Tennis great Billie Jean King attends Frost vs. Sceptres PWHL playoff game at Coca-Cola Coliseum

The Toronto Sceptres hosted the Minnesota Frost on Friday for Game 2 of their first-round PWHL playoff series. Tennis legend Billie Jean King was in attendance at Coca-Cola Coliseum on the night.

The official account of the Sceptres shared a special post on X featuring a couple of pictures of the tennis legend watching the game from a VIP suite.

“A trailblazer, a fearless advocate, and a champion both on and off the court. Thank you to Billie Jean King for coming out and supporting the PWHL at Coca-Cola Coliseum tonight!” The Sceptres tweeted.

One clip saw her wave at the Toronto crowd as they gave her a long standing ovation during a second-period timeout. Among key figures, Billie Jean King had been instrumental in helping launch the inaugural season of the PWHL.

Toronto took the lead in the first period on the night when Hayley Scamurra scored from the side boards, but Minnesota responded early in the second period with three quick goals. One of those came on a power play from Lee Stecklein.

Toronto’s Savannah Harmon cut the lead to one with a power-play goal late in the second period. Just 27 seconds later, Allie Munroe scored from a tough angle to tie the game at 3-3 before the period ended. In the third, Frost’s Michela Cava netted the game-winner for Minnesota, tying the series 1-1.

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Sceptres open up on their first loss of the PWHL playoffs this season

After the 4-3 defeat in Game 2 against the Frost, Sceptres defender Savannah Harmon addressed the first loss of their postseason this year.

She reflected on the similarities between Game 1 and Game 2 of the series during the post-game interview.

“I think we had a good start in the first period, second period not as much,” she said. “Third period we found our game a little bit more, but compared to the other game, we played our game for the whole 60 minutes and we were missing that tonight.” [thepwhl.com]

Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan pointed out the positives in the post-game presser. He praised how Maggie Connors worked hard on the boards and handled the puck well. Ryan also lauded Emma Maltais for several smart plays and mentioned that she did a good job in faceoffs even though she hasn’t played center much lately.