PWHL RECAP: Toronto Beats Minnesota in Semi-Final Game 1
Recapping Game 1 of the PWHL Toronto/PWHL Minnesota series through memes.
![PWHL RECAP: Toronto Beats Minnesota in Semi-Final Game 1](/content/images/size/w1200/2024/05/CREDIT-PWHL-TORvMIN-FEB3_005.jpg)
![](https://www.theicegarden.com/content/images/2024/05/8pgb6m.jpeg)
It's finally here! The first-ever PWHL playoff game went down in Toronto between PWHL Toronto (1st) and PWHL Minnesota (3rd).
Remember, Toronto chose to play Minnesota and that led to a bunch of travel chaos, including Lee Stecklein's dad driving all over Minnesota to retrieve the player's dogs...
Lee Stecklein's dad yesterday:
![](https://www.theicegarden.com/content/images/2024/05/download--2-.jpeg)
Anyway, we made it here.
Period 1:
Toronto opened the scoring at 9:47 in the first period with a goal from, you guessed it, Natalie Spooner.
WHO ELSE BUT SPOONS
— The Ice Garden (@TheIceGarden) May 8, 2024
Toronto leads 1-0 pic.twitter.com/2Vo98RhbZa
Would it really be a PWHL Toronto game if Natalie Spooner didn't score?
![](https://www.theicegarden.com/content/images/2024/05/8pge3t.jpeg)
There were a couple of chances for both sides before the end of the period but no one could put one home.
Period 2:
Toronto kicked off the period with another goal, this time from our Tiktok queen, Emma Maltais.
Maltais finds the five-hole
— The Ice Garden (@TheIceGarden) May 9, 2024
2-0 TOR | 18:45 2nd period pic.twitter.com/hQvwghWT1u
I'll let one of Emma's latest Tiktoks sum this one up.
@emmamaltais MOOD for gameday lol #pwhl #womenshockey #toronto @PWHL Toronto
♬ Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? - Taylor Swift
The teams traded penalties but no one scored, something that Minnesota will take as a positive after having a pretty terrible penalty kill lately.
In fact, neither team registered a powerplay goal this game.
![](https://www.theicegarden.com/content/images/2024/05/8pggfh.jpeg)
With about 5 minutes left, Toronto captain Blayre Turnbull wanted in on the action and she got one past Nicole Hensley.
Oh captain, my captain
— The Ice Garden (@TheIceGarden) May 9, 2024
Turnbull makes it 3-0 pic.twitter.com/cmtJ4enqzf
Minnesota finished the period outshooting Toronto but just couldn't get anything going.
You have to think there was a bit of this going on in the Minnesota dressing room:
Period 3:
Minnesota picked up a bit more momentum at the beginning of this period, but Campbell came up big with a couple of stops.
— The Ice Garden (@TheIceGarden) May 9, 2024
It was a pretty quiet period, especially for Minnesota who couldn't seem to claw their way back into this one.
With about a minute left, Turnbull decided she wanted ...
![](https://media.tenor.com/aUJSXUSQzN0AAAAC/dj-khaled-another-one.gif)
Two for Turnbull
— The Ice Garden (@TheIceGarden) May 9, 2024
4-0 TOR pic.twitter.com/2p8SoXjo2F
...and that would seal the win for Toronto.
The team that finished first in the league took game one 4-0 at home.
In conclusion:
![](https://media.tenor.com/NGtqh1V1DfQAAAAC/good-soup-good-soup-meme.gif)
Game 2 is Friday at 5 P.M. EST in Toronto and I'll leave you with this.
![](https://www.theicegarden.com/content/images/2024/05/have-you-won-a-game-since-the-international-break.png)
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