Having the option of choosing their playoff opponent wasn’t taken lightly by the staff and players of the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s Toronto franchise for clinching first-place in the standings.

So sensitive and in-depth were the discussions, coach Troy Ryan knew better on Monday night than to disclose the reasons behind Toronto’s decision to face fourth-place Minnesota over third-place Boston — two teams who finished with identical 12-9-3 records (including four OT/SO wins apiece), with Boston having the tiebreaking edge.

“To be honest, from a hockey perspective, I think it would be somewhat irresponsible to tip my hat to the exact details,” Ryan said. “So at this point, we’ll keep that within house.”

Of all the aspects taken into consideration, ranging from analytics, head-to-head records, travel and injuries, among the most important, perhaps, was the fear of providing their opponent any additional motivation entering the best-of-five semifinal series, which opens in Toronto on Wednesday. Montreal, which finished second, will face Boston in the other semifinal starting on Thursday.

Minnesota coach Ken Klee expressed little surprise in Toronto’s decision by saying: “To me, that’s who I expected.”

Boston coach Courtney Kessel couldn’t help but envision what her player’s reaction would have been had they been selected.

“I think it’s a good thing and a bad thing to kind of be in their position,” Kessel said of Toronto. “I think if they would have chosen us, we would have had a little bit more fuel, you know, like them thinking that they can beat us in choosing the third-place team.”

Leave it to the PWHL to provide an intriguing plot twist entering the playoffs, and following its inaugural 72-game regular season in which the playoff race wasn’t settled until the final game. Toronto played a central role in determining the final standings with its season-ending 5-2 win over Ottawa on Sunday night eliminating Ottawa from contention and securing Minnesota its playoff berth.

The concept of teams selecting playoff opponents has long been entertained in theory in North America’s four major pro sports, but yet to become a reality. The Southern Professional Hockey League introduced a pick-your-opponent first-round playoff format in 2018 before abandoning it two years later.

Toronto’s decision to choose Minnesota as its playoff opponent made sense in various aspects.

Toronto had a 3-1 record against Minnesota in the regular season, while going 3-2 against Boston. Minnesota closed the season losing its final five games, while Boston went 3-1-1, including a 2-1 win over Toronto.

Klee acknowledged travel as being an issue, with Minnesota logging the most air miles in a league whose other five teams are concentrated in the northeast.

“If I was (Toronto), I would say who has the furthest to come and has the toughest travel to get here,” Klee said. But in my mind, our group’s excited. We’re in the playoffs.”

Toronto GM Gina Kingsbury said the process in determining which opponent to select began last week after Toronto clinched first place. Kingsbury first consulted with Ryan before getting feedback from the team’s leadership core and eventually the entire roster.

“In the end, it wasn’t an easy decision. Minnesota was not the necessarily the lead in that right away,” Kingsbury said. “There were a lot of pros and cons on picking Boston or Minnesota. And in the end we just went with what seemed to be a little more pros than cons.”

Toronto captain Blayre Turnbull said the most important thing to remember during the selection process was players focusing on their team and not the opponent.

“No matter who we picked, there’s going to be some people that might think we should have gone the other way,” Turnbull said. “But I think at the end of the day, no matter who we’re going to face in the semifinal round is going to be a really tough opponent.”

Angelica Moore, a social worker from Cape Cod, said she never expected to fall into a relationship with a domestic abuser. She figured she’d be able to spot the signs, given her line of work.

And when a charming personal trainer at her gym approached her, the warning bells did not go off — at least at first.

But when Moore headed to Connecticut one weekend in April 2022 for her daughter’s dance competition and brought Brett Geddis along, things took a violent turn in a Newington hotel room.

After two years of healing and a conviction, Moore and a Newington Police Department detective who stuck by her side are speaking out to share her story of survival and the importance of holding domestic violence abusers accountable in the justice system.

Moore said she finally feels ready to empower — and caution — other women.

“I have waited over two years to do this as I wanted to reach the end of this case I fought for,” she told the Hartford Courant just days after Geddis was sentenced to prison for assaulting her.

“I work in a setting where being the voice for others is very important to my identity and it’s never too late for others to speak up for unspeakable acts done to them.”

The violent assault

On April 24, a Connecticut judge ruled that 33-year-old Geddis will spend five years behind bars for the sexual assault and strangulation of Moore.

Geddis, from Cape Cod, appeared virtually in New Britain Superior Court and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, suspended after he serves five years behind bars, with 10 years of probation, records show.

Geddis had pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault and second-degree strangulation or suffocation and is being held at the Cheshire Correctional Institution, Department of Correction records show.

The charges stem from a violent assault that left Moore badly injured.

According to a warrant affidavit for Geddis’ arrest, he has a history of domestic violence in Massachusetts and at the time of Moore’s assault was under an active protective order for another woman.

The warrant affidavit, in which Moore is referred to as Jane Doe, states that a series of incidents between Geddis and Moore started in a bar in Hyannis, Massachusetts, in April 2022.

