Toronto Sceptres have some decisions to make in the net

Article content

Like a lot in the upcoming PWHL season, change is afoot for the Toronto Sceptres net.

Article content

Gone is Kristen (Soupy) Campbell who logged more minutes in the Toronto net than anyone else before being traded to expansion Vancouver on draft night.

Article content

Article content

Also gone from the goalie room is Carly CJ Jackson, who signed with the expansion Seattle Torrent in the off-season.

Still here is Raygan Kirk, who is coming off a solid rookie campaign in support of Campbell last year before a late-season injury took her out of the picture.

Added to the goalie room is free agent signee Elaine Chuli, who comes to the Sceptres after two strong years as the No. 2 in Montreal behind Ann-Renee Desbiens.

Battle for No. 1 goalie

Chuli is no stranger to Toronto, having played and started for the Toronto Six of the PHF and before that the Toronto Furies of the CWHL.

Article content

Article content

How Troy Ryan and the Sceptres coaching staff choose to deploy their goalies has been a lingering question as training camp has gone on.

“I don’t know how it is going to unfold,” Ryan admitted after Friday’s final training camp practice in Toronto.

“The plan is to give both Kirky and Chuli a good opportunity to take a No. 1 job and then if they do great,” he said. “I don’t have a preference on who does it. If not, hopefully both of them can kind of get hot at times and we can roll with that one. You just don’t know how it is going to unfold.”

Both goalies are competitors and both are looking to lock down the No. 1 job. Ironically, the two have known of one another for some time in a strange twist of fate.

“It’s a pretty cool story,” Chuli, who has remained a working accountant since joining the PWHL said. “(Raygan’s mom and Chuli) were working together at LiveCA, an accouting firm, when Raygan was at Robert Morris University and then, when that program folded Ohio State. I mean I have kind of been along for the whole journey. It’s cool to work with Raygan now for sure.”

Article content

Kirk recalls following Chuli’s career because of the connection with her mother but had only ever seen her on Teams calls with her mom until last season.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Family connections

“Elaine has now been co-workers with both me and my mom, so small world,” Kirk pointed out. “I heard a lot about her when she was playing with the (PHF) Toronto Six and I was in still in college but we hadn’t actually met until (the Sceptres) were in Vancouver last season (for the takeover game with Montreal.). We were going for coffee and I ran into her and I was like ‘My mom is here. Do you want to meet my mom.’ I mean really small world.”

Now finding themselves competing against the other for a No. 1 job might seem strange, but both have been at this long enough to know how to walk that line between teammates and two players vying for the same minutes.

Article content

“I think we all want to play, but it’s always about the team first,” Chuli said.

“I think it’s just part of the job,” Kirk said. “But we’ve both been on teams and that’s always the case on every single team. You are always just pushing each other.

“Last year there was a stretch where maybe I wasn’t getting in as much, but Soupy was doing so well, and the team was doing so well. So, you just have to know, “Yeah, I could go in and win those games too, but we’re getting the points. We’re getting the wins so it’s bigger than yourself in that way.”

The Sceptres have gone to great lengths to make sure the competition does not become any kind of issue within the team.

“They both seem to understand the situation,” Ryan said. “(GM) Gina (Kingsbury) has been very clear with them. I was clear with them. They both expressed that they understand the situation and they both seem to be eager to do what they can to help us win.

“Neither one of them, at least in recent years, have had a No. 1 spot, both of them were kind of in that No. 2 hoping to be No. 1 so you just see who rises to the occasions a little bit,” Ryan said. “Hopefully both of them do and we’ve got some real tough decisions to make.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The Sceptres get on the bus and head East to Ottawa for two exhibition games with the Ottawa Charge on Sunday and Monday. The Sceptres open the 2025-26 season next Friday in Minnesota (7 p.m. puck drop) against the two-time defending Walter Cup champion Frost.

Mganter@postmedia.com

Article content