Toronto Six players celebrate a goal against the Connecticut Whale during playoff action in Toronto, on March 20. The Six became the first Canadian club to win the Isobel Cup in Arizona on March 27.Lori Bolliger/The Canadian Press
They were short on sleep and had barely made a dent in the messages that jammed their phones, but members of the Toronto Six were elated to awaken in Arizona on Monday as the first Canadian club to capture the Isobel Cup.
On Sunday night, the Six came from behind to win the championship game of the Premier Hockey Federation in overtime. The trophy awarded to the victors is named after Lord Stanley’s daughter and since 2016 has been passed around between the best professional women’s hockey clubs in North America.
The Six players eventually will tote it to Canada and show it off to family and friends. More immediately on Monday they planned to catch some rays around the pool at their hotel in Tempe with the cup glistening beside them.
“It’s an indescribable feeling,” Brittany Howard, a Six forward, said on a video call with journalists on Monday. She grew up in St. Thomas, Ont. “We got the job done and that’s what we wanted to do. I think it is going to take a couple of weeks to sink in.
“We are thrilled to bring the Cup up north. To be able to bring it to Toronto has been our goal since the beginning of the season.”
The Six lost in the semi-finals in two previous seasons in the PHF. The Cup was first handed out at the end of the inaugural campaign of the National Women’s Hockey League, which was disbanded at the end of 2018-19.
Tereza Vanisova scored the winner for Toronto a little more than four minutes into extra time to beat the Minnesota Whitecaps 4-3. The Six had trailed 3-2 in the third period before Taylor Woods evened things up almost eight minutes into the third period.
The game was played at the home rink for Arizona State University and the Arizona Coyote and was televised by ESPN and TSN.
“To have such a close game and on the stage we did is great for the game and the growth of women’s hockey,” Taylor Davison, a defenceman from Oakville, Ont., said. “From here, I think it is onward and upward. We are headed in the right direction.”
The Six lost the opening game of the first round of the playoffs to the Connecticut Whale and had to win twice to reach the winner-take-all championship.
It battled back to win on Sunday with goals from Dominika Laskova and Breanne Wilson-Bennett. Michela Cava contributed two assists and Elaine Chuli stopped 21 of 24 pucks in the Six’s net.
“I have a lot of unread texts and Instagram messages,” Chuli said. She was the starting goalie at the University of Connecticut for four years. “It is kind of crazy.”
The team concluded the regular season with a 17-5-2 record.
“We finished the regular season second in the league and had a lot of tough games so we were used to it,” head coach Geraldine Heaney said. She won seven straight world championships as a defenceman with the Canadian national team, as well as gold and silver Olympic medals. “This group believes in one another and gets better as games wear on.
“Every period is a different game to them.”
Sheldon Keefe, the Maple Leafs head coach, sent a good-luck message to the Six before Sunday’s contest. Chuli got one from Anthony Stewart, the former NHL player and current hockey analyst for Sportsnet, afterwards.
It has been a bit of a slog but people in the hockey world are paying more attention. In December, the league increased its salary cap for next year to US$1.5-million from US$750,000. In January, the Six signed Daryl Watts, an NCAA star from Toronto, to a record contract at US$150,000 per season.
The club hopes it will cash in on that and its success to boost its fortunes.
“People always want to have a good, winning team in their city and we provide that for them,” Davison said. “I hope that will help promote our league and the game. Hopefully people in Toronto will be encouraged to turn out.”
Shiann Darkangelo, the team’s captain and left wing, won an Isobel Cup with the Buffalo Beauts in 2017. She played college hockey at Syracuse and Quinnipiac and is from Royal Oak, Mich.
“I am still on a high from it,” Darkangelo said of winning a second Cup. “I’m super excited. I can’t believe we did it. It’s huge. To be on the first Canadian team to win it makes history and is a building block.
“To bring the Cup to Toronto will help spread the word and create more exposure. I am excited to see where we go because in women’s hockey we have come so far in such a short time.”