JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM
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Jesse Compher (center)
Home Arena: Mattamy Athletic Centre (Toronto, Ontario)
General Manager: Gina Kingsbury
Coach: Troy Ryan
American Players: Jesse Compher, Kali Flanagan
Jesse Compher and Kali Flanagan are the only two
Americans on the Toronto roster to begin the season.
Flanagan was the 2022-23 Defender of the Year in the PHF
in part because of her abilities across all 200-feet of the ice
sheet. She's decisive on defense and does not easily lose her
mark or the puck. Flanagan has a knack for finding the open
player and the vision to feed the puck to the right spot to
spring them towards the net. Dempsey will shoot the puck
when the look is there but is most often reading a play and
anticipating she can be part of the buildup.
Compher helped Wisconsin win the 2023 NCAA national
championship as a grad transfer. A stellar individual player
who accelerates quickly and can outskate defenders. Compher
has quick wrists and the ability to place the puck that makes
her shot deadly. But more than that, at Wisconsin she showed
a knack for mentoring younger players and helping them ele-
vate their game. Compher is one of those players who brings
up the caliber of play around her and her lines were often
more special than the sum of their parts on their own.
