Written by Laura Everett, Edited by Abbi Holt
This PWHL Boston team is emerging into its new identity, and so far, we’re building a reputation for penalties: hooking, tripping, elbowing, interference, and hooking again.
For every player in this league, it is also an adjustment to what is being called as a penalty with more physical contact being allowed under PWHL rules.
Boston racked up five penalties on Wednesday night January 17th in front of a sold out crowd for a 3-2 win over Toronto at Mattamy Athletic Centre. Killing those penalties took extra effort from the away team as the home crowd prodded their team on. Toronto also outshot Boston in every period, and outshot Boston 32-22 overall.
“We gotta stay outta the box, it’s killing our momentum.” Boston Head Coach Courtney Kessel said between periods.
Remember that these teams are totally new for a league that just formed six months ago. Even with a shortened pre-season, identities and styles are still emerging for each team. After Wednesday’s game, Boston has only played three games together with schedule and snow delays, while Toronto is now at five games played. Line ups are still forming and players are still getting a sense of how to work together. We’ve seen multiple different line formations in each of the first three games. And yet, some things are becoming abundantly clear; for example, current linemates Alina Müller and Loren Gabel are a powerful scoring combination.
Gabel scored two goals and notched one assist Wednesday, with her late third period goal clinching Boston’s victory over Toronto. Müller had three assists; assisting with every goal scored in this game.
Boston’s tendency to draw penalties was blunted by the late game scoring. Though early in the game, Toronto dominated the offense. Swedish goalkeeper Emma Söderberg got her first start of the season following two starts by goalie Aerin Frankel. Soderberg was tested early and often by Toronto’s Sarah Nurse & Brittany Howard. Toronto Forward Hannah Miller scored on a rebound in the 9th minute to give Toronto the 1-0 lead. Through the first period, Toronto dictated the pace of the game, and Boston seemed to scramble and make unforced errors.
The second period restarted with further penalties traded back and forth, before finally the beauty of the Müller/Gabel handoff at 12:38 to tie the game 1-1.
Defender Megan Keller was sitting pretty at center ice when Müller’s hurry up and wait play pulled defenders to herself. Müller then passed to Keller, and Keller drove the puck hard past Toronto’s goalie Kristen Campbell for the go-ahead goal.
Other emerging themes for Boston are an excellent defensive duo line of veteran Megan Keller and rookie Sophie Jaques. Pairing the two-time US Olympian Keller and the 2023 Patty Kazmaier award winner has nicely balanced Boston’s back line.
The Boston duo of Müller and Gabel would connect again and repeat what was already clearly working well: Müller leaves behind just an absolutely delicious drop pass on a platter for Gabel who eats it up and scores. You could not serve up a tastier clam chowder.
Alina Müller is clearly relishing her role as place setter, and it shall not be taken from her. What remains to be seen is how to set up more players into these shot-making positions.
Boston will need to get the penalties under control for future games. Boston’s strength on the penalty kill is envious, but hard to sustain over a season. And goal scorers like Toronto’s Sarah Nurse and Natalie Spooner are bound to wear a defense down and make a team pay.
But after all, this is only game number three.
Boston Women's Sports 
Leave a comment