Sold-out Scotiabank Arena game the next chapter in burgeoning PWHL Toronto-Montreal rivalry

PWHL Toronto forward Alexa Vasko walked into the dressing room at Scotiabank Arena, typically home to the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, and took in her surroundings.

She and her Toronto teammates took part in an optional pre-game skate at the arena on Friday morning. When the players looked up, they saw white "Battle on Bay Street" rally towels draped over every seat.

In the concourse, staff were unpacking boxes of Toronto jerseys and getting ready for the more than 18,000 fans expected at Toronto's sold-out game against Montreal in this arena on Friday night.

"A few of us were saying, we can't believe this is sold out all the way up to the nosebleeds," said Vasko, who is from nearby St. Catharines, Ont. "I think it's going to be pretty cool when everyone's waving those towels."

While Toronto was on the ice, a few Montreal players came out to take a look around before getting an opportunity to go on the ice themselves.

"We actually wondered how long it took to put all these towels on the seats," Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin said.

The crowd at Friday's game is expected to break an attendance record. Among those in the stands will be lots of friends and family cheering on Montreal forward Laura Stacey, who's from Kleinburg, Ont.

She'll playing under a banner hung in the rafters in honour of her great-grandfather, King Clancy, wearing the same number seven on her back.

It's a special moment for her and for women's hockey, and the latest milestone in an inaugural PWHL season that's seen huge crowds over the first month and a half.

"They're exciting and amazing and they're really surreal, and they give us these moments that we're never going to forget," Stacey said.

"But I think the really special thing about this league