The Compher family poses with Jesse Compher's silver medal in the 2022 Olympics and the Stanley Cup J.T. Compher won with the Colorado Avalanche, also in 2022. At right is their sister Morgan. Jesse Compher plays for Toronto in the newly formed Professional Women's Hockey League. (Photo courtesy of Jesse Compher)
PWHL Toronto's Jesse Compher makes her professional debut on Jan. 1, against PWHL New York. This was the league's first game.
PWHL Toronto's Jesse Compher joins the rush against PWHL Ottawa.
Jesse Compher of PWHL Toronto is a strong net-front presence in PWHL New York goalie Corinne Schroeder's crease.
Another sold-out arena of 3,200 hockey fans on Saturday night watched two of the Professional Women’s Hockey League original six franchises battle it out when Toronto traveled to Montreal’s Verdun Auditorium.
Lauriane Rougeau scored the game-winner in the first-ever PWHL shootout to give Toronto a much-needed 4-3 win over Montreal. It was thrilling hockey featuring some of the game’s biggest stars including Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner and Sarah Nurse.
Netting her third assist of the young season, Team USA Olympic star Jesse Compher — one of only two non-Canadians on the Toronto roster — is embracing the moment.
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“It’s pretty exciting. In this league each team is very skilled, very competitive and there’s great players on every single team. So, it’s fun to know that every game is gonna be a close game and that you have to show up ready to play or it’s not going to go the way you want,” Compher said.
The 24-year-old Compher was selected in September as the 26th overall pick by Toronto in the inaugural PWHL draft. Being part of the 90-player draft in Toronto was an amazing — and intense — experience that her family knows well. Her brother, J.T., was selected in the second round, 35th overall, in the 2013 NHL draft by the Buffalo Sabres. Her brother, sister Morgan and parents were by her side on draft day.
“It’s nerve-wracking no matter what, but to have him go through it before me, it was nice to just have an extra ear and someone to listen to who’s been through it,” Compher said. “He gives really good advice and I’ve just always looked up to him in my hockey career. So, it’s nice to bounce ideas off him and always have him in my corner.”
It’s been a wildly successful ride at the elite levels of hockey for the Comphers.
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J.T. Compher is a forward for the Detroit Red Wings. He won a Stanley Cup in 2022 as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.
For her parents, to have two athletes in the family making a living as professional hockey players is something they never envisioned.
“In your wildest dreams, when your child is playing, at the age of five, do you ever think that they are going to play professionally? But even more so for a girl when you’re talking hockey, because for us that wasn’t even in sight,” her mom Valerie Compher said.
But now, thanks to the efforts of members of the Professional Women’s Hockey League Players Association, young girls are able to see it and want to be in it. Families with young girls and boys are filling up arenas to watch women’s professional hockey. Attendance and viewership on both broadcast and streaming services has exceeded expectations as the league scrambled to plan its inaugural 24-game season.
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Compher grew up idolizing fellow Chicago-area native and Team USA captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, who plays for Minnesota in the PWHL and travels with her six-month-old son. Compher played with Schofield on the U.S. National Team, including during the Olympics.
Players like Schofield and Hilary Knight worked tirelessly negotiating the terms for the new league, which features three teams from the United States and three from Canada. A bargaining agreement featuring guaranteed salaries, child care services, health insurance and other benefits took place in a series of conference calls with ownership and players, who negotiated under the guidance of tennis legends Ilana Kloss and Billie Jean King, founder of the Women’s Sports Foundation.
Compher, who listened in on many of the negotiations, said it’s up to her and the rest of the players to ensure the league continues to thrive and grow.
“These girls have been putting a lot on the line doing what they had to to help make this league form,” Compher said. “I’m very appreciative for all of them, but now it’s up to us to keep building off of that and making this league sustainable and keep it going.”
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Compher and defender Kali Flanagan, of Burlington, Mass., are the only two American players on Toronto’s roster. As a member of Team USA, Compher has won a gold and two silvers at the World Championships. She also won a pair of U-18 gold medals representing Team USA.
Her stellar play in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, when she tallied three goals and an assist in seven games for the USWNT, helped her team earn a silver medal.
Compher played four years at Boston University and was captain during her senior year. She was one of the best players in Hockey East during her sophomore year, when her assist in overtime won the Beanpot against Harvard. During that breakout season she tallied 17 goals and 44 assists in 37 games, placing third in the nation in scoring.
After the Olympics, she transferred to play her graduate year for Wisconsin, where she helped lead the Badgers to a national championship in 2023. In her final season at Wisconsin, she scored 40 points in 41 games.
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The clutch player negotiated a two-year contract to play in the hockey-crazed city, which is conveniently close enough for her parents, who live in Northbrook, Ill., to travel to games, weather permitting of course.
“I’ve loved Toronto so far. Everyone’s been so welcoming, they’ve greeted me with open arms and the fans have been awesome here. … They’re so supportive of the new league and want to watch us succeed,” Compher said.
Her mom said the team’s opening night home game against New York was emotional for the entire family.
“When they were announcing the players, I was teary-eyed, my husband was trying to hold it back and my daughter Morgan was with us and she was full-out crying,” Valerie Compher said. “It’s been incredible to know how much work these women have put in to get to this moment and be a part of this.”
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King took part in the ceremonial puck drop and greeted each player, reading the lineups in the locker rooms. “That was so cool,” Compher said.
The one hard aspect of playing for Toronto is getting extra tickets for family. Toronto has sold out the entire 12-game home season. Toronto attracts 2,600-plus standing room at Mattamy Athletic Center, the former Maple Leaf Gardens. Nearby Ottawa is selling out an 8,000-seat venue. The PWHL set a new professional women’s hockey attendance record on Jan. 8 with 13,316 attending Minnesota’s home opener against Montreal. Broadcast numbers on major networks in Canada and streaming on YouTube has exceeded expectations.
Toronto (1-1-0-4) is tied for fourth in the league with four points. Compher said morale is high.
“We haven’t won a lot of games here, but we’re all still on each other’s side. We get along really well and we’re having a lot of fun. We know the success is going to come, but it’s all about staying together right now and keep working hard,” she said.
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