History in the making: PWHL's Toronto vs. New York begins new era in women's hockey

It may have been the pre-season with no fans allowed inside the Utica University Nexus Center on a Thursday afternoon in early December, but the game between PWHL Toronto and New York was as physical, fast and intense as you'd expect from a game that matters in the standings.

Toronto held a lead three times during the game. But it was New York that prevailed, thanks to a Jessie Eldridge go-ahead goal with only six seconds left in regulation.

Asked if she had a welcome to the PWHL moment that week, rookie Toronto forward Emma Maltais said it was that energy, even with no fans in the building, that struck her the most in her first taste of professional hockey.

"Some of us have not played a game since March, and just to see that it's already that high end of a game and that fast and that physical is exactly what welcome to the PWHL is," Maltais said.

It was a preview of things to come on New Year's Day when the two teams will face off again in front of a sold-out crowd inside Toronto's old Maple Leaf Gardens (now the Mattamy Athletic Centre), this time with points on the line.

Coverage of the first PWHL regular-season game on Jan. 1 at 12:30 p.m. ET (New York at Toronto) will be available on CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, and CBC TV, beginning with a pre-game show at 12 p.m. 

It will be the first ever Professional Women's Hockey League game, a start to something players have spent years building, and that they hope will be around long after they're done playing.

"It feels like history is going to be made, really," Toronto forward Natalie Spooner said earlier this month. 

"The years we've put into trying to make a professional league, and in the past it's happened and failed. And now it just feels like we have all the right pieces in place and the right people in place, that it's going to be something that's around for a long, long time and for all those little girls that come up to dream of playing in."

Toronto looked dominant at times during the pre-season, darting out to an early lead against New York after first period goals from rookie Maggie Connors and Rebecca Leslie.

But New York wouldn't go quietly, with three comebacks powered by a hat trick from Emma Woods.

"They're a very good team and they bring a lot of speed and poise and it's going to be I think a grind every time we play them," Woods said about Toronto.

The last time Woods played at Mattamy Athletic Centre, she was wearing a Toronto jersey.

Then with the Toronto Six of the now-shuttered Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), Woods scored an overtime goal to keep her team alive in the playoff semifinals against the Connecticut Whale.