Superstar Natalie Spooner answering coach's call, leading Toronto, PWHL in goals

Natalie Spooner is continuing to answer the call from head coach Troy Ryan, but this time in the Professional Women's Hockey League.

Spooner has embraced the power forward role to the tune of a PWHL-leading 10 goals through 11 games this season. The 33-year-old star has scored in all but one of Toronto's six wins.

"That's where she's the best," Ryan said of Spooner's net-front success after Tuesday's practice. "I challenged her a couple years ago to tell me where she could be the best in the world. We identify and she identifies that that's the area where she's the best.

"A lot of people think playing net front is just big and strong and trying to screen goalies. You need to have some pretty good skills to score in tight like that. But the bottom line is, she embraces it. She goes there because she wants to, not because she has to or because it's the right thing to do."

Good net-front play has long been something Ryan has preached to his team. For Spooner, that has dated back to when Ryan was hired as head coach of the Canadian women's national team in 2019.

"When Troy became our coach with Team Canada, he always harped on me on being a net-front presence," Spooner said Tuesday. "It started on the power play and then it became a regular game thing too — driving pucks to the net, being that power forward that was hard to play against.

"I think that I've had a lot of success with that and being able to now bring it into the league, I've just been trying to keep playing that way and it's been working."

The effort has been put in to hone those skills working alongside goalie coach Brad Kirkwood, who has helped shed light on nuances that give goaltenders difficulty.

"She's just one of those players who's pretty easy to coach,