Written by Laura Everett

Edited by Abbi Holt 

Sunday December 7, 2025

Boston Fleet return to Agganis Arena amidst the announcement  that they will play their first ever game at the Boston Garden on Saturday, April 11, 2026. The Fleet return to Boston proper for their first of four games in Agganis.  The stands of Boston University’s Agganis Arena were speckled with white and green sailor hats, gifts to the first 3500 attendees of the Fleet’s first home opener at Tsongas Arena in Lowell on November 23. 

You can’t buy those hats. You had to be there. There’s a (Boston) pride in being at the first game, at having something exclusive. But why keep going to Lowell when you are the Boston Fleet?   

Corinna Baksik and Sean Graham of Watertown rocked their Fleet home opener hats with aplomb in Agganis and had opinions about where and who the team is.

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“Oh, it’s for sure a  Boston team,” Baksik responded. 

Graham was more diplomatic. “I think it’s a Greater Boston team.”   

Baksik went on “More people will get to go if it’s closer to town. I know for a lot of people, especially on week nights, it’s super hard to get to Lowell.” The season ticket holders have a strategy for braving the traffic from Watertown to Lowell: because they both work from home, they leave around 4pm for a 7pm game, drive up early before rush hour, have a great dinner in Lowell, and then go to Tsongas Arena. “Really we’d prefer anywhere on public transit, ” she continued. Agganis seats 6,150 for hockey, and Wednesday night was just over half full at 3, 516 reported attendance . It was noticeable how many people were wearing Fleet jerseys in the crowd, but also noticeable how many large sections of seats were empty. When the Boston Fleet opened at home back on November 23, they won 2-0 against Montréal Victoire. Attendance was announced at  5,166, and with a max capacity of 6,496, the Tsongas Center was feeling very full. 

Depending on how you look at things, in returning to Agganis, either the Boston Fleet are actually making good on their team name, or exist with a bifurcated geographic identity. Ask any actual Bostonian from Roxbury or St. Mark’s Parish in Dorchester, and no one likes when a kid from Framingham or Newton says that they’re from “Boston.” If you’re the Boston Fleet, be from Boston. Or be the New England Patriots. 

For most, this was our first look at the expansion Vancouver Goldeneyes, and in truth, there wasn’t much to look at on the expansion side. The Goldeneyes (yes, plural) are in seventh place with an updated record of 0-1-0-2 (wins, overtime wins, overtime losses, losses). They have some interesting players including Sarah Nurse, former Fleet players Sydney Bard and Emma Greco, and my all around candidate for MBTA General Manager Sophie Jaques. 

“There’s no panic, we know what we’re up against,” said Brian Idalski head coach of the Vancouver Goldeneyes. 

Just five minutes and two seconds into the first period, Boston scored on a Abby Newhook goal with assists from Hadley Hartmetz and Theresa Shafzahl. Abby Newhook now has two goals in two games. Head Coach Kris Sparre said of the rookie,  “She’s so smart. She’s a step ahead of everybody. She can make plays in tight areas.”

Boston College alumna Newhook herself said, “I’m surrounded by a lot of great teammates. We’ve been doing a good job getting the moment of going, getting pucks in behind, and going to work.”

Certainly what makes Boston now TOP OF THE TABLE and 3-0-0-0 is having Aerin Frankel in goal. Coach Sparre called Frankel, “a Christmas present that came early” (Frankel is Jewish, according to Jewish Telegraphic Agency), and continued by saying “we have a wall behind us keeping out goals.” 

Forward Jill Saulnier continued, “She (Frankel) is making our job a little easier.” 

Just over six minutes into the third period, Saulnier made a steal in the defensive zone and  added the insurance goal for the Fleet, unassisted. 

“You never want to be in the d-zone too long. But we have Aerin back there, and she saves everything.But that’s hockey, you get hemmed in. They were buzzing the puck around there pretty good and we got stuck. But that’s why you’ve got to battle and that’s what we practiced. And we put ourselves in the best position to get it out,” Saulner said with a very Canadian accent on the “out.” She continued, “I was lucky enough to get it on my foot and then pop it over the zone and take off as quick as I could to get it out. It’s just about capitalizing on chances when you get them.”

You can hear among the players, this is a team that is deploying in games what they are enacting in practice, which is a very, very good position for the Boston Fleet to be in. 

Next game is back at Agganis Arena in Boston on Sunday December 7, 2025, 3pm vs Minnesota Frost.

PS:  The Fleet need to stop, full stop, intentionally starting the wave at games.  It’s one thing for the wave to happen organically, it’s another to have Fleet staff try to start it. The wave is a distraction to the actual game. Trust that your fans want to see a game and don’t need that amusement.