Schroeder’s sixth shutout & Gabel scores four 

1/21/23 Boston Pride at Montréal Force 

By Laura Everett

Credit the front office of the Boston Pride for advance planning: there is depth to this team. On a night when the defense was slim, with only four defensive players dressed for the game, the Boston Pride still won big, defended well, and goalkeeper Corrine Schroeder maintained a shutout, deflecting 50 shots.  Schroeder’s fifth shutout last weekend broke the Premier Hockey Federation single season record, and like much of Boston’s winning ways this season, they just kept rolling on. 

Forward Loren Gabel also got in on the record setting action. In a season that’s already seen double the hat tricks over last year, Gabel scored her own against the Montréal Force. 

The game in Rivière-du-Loup was also the first ever meeting of the two teams. The Montréal Force sit fifth in the league and are playing their first season as an expansion team touring the province of Quebec. Rivière-du-Loup is four hours north of Montréal. Credit the Montréal athletes for their endurance in constantly playing on the road all season, even for their “home” games. 

A smaller Boston Pride squad headed north after their last homestand against Buffalo on a four-game winning streak. The shorthanded team came with ten true forwards and only four defenders. Defender Lauren Kelly is out injured. Defender Olivia Zafuto was out serving the first of her two-game suspension from the major penalty last game against Buffalo. 

But when you send a league-leading (tied with the Riveters) nine players to the All-Star Game, a short-handed team is enough. 

Again, the starting lineup featured the strong top line of Loren Gabel, Jillian Dempsey and Élizabeth Giguère, with Kaleigh Fratkin and Kali Flanagan in defense. Keeper Schroeder entered the game with five clean sheets. 

After last weekend’s wins over Buffalo, the Montréal squad was a much more even match for Boston. From the first period, the Force were peppering Schroeder with shots on goal- 17 total in the first. Boston’s efficiency won out, with only ten shots leading to two goals; The Pride scored both goals on power plays. 

Buildup for the first goal began with a minor penalty to the Force’s #9 Kim Deschênes for slashing, starting the power play. Christina Putigna’s shot was blocked, but just a minute later at 11:17, Loren Gabel scores off an assist from Allie Thunstrom. 

A minute and a half after that, Montréal’s Alyssa Holmes was booked for boarding, triggering another 2 minute powerplay. The second communal goal comes just over a minute after that, with on air and in person commentary unclear whether to attribute it to Dempsey or Gabel, with the assist to Flanagan. The PHF game sheet gives it to Gabel, which would give her four total on the day. Boston ended the first period up 2-0.

The second period ended with the score remaining 2-0. The balance of shots on goal followed the first, with Boston shooting 10 to Montréal’s 19. The Force gained some momentum late in the second but couldn’t get past the Pride defense or the brick wall of Schroeder.  

Count among the forwards pressing forward for goals the newly minted Montréal Force forward Autumn MacDougall. As of Monday, the Ice Garden had reported that the Buffalo Beauts and MacDougall had agreed to contract release. Noticeably absent from Buffalo’s trip to Boston, MacDougall had seen diminishing ice time in recent months. But by Saturday, MacDougall is back on the ice with her new team, and notching shots on Schroeder. 

Early in the third period, both teams go down to four with Pride’s Thunstrom and Force’s Taylor Baker sent off for roughing. At equal strength, Putigna scores nearing the fifth minute, with the assist from Kali Flanagan to bring the score to 3-0.  

Force fans were convinced that the puck had gone thru on Schroder around the seventh minute but play never ceased and Boston cleared it out. The biggest threat to the shutout was deflected. 

The teams battled back and forth at even strength through the majority of the third. Boston’s Taylor Wenczkowski won the faceoff around the 14^th minute and then offered the assist to Loren Gabel to bring the score to 4-0. 

Gabel’s second goal, just a minute later, was absolutely disrespectful. In addition to going into the goal, the puck knocked Force goalkeeper Marie-Soleil Deschênes‘s water bottle off the net.  

To end the third, Schroeder stretched out her right leg for a toe-pick save for number 50. The Force ended with 50 shots on goal, with none scored to Boston’s 32. 

With a final score of 5-0, Boston is still sitting atop of the table. Since the holiday break, the Pride are now 5-0-0, outscoring opponents 24-4, with a +20 goal differential. Keeper Corrine Schroeder is already breaking single season records and we’re just past the mid-way point of the season. 

Even with a smaller squad, with a decisive win and nine all-star players, right now, it’s good to be Boston.