Geddis allegedly pushed Moore from the back, causing her to fall into the front door of a bar called Flashbacks. There, he also called her a slut and a pig and insinuated that she was a sex worker, according to the warrant affidavit.

That same weekend, the couple headed to Connecticut. On the way, Moore said she expressed wanting to call the police during an argument and Geddis reportedly responded by smashing her phone, the warrant affidavit said.

After they checked into the Holiday Inn Express on the Berlin Turnpike, Geddis allegedly became intoxicated and kicked Moore at 2:30 a.m., causing her to fall out of bed, according to the warrant affidavit.

She went into the hallway, where she told police Geddis “grabbed me by my hair and dragged me to the hotel room. He ripped out like a chunk of my hair and he sat on top of me and started to choke me.”

According to the warrant affidavit, Geddis pushed her onto the floor and covered her nose and mouth so she could not breathe.

“I felt dizzy and could no longer get any air and tapped the ground next to me and eventually he finally released,” the warrant affidavit said.

Moore said she was able to briefly escape Geddis, and she hid in the bathroom. But Geddis banged on the door until she came out. When she did, she ran back down the hallway, screaming for help thinking someone would see or hear her. But nobody came.

“He chased me again and dragged me back in again and choked me again to the point that my eyes started bleeding,” she said. “And I just started thinking, ‘I’m not going to see my kids again I’m not going to get out of here.’”

Moore said she doesn’t entirely remember what happened next, only that she woke up on the floor the next morning.

The violence continued that morning with Geddis sexually assaulted her in the hotel room. She made an audio recording of the assault, according to the warrant affidavit, which corroborated her account.

Investigators also reviewed screenshots of messages between Geddis and Moore, Geddis and another woman who had a restraining order against him and messages from Moore recounting the assaults to friends. Moore also gave police photos that showed her injuries.

At the time, she did not call for help because she feared retribution.

“I had a lot of hesitation about calling the police because I was super nervous about it getting back to my job,” she said. “I was very nervous about what people would think about me having anything to do with this person. It took a lot for me to get to where I am today.”

Moore did reach out to a friend that weekend who called state police. As Moore and Geddis traveled back to Cape Cod, troopers stopped them on the highway. Moore hid her bleeding eyes under sunglasses, and she and Geddis were sent on their way.

Eventually, Moore said, she reported the assault and went to a hospital after her boss noticed her wearing her sunglasses to work to hide her injuries.

“The night they transported me to Cape Cod Hospital I had a rape kit done and domestic violence advocates with me. It felt wild because I help other women in situations like this and I’ve never been in a violent situation like this. It was surreal for me.”

Recognizing the signs

Moore said she did not feel protected by law enforcement in Massachusetts. It wasn’t until Geddis was charged in Connecticut that she started to feel safe.

Detective Shannon LaChance with the Newington Police Department went to Cape Cod to extradite Geddis after he was taken into custody by the Barnstable Police Department.

“The detective was in touch with me everyday for months to see how I was doing and that never happened here (in Massachusetts),” Moore said. “She was just there for me to help make sure that justice was served. And she made it her mission to show compassion and it felt like she really put extra time into my case.”

LaChance said she tries to follow cases through to a sentencing.

“I like to stick with my cases and the victims through to the end, even through the court process, because it’s important that they still know that we’re here to support them,” she said. “Angelica found the strength to really push through the entire thing and she was willing to go through the end with him, and that doesn’t happen in every case.”

Moore said she wanted to share her story to aid in her own healing journey and to protect other women. While the Courant does not name victims of sexual assault, Moore asked for it to be used.

“It helps me heal. And it helps, I think, to warn the community about this person,” Moore said.

She is also pushing for stricter laws in Massachusetts that will help other survivors feel as protected as she did in Connecticut.

LaChance said that in Connecticut, police move swiftly to make sure a person charged with domestic violence goes to court right away.

“No matter what, it’s a next day court date which is good because they have to be in front of a judge as soon as possible,” she said.

Before that happens, police can put protective measures in place to make sure alleged abusers have no contact with their victim.

“There’s a lot of catches in place before they get to court,” said LaChance.

For survivors who don’t want to call law enforcement, LaChance said there are civil avenues for orders of protection to keep them safe until they are ready to pursue contact with police.

Moore said that on that first day, or even the first few hours after an incident, are when a victim is the most vulnerable. Domestic violence data shows that survivors are at the highest risk of physical danger or death when they try to leave an abuser or contact police.

“If there’s no restraining order the next day then the perpetrator has (likely) already called and apologized and … begged for forgiveness,” Moore said.

In Connecticut, immediate restraining orders can prohibit that contact.

“That is going to give the survivor time to get the support they need and strengthen their connections to domestic violence advocates before the perpetrator convinces them to drop the charge,” Moore said.

After taking a few months off from work to heal physically and emotionally, Moore said she is back to work and can see how her own survival is impacting how she helps other survivors.

“When I worked with women who experienced domestic violence, I maybe wondered why people didn’t leave or contact authorities or put their children first,” she said. Now, she said she knows it is not that simple.

“It takes a level of resilience and the right support system and the right people at the right time,” Moore said.