LOWELL — If first-year bench boss Kris Sparre and the Boston Fleet are looking for a winning blueprint, Sunday’s Professional Women’s Hockey League season opener serves as a promising paradigm.
Boston scored first, received strong goaltending and played a structured and simple game to skate to a 2-0 victory over the Montreal Victoire in front of an excited crowd of 5,166 at the Tsongas Center to open a season clouded with uncertainty in the win column.
“I thought we started really, really well,” Sparre said. “We had good energy in the first period, I thought they pushed back in the second and I liked how we responded in the third. It was a gutsy team effort.”
The impressive victory came against a star-driven Montreal lineup that boasts reigning league MVP Marie-Philip Poulin and Goaltender of the Year Ann-Renée Desbiens.
But a new-look Fleet team emerged as the better squad on Sunday, as Aerin Frankel’s 25 saves and tallies from Susanna Tapani and Megan Keller were all Boston needed to earn three points. The Fleet will play 10 games before returning to the Tsongas Center on Jan. 14.
“Honestly, I think it’s a lot more aggressive, a lot more in your face hockey,” Keller said. “We don’t really want to give them an inch out there. So a lot of fun to play that way.”
In what was perhaps the only lacking area of Boston’s game broke through in the third period when the Fleet converted its first power play attempt of the game to record a pivotal second goal and double its lead to 2-0.
The Fleet were 0-for-4 with the player advantage before Keller, the new team captain, found twine just 1:42 into the third. Keller unleashed two shots in a salvo of opportunities before finding a loose puck in the slot and sending it into the open goal.
In all, Boston was 1-for-6 with the extra attacker in a game mired with Montreal penalties.
But the Fleet’s early-season special teams woes didn’t hurt them with Frankel between the pipes. Boston’s franchise goaltender was excellent in her season debut — making 10 saves in the middle frame to keep Montreal off the board in a one-goal game — highlighted by a desperation diving slash on a blistering one-timer from Poulin.
Frankel led the PWHL in starts (23) and saves (591) last season and was a finalist for Goaltender of the Year.
“I’m just excited that we got our first win at home in front of all these fans,” Frankel said. “It feels good. I felt like I was seeing the puck well, but the players really helped me out tonight.”
The Fleet solved Desbiens just 1:13 into action. Entering the attacking zone on a clean defensive zone breakout, Jamie Lee Rattray skated over the blue line and found Tapani flying down the left side of the ice. Tapani released a shot just below the left faceoff dot that Desbiens initially stopped, but the rebound ricocheted off a Montreal defender in the blue paint and into the back of the net.
Fleet general manager Danielle Marmer raved about Tapani during a preseason media availability last week and dubbed her a best 10 player in the league. The veteran lived up to that billing on Sunday. She led Boston in shots (three) in the first period and created scoring chances for Boston all game.
Tapani was third in team scoring last season (11-7-18).
“The thing that kind of goes unnoticed with her is how competitive she is,” Sparre said of Tapani. “When I watched her game in the summer, I’m like, ‘This is someone who really cares and competes for pucks and 50/50 pucks and tracks back hard and plays a defensive style.’ And I don’t know if she gets enough credit for that.”
Elsewhere, rookie Haley Winn was one of the best players on the ice in her debut. The Clarkson product and second overall draft choice led all skaters in shots (six) and showed flashes of her elite two-way game. Tapani deflected one of her shots from the point in the first that nearly lit the lamp.
Sparre was just as impressed with her defensive play.
“Haley is certainly special,” Sparre said. “Again, you talk about what players get credit for, you look up and you see the player that’s dynamic and skating and shooting the puck and making amazing plays out there. But again, you don’t get credit maybe for the defensive side. And I thought every time she was out there tonight against their best line, she did a really good job shutting them down.”
About the Author
