Toronto opens women’s hockey playoffs against a hand-picked opponent. They won’t say how they chose

Having the unusual option of choosing their playoff opponent wasn鈥檛 taken lightly by the staff and players of the Professional Women鈥檚 Hockey League鈥檚 Toronto franchise for .

So sensitive and in-depth were the discussions, coach Troy Ryan declined to disclose the reasons behind Toronto鈥檚 decision to face fourth-place Minnesota over third-place Boston 鈥� two teams who finished with identical 12-9-3 records (including four OT/SO wins apiece), with Boston having the tiebreaking edge.

鈥淭o be honest, from a hockey perspective, I think it would be somewhat irresponsible to tip my hat to the exact details,鈥� Ryan said Monday night. 鈥淪o at this point, we鈥檒l keep that within house.鈥�

Leave it to the PWHL to provide an intriguing plot twist entering the playoffs after in which the playoff race wasn鈥檛 settled until the final game. Toronto played a central role in determining the final standings with its season-ending eliminating Ottawa and securing Minnesota its playoff berth.

The concept of teams selecting playoff opponents has long been entertained in theory in North America鈥檚 four major pro sports, but yet to become a reality. The Southern Professional Hockey League introduced a pick-your-opponent first-round playoff format in 2018 before abandoning it two years later.

Toronto鈥檚 decision to choose Minnesota as its playoff opponent made sense in various aspects.

Toronto had a 3-1 record against Minnesota in the regular season, while going 3-2 against Boston. losing its final five games, while Boston went 3-1-1, including a 2-1 win over Toronto.

Minnesota coach Ken Klee expressed little surprise in Toronto鈥檚 decision by saying: 鈥淭o me, that鈥檚 who I expected.鈥� He also noted that Minnesota logged the most air miles in a league whose other five teams are concentrated in the Northeast.

鈥淚f I was (Toronto), I would say who has the furthest to come and has the toughest travel to get here,鈥� Klee said. “But in my mind, our group鈥檚 excited. We鈥檙e in the playoffs.鈥�

Of all the aspects taken into consideration, ranging from analytics, head-to-head records, travel and injuries, among the most important, perhaps, was the fear of providing their opponent additional motivation entering the best-of-five semifinal series, which opens in Toronto on Wednesday. Montreal will face Boston in the other semifinal starting on Thursday.

Boston coach Courtney Kessel couldn鈥檛 help but envision what her players’ reaction would have been had they been selected.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a good thing and a bad thing to kind of be in their position,鈥� Kessel said of Toronto. 鈥淚 think if they would have chosen us, we would have had a little bit more fuel, you know, like them thinking that they can beat us in choosing the third-place team.鈥�

Toronto GM Gina Kingsbury said the process in determining which opponent to select began last week after Toronto clinched first place. Kingsbury consulted with Ryan before getting feedback from the team鈥檚 leadership core and eventually the entire roster.

鈥淚n the end, it wasn鈥檛 an easy decision. Minnesota was not the necessarily the lead in that right away,鈥� Kingsbury said. 鈥淭here were a lot of pros and cons on picking Boston or Minnesota. And in the end we just went with what seemed to be a little more pros than cons.鈥�

Toronto captain Blayre Turnbull said the most important thing to remember was to focus on their team, not the opponent.

鈥淣o matter who we picked, there鈥檚 going to be some people that might think we should have gone the other way,鈥� Turnbull said. 鈥淏ut I think at the end of the day, no matter who we鈥檙e going to face in the semifinal round is going to be a really tough opponent.鈥�

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AP Women鈥檚 Hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey