, a couple of missed opportunities, and so it was definitely frustrating, but I had a lot of support from the girls, especially on the bench today, so that was huge.”

But even after the missed chances, the 19,102 fans in attendance didn’t stop their chants.

A pair of shimmery pom-poms, neon posterboards with hand-written messages and a flood of blue and yellow defined the atmosphere for Saturday’s battle. For a slumping Sceptres team, the spinning towels became the fuel necessary to get the job done.

Sceptres rookie netminder Raygan Kirk had an excellent start on the big stage, stopping 17 shots and staying solid against the league’s top scorers Sarah Fillier and Alex Carpenter.

The New York Sirens didn’t come to Toronto’s biggest arena to make it easy on the Sceptres and they kept the score even into the third by matching each of Miller’s two goals.

The deadly duo of Filler and Carpenter that’s been tormenting opponents all season connected to set up Ella Shelton for her second goal, a one-timer to tie the score at one early in the second period.

With that assist, Fillier tallied her first point in her home province while wearing a PWHL jersey.

Fillier has been dominant in her first professional season with five goals and seven assists over 12 games, but was shut down for the rest of the game as Toronto ended all other chances by the Carpenter-Fillier line.

Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan said that even at big rinks like Scotiabank Arena, the team is relaxed enough to stick to their plan.

“It just naturally starts to feel a little bit more comfortable,” Ryan said. “Instead of trying to overdo it because it’s a big game, the leadership group talked more about trying to treat this like it’s a Game 5, but instead of overwhelming with concepts and systems and all that, just keep it simple with a few points and just have them execute it.”

When New York’s starting line was stopped, the ever-physical Abby Roque stepped up for the Sirens with a goal 61 seconds into the third period.

Roque showed some strong physicality with Nurse but was quick to remind reporters after the game that she still doesn’t have any penalty minutes this season.

“It’s funny, every team has people you’re friends with, but the second you’re on the ice, most of us couldn’t care less. I think it’s about winning, and it’s about getting in somebody’s face,” Roque said.

“It creates some rivalries and I think it’s good for the sport.”

Corinne Schroeder was a force in net for the Sirens, facing 34 shots from a Sceptres team that leads the league in shots per game. Saturday marked the seventh consecutive game where Toronto has outshot its opponent.

Beyond the shots and score, the Battle on Bay Street was exciting because of how Toronto fans showed up for the hometown team.

The yearly Scotiabank Arena game has become a tradition so monumental to the presence and growth of women’s sports in Toronto that the city’s Northern Super League and WNBA teams couldn’t miss it.

Toronto Tempo president Teresa Resch performed the ceremonial puck drop, while Sceptres captain Blayre Turnbull and Emma Woods sported the new WNBA team’s merch when they arrived downtown.

AFC Toronto’s squad was also in attendance and they presented the Sceptres’ starting lineup while NSL founder Diana Matheson read the starters for the Sirens.

“Result aside, that was so special to play on that ice. Even just looking at that ice, seeing the Leafs’ logo, I thought that was pretty cool. I grew up going to a lot of Leafs games,” Sirens defenceman Jaime Bourbonnais, who grew up in nearby Mississauga, said post-game.

“It was pretty surreal to play out there, and even though the crowd wasn’t cheering for us it was electric. I think that was one of the coolest atmospheres I’ve ever played in.”

For the Sceptres’ Megan Carter, this electric environment punctuated her PWHL debut as she played her first game of professional hockey on an NHL rink after coming off of Toronto’s long-term injury reserve.

“For her to step in and have her first pro game in this type of environment and this situation I can only imagine how stressful that would be, and she handled herself like a pro,” Ryan said.

And when asked when Toronto’s other injury reserve player, Natalie Spooner, might make her season two debut, Ryan was quick to remark that “she’s trending in the right direction, like we are.”

Nurse also added some optimism after the game saying, “We have two wins here so maybe put us here a little more often.”

More from Sportsnet

Sarah Nurse scores late winner, Sceptres top Sirens at Scotiabank Arena

PWHL’s Montreal Victoire to host Boston Fleet at Bell Centre