By The Canadian Press

Troy Ryan: Sceptres not “completely snake-bitten yet” as scoring issues continue

Jan 7, 2026 | 4:00 AM

TORONTO — Toronto Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan isn’t concerned about the mood of his locker room.

The Sceptres were shut out in a 2-0 loss to the New York Sirens on Tuesday night, with Ryan mentioning that his team’s performance was “unacceptable.” It was one of several games Toronto has outshot its opponent (30-23) but struggled to score, with players having answered questions about the team’s hardship to do so often.

“I don’t think there’s any real concern there,” Ryan said. “I think there is some frustration when you get shut out. I think our group is not necessarily going to be a high dynamic offensive team, but I think if we play the right way, we’ll be able to contribute offensively.

“I don’t necessarily foresee this team being offensively the same as the two previous versions of the Toronto team.”

Despite a campaign with some injuries to top players, Toronto was fourth in goals (73) and allowed the second-fewest goals (73) in the PWHL last season. The Sceptres also boasted the league’s best power play (25.8 per cent) and third-best penalty kill (82.1 per cent).

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Toronto led the league in goals (69) and allowed the least amount of goals (50) in the PWHL’s inaugural season.

But through 11 games, and a fairly different lineup than the past two seasons, Toronto is tied for the worst goal-differential (-8) and is third-last in goals (20) despite being tied with New York for most games played (11). The Sceptres have also gone just 2-for-24 on the power play.

“There was a stat that came up during the game today that I think (we have) the second-most goals for the first three seasons of the PWHL,” Ryan said. “So I don’t think we’re completely snake-bitten yet.

“I think we’re high on the expected goals. We’re getting quality chances — even Natalie Spooner up until, I don’t know what today’s stats did for her, but I think she was third in the league in expected goals for. We just gotta find ways to bury them when we get those opportunities.”

As for the power play, Ryan said the team just isn’t getting enough opportunities on the man advantage because of the way the Sceptres’ chances have come about.

“When you’re at this point in the season and you have two power-play goals, sometimes it’s a personnel thing, sometimes it is a structural thing, sometimes it’s a confidence thing,” he said. “And I think it’s actually, we’re just, we’re not getting enough power-play opportunities to get any reps.

“And that’s more of a 5-on-5 thing because if you try to score the majority of your goals on entry, you don’t wear people down with offensive zone play and wear them down in defensive zone play. So you don’t draw as many penalties. Power play is where you get that confidence and that swagger from. So it’s just a big perfect storm at times that we get to try to sort out to get us going offensively.”

Star defender Ella Shelton had her own take on what could change offensively.

“I think the biggest thing for us is making sure pucks get to the net,” she said. “I think making sure it hits the net first — it sets them up for a breakout if you’re hitting high and wide all the time or missing the net.

“And sometimes just putting pucks right on top of that blue paint, there’s so many bodies there it’s going to go off a foot or off another person’s stick and hopefully all of us crashing down on the net come out on top of it and be able to put that puck in the back of the net.”

The Sceptres don’t play again until Jan. 14, when they visit the league-leading Boston Fleet.

Ryan said there was “a lot of sickness” and “a lot of fatigue” going around the team but that it’s coming to an end.

The week off should serve as a time to regroup and go over film with the bench boss saying “a lot of it will be offensive stuff.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2026.

Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press