February 19, 2022

by Laura Everett

The last time the Boston Pride and Montreal Force met on January 22, it took an overtime goal after an injury delay to break the deadlock 1-1 score and put Montreal ahead. This time, as the teams played on Saturday February 18, the teams held even through two periods totaling thirty-seven minutes of play before Boston pulled ahead, and never lost the lead. 

The Pride were dressed in their custom purple jerseys for an awareness raising night in collaboration with the American Cancer Society, with Emily Butts, a Boston Jr. Terrier youth player in the midst of her own T-Cell Leukemia cancer treatment dropping the ceremonial puck. Throughout the evening, the announcer reminded the crowd that over a half of men and a third of women would be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetimes. Fans were invited to write what they fight for on purple signs and share them on social media via the hashtag #HockeyFightsCancer. 

The 8pm start was part of a pushback from the Pride’s usual 7pm start time due to the Boston Bruins 5pm game being shown on NESN. The Pride are in the middle of a five game commitment to air home games on NESN, in addition to ESPN+.

Yet, the Boston Pride are not listed among the Boston area sports teams you can follow on NESN’s website nor were they featured on the front page, even after their most recent winning game. While it’s good to see sports media collaborating with more pro-women’s teams, It’s counterproductive to have ESPN holding the rights for PHF but not allowing viewers to “follow” the league nor adequately promoting it. Again, with NESN and ESPN it is wildly frustrating and a lost opportunity to see major sports media hold the rights and then fail to promote their own product. 

Fans can’t watch what they can’t find, nor can new fans grow to love this game. Which is a shame, because this is a great game in a deep league. While Boston is at top of the Premier Hockey Federation standings and Montreal is in fifth, the game was very well matched.  Scoreless till midway through the second period, the Force did a great job of breaking down the Boston Pride’s game. Throughout the entire game, the Force dominated shots on goal, often by a 2:1 ratio. 

The Boston Pride were also missing two critical players, US Defender Kali Flanagan and Canadian Forward Élizabeth Giguère. Team USA plays Team Canada in the Rivalry Series on Monday February 20 and Wednesday February 22  in Quebec as part of a best of seven series.  

For the Pride, the loss of these two gold-medal winning players was felt. Giguère’s speed was definitely missing from the reconfigured first line, and while Boston’s excellent defense still mostly held, Flanagan is an absolutely essential part of the mix. 

The first period was a bit of an eye opener for those of us used to a Boston Pride team that more quickly dominates their opponents. The Pride began with a front line of Sammy Davis, McKenna Brand and Christina Putigna. The Force managed to figure out and break down the Pride’s mode of play and hold them scoreless. Pride Forward Loren Gabel got a good look with a breakaway shot on goal about ten minutes in but it was saved by Force goalie Tricia Deguiere.

The second period began with an early and dangerous fall in front of goal as Corinne Schroeder made a save, then stumbled and recovered to save the deflection. Boston’s defensive lines were doing incredible work, particularly Aneta Tejralová  who ended the game with four shots blocked and Taylor House who has sometimes held back in defense. Defender Kaleigh Fratkin powered up with two assists by game’s end. 

That the Pride’s defense was holding is notable, given that five minutes into the second, the Force’s shots on goal were more than double the Pride’s, with fifteen shots by the Force to the Pride’s seven.  By this point in the game, frustration was starting to show as the teams were starting to push and shove. Miss opportunities were piling up. But when the dam finally broke, the flood came through. 

The first goal finally came 17:34 minutes into the second period from the inevitable Loren Gabel with a beautiful breakaway goal, cutting through multiple defenders and chipping her shot up above the goalie Tricia Deguier’s shoulder. Shortly thereafter, Christina Putigna , with Fratkin on the assist, scored with a forehand lift on another even strength goal at 17:48 making it 2-0. There was a bit of confusion as a prior play was put under review by the referee, though it turned out that they weren’t reviewing the Pride goals, but a possible earlier goal by the Force. Like so many professional women’s sports leagues, video review technology is an unresolved question as many venues don’t have capacity and leagues have not made the investment across the board. The goal was ultimately not allowed, and play continued with the second period ending 2-0

The third period began by breaking up Corrine Schroeder’s clean sheet with a Montreal goal in minute 4:29 by Ann-Sophie Bettez to make the score 2-1. Nearly thirteen minutes in, #9 Allie Thunstrom scored with assists from Kaleigh Fratkin and captain Jillian Dempsey. This was Thunstrom’s ninth goal of the season and made the score 3-1. 

Near the very end of the third period, the Force’s frustration was clearly setting in with two back to back minor penalties for roughing and hooking in the 15th minute, sending two players into the penalty box. Not to be outdone, Dempsey too was booked for roughing, setting up a 4-3 powerplay, though no scoring came from it. With two minutes remaining, Montreal pulled their goalie twice. With less than a minute left to play, Tejralová was called for high-sticking and given a  two minute penalty.  Sixteen-seconds later, Sammy Davis scored a short-handed, empty-net goal, bringing the final score to 4-1. 

Goalie Corinne Schroeder finished the game with 40 saves and 1 in on Feb 18. Her previous two games against the Force have been similarly high intensity affairs,  with 45 saves and 2 goals in on January 22, and 50 saves and 0 goals in on January 21. Schroeder maintains a PHF league record seven shutouts, all in her rookie seasons. 

One final equity item to note: As the Premier Hockey League seeks to expand and be accessible to all, the Montreal Force away jerseys are visually hard to read. With white jerseys and a white background, the numbers and names only have a thin gray and maroon outline. Seated next to the Pride statisticians, we could hear their struggles to identify Force players. We also struggled to identify Force players from our excellent seats in the press box, and both of us covering the game wear corrective contact lenses and glasses. If this is a problem for us, it must be much worse for people who experience limited vision. If the Premier Hockey League wants to be accessible to all, they need to have jerseys that are not just about aesthetics but about legibility, both for in person and broadcast viewership. We know this has been an issue in prior years with the Minnesota jerseys and so it needs to be corrected again with standards set for the league. This is especially important given that so many professional women’s leagues don’t yet have the quality investment in video broadcast. Those of us who have lived through the “potato cam” era of the National Women’s Soccer league know what it’s like to try and watch a game when you can’t clearly see players. For all fans to fall in love with these excellent teams, we have to be able to see them well. 

Sunday February 19th’s  game will feature a rematch of the Boston Pride against the Montreal Force at 3pm at Warrior Arena for the final game of the series. In honor of Black History Month, the ceremonial puck drop will be led by local participants in Black Girls Hockey Club.