OverDrive - Turnbull on the Sceptres' playoff journey, the matchup against the Frost and the postseason approach

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

Toronto Sceptres Captain Blayre Turnbull joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines from the PWHL Playoffs, the Sceptres' impressive start against the Frost, the difference between the regular season and playoffs, the approach to their opponent, the format of the league, expansion to Vancouver and Seattle in PWHL and more.

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Call 416-457-PLAN or visit askkelvin.ca. Game two tomorrow night down at Coca-Cola Coliseum. We'll see the Scepters looking to push the series to two-nothing. They got a big one last night over the frost and we're into the first round. Best three out of five that I saw a lot of people had a lot of friends that were down at the game last night at Coca-Cola Coliseum posting stuff on Instagram. The crowd was going nuts and it's a big start, right? It's a big start. Game two tomorrow night down there and here's the captain of the SEPTLers. She scored a goal herself last night. Here's Blair Turnbull back on overdrive. How are

you doing Blair? Hey, I'm good. How are you guys doing? We're doing very well. What did you make of the atmosphere down at Coca-Cola Coliseum last night? It was awesome. Yeah, definitely felt like a playoff game for us. Our fans have shown up for us all season. I think we were able to set the attendance record throughout the regular season for our league, which is awesome. And they showed up again last night. So it was a great atmosphere for us to play in. So do you sense now that, you know, you're getting into the playoffs and, and you went, you take game one, you know, to double down on it, is it, you know,'re getting into the playoffs and and you went you take game one you know to double down on it is it you know a little bit more intensity is

it a little bit more physicality what do you think the next step is for you guys to grab a stranglehold here I think it's about locking things down defensively a little bit more I think we did a really good job last night of being physical on the forecheck a physical throughout the neutral zone. I think one area that we can improve heading into game two is really locking things down in the D zone and trying to really minimize their chances. Well, in terms of, you know, we always talk about the difference between regular season and playoff hockey, I think at all levels and in all leagues.

What has been most noticeable for you? We're still into the kind of premature, or not premature, but early stages of the PWHL. We're into year two here. How much have you noticed the intensity rising in the playoffs compared to the regular season experience? Yeah, there's definitely a jump. Like you said, I think it's something that happens in every league, but for us last year

with the PWHL in its first season, and most of us are first time playing in best of five series, it was definitely a jump from regular season to playoffs. And we're experiencing that same thing again this year where the physicality goes up, the speed of the game goes up, you have less time to make plays, you're under more pressure. But I also noticed one thing with our team that I really liked last night which just seemed like our discipline to

really commit to playing our team system was elevated last night as well. So I thought that was a really promising thing for our team to kind of step up and play off. Have you noticed a little difference in the refereeing? And I'm not going to ask you to say good or bad, anything. You don't want them listening and target you. But the point being as far as regular season compared to playoffs.

We see it in the NHL, we see it in different pro leagues where the refereeing is a little bit different. Have you noticed any difference between regular season and playoff refereeing? Yeah, I think they did let us play a bit more last night. I found they were very consistent, I thought, with what they were calling. I thought they let both teams be physical at times, and I don't think they called too much except for our second period was pretty loaded with penalties, but other than that, I thought they let us play, yeah. We're chatting with Blair Turnbull of the Toronto Scepters.

The Scepters getting off to a 1-nothing series lead over Minnesota last night. And you guys played with the lead for the major, well, the whole game last night. The significance of that, we always talk about bounce backs. What do you anticipate Minnesota to maybe do differently to try to break through and get on the board in terms of the win column tomorrow night? Well, we actually faced Minnesota last year in the first round of playoffs and what I noticed about them is that they made adjustments every game. So I know that our game tomorrow will be much different than the game we just played because

they're a team that will make a lot of adjustments to try to shut our game down but also to try to expose maybe some areas of our game that they see that they can take advantage of. So I think for us it's going to be all about discipline and really committing to playing another game the same way we did in game one. I think it could be easy to kind of be really happy with getting that first win and take our foot off the gas a bit heading into game two. But I think we're well aware that Minnesota is a great team and they're going to make

adjustments and they're going to be even better in game two. So we have to be ready to go. And I think for us the same goal will be to try to get on the scoreboard early. But I think we know that they're going to throw a lot of pucks on net and for us we've got to try to shut things down defensively a little bit better. So the game within the game, is there a lot of trash talking, trying to get underneath the skin of the opponent, you know that type of stuff, especially if you're going to play

the same team over and over again, is it trying to get that competitive imbalance? Are you one to trash talk or do you leave that for some of your teammates? It's definitely not something that I do a lot, but we have some girls that like to run their mouth, which I think is great in playoffs. I think if you can do anything to knock someone off their game, it's going to help your team. So we've got a couple of girls that like to throw out some chirps here and there. And, you know, for me to get under the other team's skin, it's more of just really trying to play physical, try to finish all my checks, try to get in the goalie's grill as often as possible. But yeah,

we definitely have some girls that like to throw out some chirps. With the captain of the Scepters Blair Turnbull game two tomorrow night Scepters winning three two game one against Minnesota last night game one of the other series Begins in Montreal tonight Montreal Ottawa and Montreal of course had the pick You know who are they gonna take was it gonna be Ottawa was gonna be Minnesota they they went with Ottawa What do you anticipate you know are you gonna be I'm sure you're tracking that game tonight But what was that experience like for you and your team? Kind of once you knew you punched a ticket you're waiting to see who you're gonna play in the first round

Yeah, it was interesting kind of waiting around all day to find out who we were gonna play I kind of figured that they would pick Ottawa based on Travel I think like traveling from Montreal to Ottawa is significantly better think traveling from Montreal to Ottawa is significantly better than traveling from Montreal to St. Paul. So I wasn't too surprised that they went with Ottawa just because of that alone. But yeah, it was definitely a long day waiting to find out

because the anticipation of the playoffs arriving and finally being here after what seems to be like a really long regular season and then we have to wait. I know it was only 24 hours but it felt like a really long 24 hours to find out who we were going to play. Well, we're a couple seasons into the PWHL and the playoffs have been, you guys set the tone last night. We've got another game in Montreal tonight.

We've already got expansion. What do you make of that, Blair Blair I guess you mentioned the travel from Montreal to Minnesota wait till you have to get to Seattle and Vancouver yeah I know just yeah popping over to Seattle and Vancouver for a couple quick regular season games a few times throughout the year yeah that'll be interesting to deal with for sure but yeah personally I'm surprised it happened as fast as it did like I know obviously the PWHL really elevated the game of women's hockey. And I think, obviously, it's important for the league to market territory in as many spots as we can.

So I think it's a great decision, ultimately, for the league to expand out west because I think it just gives obviously two new teams a chance to grow the game and a chance to really put our league on the map in a different area of the world. Absolutely. Well it was a great start for the Scepters last night. You got on the game sheet yourself last night as well so continued success. Go get Minnesota tomorrow night. Thank you for doing this Blair. We appreciate it. Alright. Thank you for doing this, Blair. We appreciate it. All right. Thank you very much. There's the captain of the Scepters, Blair Turnbull.

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