{"id":61154,"date":"2025-12-18T20:52:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=61154"},"modified":"2025-12-18T20:52:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:52:28","slug":"the-skys-the-limit-pwhl-takeover-inspires-young-girls-in-nova-scotia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=61154","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit\u201d: PWHL Takeover inspires young girls in Nova Scotia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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HALIFAX:<\/strong> With a sold-out crowd and dozens of young girls wearing jerseys bearing their favourite players\u2019 names, the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League\u2019s (PWHL) Takeover Tour game in Halifax left exactly the kind of impression league leaders hoped for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Montreal Victoire and Toronto Sceptres were facing off in the first game of the DoorDash Takeover Tour for this season (there\u2019s 16 neutral-site games to be played this year), and they wowed the crowd in the stands at Scotiabank Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second Takeover Tour date next month will see the Ottawa Charge and Boston Fleet battle in the capital of Halifax in a 1 p.m. game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sold-out crowd was left entertained as there was extra hockey played with the game ending in a shootout as Marie Philip Polin\u2019s lone tally stood as the winner of the shooters that shot and Montreal left with the two points and a 2-1 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montreal Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie, who hails from New Glasgow, was asked by The Laker News in a post-game press conference what her hope was for the impact of the many young girls in the crowd at the game from seeing the two teams play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was amazing to see the young girls and the young boys in the crowd, having our jerseys on and saying our names and wanting our autographs,\u201d said Cheverie. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recalled her days playing hockey and the fact there weren\u2019t any girls teams to play on in Pictou County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow we\u2019re seeing associations and girls teams traveling from all over Nova Scotia, and even other Atlantic provinces, to be here,\u2019 she said. \u201cThese meaningful moments are so important for our sport to continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cool thing is there are females on both benches, female bench staff, and female officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit now, and young people can see you can make a living doing many different jobs in women\u2019s hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For Nova Scotia native Blayre Turnbull of Stellarton, the Captain of the Toronto Sceptres, the moment was deeply personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverywhere we go, we want to leave a positive impact,\u201d said Turb=nbull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want little girls to know they have a dream and that their dreams can become a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She spoke of her and Allie Munroe growing up in the sport with not much chance to continue playing the sport they love into their adult years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Allie and I were little, we didn\u2019t have the chance to dream of playing professional hockey,\u201d she said. \u201cWe saw men in the NHL and women in the Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow young girls can see us playing in this league and have something new to aspire to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were many of those young girls\u2014and boys\u2014outside Scotiabank Centre to greet the two teams\u2014Toronto led in by a bagpiper and their two N.S. darlings in Team Nova Scotia jerseys leading the way. Shortly after, the Victoire followed as their bus pulled up and players departed into the throngs of the crowd cheering them on yearning for a photo with their idols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of those fans had lined up outside the downtown Halifax facility beginning at 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toronto forward Allie Munroe was stoked at the electric atmosphere from the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe crowd was incredible,\u201d said the Yarmouth native.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNova Scotia supports women\u2019s sports so passionately, and it was such a privilege to be part of this game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Toronto Sceptres defenceman Allie Munroe; head coach Troy Ryan; and Blayre Turnbull speak to the media following the game in Halifax. (Healey photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan, who was the bench boss with the Dal Tigers women\u2019s hockey team when COVID19 pandemic hit, said the Takeover game was just one part of leaving an impact on the game that took place over the past couple of days in Halifax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best thing about a takeover event like this is that, while it has a huge impact on young girls playing hockey, it also reaches far beyond that,\u201d said the Spryfield coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat both teams were able to do was connect on many levels. The performance on the ice impacts fans and spectators, but there are also meaningful off-ice opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those opportunities was a Coaching Panel and on Wednesday a breakfast was held with business leaders and officials form HRM and such. Councillor Cathy Deagle Gammon was among those attending the breakfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe held a coaching panel that brought together local and community coaches, and there was also a breakfast with business leaders that highlighted women\u2019s professional sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInspiring young girls to play the game is a major part of it, but the PWHL has the ability to make an impact across the entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Montreal Victoire Marie Philip Poulin; Head Coach Kori Cheverie; and Ann-Renee Desbiens take questions from the media post-game. (Healey photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Toronto was scheduled to go to the Pictou County Wellness Centre on Thursday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna Kjellbin for Toronto and Maya Labad with her first career PWHL goal had the tallies in regulation for their respective teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First star Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 35 of 36 pucks she saw for the win, while Raygan Kirk, named the game\u2019s third star, made 30 of 31 saves. Poulin was the second star. The Three Stars were chosen by media members in the press box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall River Indigenous singer DeeDee Austin sang the national anthem before the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With strong attendance, loud support, and deep local connections, the Halifax showcase reinforced what many in Nova Scotia already believe, that women\u2019s hockey has a strong and growing home in Atlantic Canada and that Halifax should be home to one of the next teams in PWHL when they do expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HALIFAX: With a sold-out crowd and dozens of young girls wearing jerseys bearing their favourite players\u2019 names, the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League\u2019s (PWHL) Takeover Tour game in Halifax left exactly the kind of impression league leaders hoped for. The Montreal Victoire and Toronto Sceptres were facing off in the first game of the DoorDash Takeover […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,957],"tags":[9946,68,50,9940,9941,48,1077,923,6775,5069,9947,9943,9948,3007],"class_list":["post-61154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","tag-blayre-turnbull","tag-girls-hockey","tag-halifax","tag-kori-cheverie","tag-montreal-victoire","tag-n-s","tag-nova-scotia","tag-pictou-county","tag-pwhl","tag-stellarton","tag-takeover-tour","tag-toronto-sceptres","tag-troy-ryan","tag-womens-hockey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}