Sunday March 12, 2023

Written by Abbi Holt & Laura Everett

For a game that had zero consequences in the standings, this game was hard-fought chaos that resulted in a 5-4 Toronto win. The first-place Boston Pride were playing against the second-place Toronto Six on their home ice. They had narrowly beaten the Six in Saturday’s game in a come behind 3-2 victory. The Pride struck first, but then Toronto came back with a vengeance, and the Pride were unable to stage another comeback despite heroic efforts. 

Boston end the regular season at the top of the table, with 19 wins, 3 losses and 1 Overtime win, 6 points ahead the Toronto Six.

And unfortunately, the ice itself was part of the chaos. Saturday’s game was marred by multiple incidents of the goal itself being pushed off the line that stopped play. Sunday, as well, continued to see problems at the rink. Whether the ice was soft or poorly maintained, we are unsure, but the referees paused a number of times to shovel up and repair locations. Obviously, a professional women’s league deserves better. 

Sunday afternoon’s game came without a ton of play-off meaning, and yet there was a lot of heat on the ice. The semi-finals have been set: Boston will play the Minnesota Whitecaps, and Toronto in second place will host the Connecticut Whale. This Sunday game to close the regular season was clearly a time to rotate players and experiment with lines and strategy. 

With a decent possibility that these two teams could meet in the finals, all participants played like they had something to prove. Neither team wanted to end the regular season with a loss. Both teams also had only short rest prior to their next game in the semifinals starting on Thursday and Friday. 

Boston began with a different starting first line, and Lovisa Selander started in goal, giving Schroeder some well-deserved rest. Selander had a number of hard losses this season that don’t reflect her true skill. Selander is the all-time NCAA college leader in saves from her time at Rochester Polytechnic Institute. She’s a talented goalkeeper, but this Toronto offense put her to the test.  

Both teams came out with a surprising ferocity given that postseason team positions were decided the night before. Boston struck early.  Kayla Friesen cleaned up a rebound from a Taylor House shot that bounced off Six goalie Carly Jackson’s pads.  This seemed to send the Six to another level and Daryl Watts pounced on an errant Boston pass, sent it quickly up to Shiann Darkangelo who sunk it with a perfect finish, right over the goalie’s right pad.  That was the first of a series of almost perfect shots that Selander didn’t have much of a chance of stopping.  The first period ended a shocking 4-1 in Toronto’s favor.  

The Pride are consummate professionals and they mounted a very credible comeback attempt, putting 20 shots on target in the second to the Six’s 11 and scoring two goals in the second and one in the third.  A last Six goal by Breanne Wilson-Bennett, however, put the game out of reach.

Even then the Pride kept pushing to the very last minute when it took multiple heroic saves by Jackson, after an already amazing performance.  The game ended with Pride players trying to shove the puck past her absolutely unmovable pads for what seemed like an eternity.

The take away from this game has got to be the Six is a very tough opponent and if Boston is able to make the finals as they so often have and face this team, the winner of a one game final against the Toronto Six will be impossible to predict.