Toronto Wins Their Second Duel at the Top
PWHL Toronto Sceptres

Toronto Wins Their Second Duel at the Top

Published on December 27, 2025 under Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
Toronto Sceptres News Release


MONTRÉAL, QC - The Toronto Sceptres held on for a 2-1 victory over the Montréal Victoire on Saturday afternoon in the third annual Duel at the Top, presented by Scotiabank, before a crowd of 18,107 at the Bell Centre. The win is Toronto's first in three games against Montréal this month and the team's second victory at the Bell Centre against their Canadian rivals following a historic 3-2 overtime victory in the inaugural season. The loss is the Victoire's second straight and first in three games at home this season. Jesse Compher opened the scoring at 18:15 of the first period to give the Sceptres a 1-0 lead at intermission. The teams traded goals in the middle frame with Abby Roque knotting the score for the Victoire at 5:20, followed by Daryl Watts' first game-winner of the season at 15:16. Sceptres captain Blayre Turnbull recorded two primary assists for the first time in her PWHL career. Elaine Chuli faced her former team for the first time as a member of the Sceptres and turned aside 29 shots for her third straight win. Ann-Renée Desbiens suffered defeat with 23 saves. At game's end, Toronto sat in second place with 14 points, three points ahead of Montréal in third place. The teams will meet again on Jan. 27, 2026, at Place Bell.

QUOTES

Sceptres goaltender Elaine Chuli on the first win against her former team: "It's a pretty special building, but I try to just approach it like any other game and any other building. Really happy with the win, and it's a big three points on the road. It's tough, wins are tough in this league, so I'm really happy with that [win]."

Toronto Head Coach Troy Ryan on playing at the Bell Centre: "We love to play here, we have an appreciation, I know the players do as well. An appreciation for this fan base and the atmosphere that they create in the building, so hockey knowledgeable. And I actually just said as we walked up the stairs, even just being in this room is pretty cool as well. All around a special place to play."

Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie about the effects of the team's recent travel: "We are still not satisfied with what we've put behind goaltenders, but we can't use that as an excuse. It will be nice now for the next couple of days to be off and to get some more practices under our belt, to be able to get back to our habits and details. We haven't been able to have a true team practice in a while. They've been mostly day before skates, which are different."

Montréal forward Laura Stacey about the upcoming stretch: "For sure we are all excited to take care of our bodies, get back on the Eastern time zone, and honestly get back to work. With all that travel and those games, we haven't been practicing that much, and I think for us as a group, bearing down on those chances, finding a way to score, working on the power play, and those are things we can work on in practice."

NOTABLES

Today's attendance of 18,107 is the sixth highest in PWHL history, behind three other matchups between these teams, including the inaugural Duel at the Top at the Bell Centre on Apr. 20, 2024 with a record crowd of 21,105. Second on the list is the inaugural Battle on Bay Street at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 16, 2024 with a crowd of 19,285, and fourth on the list was last season's Takeover Tour game at Vancouver's Rogers Arena on Jan. 8, 2025 with a crowd of 19,038.

All three games at the Bell Centre in three seasons have been decided by one goal, with the first two settled in overtime. Last season, Montréal defeated Boston, 3-2, on Mar. 1. In two games at the Bell Centre in 2025, attendance totaled 35,431.

Elaine Chuli has won all three of her starts this season for the Sceptres to improve her statistical totals to a 1.67 goals-against-average and a .943 save percentage. The former Victoire netminder won 10 games with Montréal over two seasons, including five straight to open the inaugural season, and made her first start at the Bell Centre after serving as backup in each of the past two events.

Jesse Compher's third goal of the season was the 13th of her career, and seventh scored against Montréal, more than any other player in PWHL history. Six of her seven goals against the Victoire have been game opening tallies, including today.

Daryl Watts' third goal of the season gives the Sceptres forward goals in consecutive games and a three-game point streak (2G, 1A) for the first time this season. This marked the second time the forward has recorded six shots on goal, with today's total leading all skaters. Last season with Toronto, she scored three goals in a two-game span Mar. 26-30 and had a five-game point streak (2G, 5A) from Jan. 25 to Feb. 11.

Blayre Turnbull recorded her first multi-point performance of the season with a pair of primary assists today. The Sceptres captain had one multi-point game last season with two goals and an assist on Feb. 1 against Ottawa.

The trio of Compher, Turnbull and Watts are all tied for the Sceptres scoring lead with three goals and two assists each. Watts' totals have come in seven games, with the other two players in eight games.

Abby Roque scored in consecutive games for the first time in her career and has her first three-game point streak (2G, 1A) as a member of the Victoire. Her goal came on a season-high five shots on net to lead all Montréal skaters in the game. She leads the team with three goals and is tied for the team lead with six points.

Marie-Philip Poulin recorded her team-leading fourth assist of the season to extend her point streak to a season-high three games (1G, 2A). The Victoire captain has produced one assist in all three of the team's games at the Bell Centre and is tied with Roque for the team lead in points.

Kaitlin Willoughby picked up her second assist of the season, with her first helper also recorded against her former Sceptres team in Halifax. Her two assists in seven games this season matches the two she previously recorded in 50 games over two seasons between Toronto and Montréal.

Anna Kjellbin has assisted in consecutive games for the Sceptres, representing her first career PWHL point streak. The Swedish defender leads all Toronto rearguards in scoring with four points (1G, 3A) in eight games, surpassing the three points (3A) she recorded in 25 games last season split between Toronto and Montréal.

Kiara Zanon picked up her first career PWHL assist and second point after scoring in her professional debut on Nov. 21 in Minnesota. The second-round pick leads all Sceptres rookies with two points in eight games.

Ann-Renée Desbiens suffered a second straight loss in the Victoire crease for the first time since the inaugural season (Mar. 17 and Apr. 20, 2024). She has yet to surrender more than two goals in any of her six starts this season.

Catherine Dubois returned to the Victoire lineup after missing three games to injury and logged a time on ice of 10:08 with one shot on goal and one hit.

Hanna Baskin made her PWHL debut today on the Sceptres blue line and played 6:35. The sixth-round pick in the 2025 PWHL Draft out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth was signed to a 10-day contract prior to the game.

Allie Munroe missed her first game in three seasons as a member of the Sceptres and is listed day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Renata Fast missed a third straight game for the Sceptres and is listed day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

THREE STARS

1. Elaine Chuli (TOR) 29/30 SV

2. Abby Roque (MTL) 1G

3. Blayre Turnbull (TOR) 2A

STANDINGS

Toronto (4-0-2-2) - 2nd Place

Montréal (3-1-0-3) - 3rd Place

UPCOMING SCHEDULES

Toronto: Tuesday, Dec. 30 vs. Minnesota at 7 p.m. ET

Montréal: Friday, Jan. 2 at New York at 1 p.m. ET

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Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from December 27, 2025


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