Toronto’s PWHL team has a new name, a new logo and a new home heading into the 2024-2025 season — and the league’s reigning MVP is hoping for big things as the newly crowned Sceptres prepare to hit the ice again.
“To sell out arenas and set records day after day [last season] was crazy, and I think this season we’re just looking to do the same,” Sceptres forward and Billie Jean King MVP award-winner Natalie Spooner told CBC News Monday, as the team’s new name was unveiled.
“We have the most amazing fans so for them to now be able to come out and support us and have a team name to rally behind, it’s just even more exciting.”
The Professional Women’s Hockey League unveiled names and logos for all six of its teams Monday heading into its second season, after time constraints led to the PWHL spending its inaugural season referring to each team with a PWHL prefix.
The Sceptres, the PWHL said, “embody Toronto’s regal history and commanding presence,” and reflect the Ontario capital also being known to some as the Queen City.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League has unveiled the nicknames and logos for each of the six franchises entering its second season, including Canadian teams the Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire and Ottawa Charge.
“I’m sure in the stands we’re going to see sceptres, we’re going to see crowns, we’re going to see royalty there — which I think we want in Toronto. We should be known for that,” Spooner said.
“When I think of a sceptre I think of something that’s so powerful and has so much strength, and royals carry it and it shows that. I think for our team we’ll really be able to rally around that and use that as strength and power whether it’s our stick or we’re holding a sceptre.”
Alongside the Sceptres, the league announced the other team names as the Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, New York Sirens and Minnesota Frost.
The Sceptres also announced this month that Coca-Cola Coliseum will serve as the team’s primary home venue for regular-season games throughout the 2024-25 campaign. This comes after Toronto skated in front of sold-out crowds at Mattamy Athletic Centre last season, before playing three sold out games at Coca-Cola Coliseum during the playoffs that averaged more than 8,500 fans in attendance.
The league’s inaugural season is done and the PWHL’s 2024 draft has wrapped up. Now teams are preparing for next season.
Spooner said she welcomes the team’s move to a new home.
“The atmosphere in there is so cool,” she said.
“To be able to be there permanently, to be able to get more fans in the building — I think it’s a great spot for us.”
She also said there’s excitement for the team heading into next season with new draft picks and free agent signings on board — with a hope to erase the memories of being eliminated in last year’s playoffs by eventual champion Minnesota.
“Obviously not the ending we wanted last season, but looking to build on that,” she said.
The team says information about season tickets will be released soon, with priority to 2024 season ticket holders and fans who have joined the team’s waitlist or subscribed to its e-newsletter.