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Fleet’s sold-out homecoming at TD Garden a resounding victory for women’s sports in Boston

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Fleet’s sold-out homecoming at TD Garden a resounding victory for women’s sports in Boston


PWHL

“I think they saw that they can play in a professional hockey league and they can sell out buildings that the men play in.”

Nearly 18,000 Fleet fans packed into TD Garden on Saturday. (Photo by: Barry Chin/Globe Staff).

Aerin Frankel, Alina Muller, and Megan Keller are no strangers to playing in Boston.

Frankel and Muller called Northeastern’s Matthews Arena home for four and five seasons, respectively, helping the Huskies win five Hockey East titles over that sustained stretch of dominance.

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Keller anchored the BC Eagles’ blue line at Chestnut Hill for four seasons from 2014-19.

​The trio’s respective hockey journeys have brought them back to Boston as franchise fixtures for the Boston Fleet — with Lowell’s Tsongas Center and BU’s Agganis Arena serving as their go-to rinks over the last two years.

But on Saturday night, a Fleet game in Boston felt different.

​Perhaps it was the collective roar of nearly 18,000 that rained down on the Fleet’s stars as they braced for hockey on Causeway Street.

​“I got chills,” Frankel admitted.

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​”We dream of playing in buildings like this, and especially in front of our fans,” Keller added.

When the Fleet — then dubbed “PWHL Boston” — first took to the ice in Lowell on January 4, 2024, the PWHL’s inaugural season felt like a collective victory for generations of women’s hockey players.

Years spent fighting for livable wages, benefits, and pro-level resources were finally rewarded with the inception of a sustainable women’s hockey league.

If that game at Tsongas stood as a testament to the potential of what professional women’s hockey could be in North America, Saturday’s sold-out game between the Fleet and Montreal Victoire felt like that dream being realized.

A week after the PWHL sold out Madison Square Garden, 17,850 fans packed into the Bruins’ home barn — with a sea of green and blue enveloping seats usually shrouded in hues of black and gold.

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Even if Boston couldn’t overtake Montreal in a 1-0 defeat, Fleet head coach Kris Sparre believed that Saturday night still held plenty of weight — both for his team and the league as a whole.

“This is a big deal,” Sparre said. “You’re standing on that bench, and there are 17,000 people. They had the lights going on in the first little bit of the game. It’s so loud. The sound system here is incredible.”

“It’s a really great venue. We’re lucky to play at Tsongas, and the games we play at Agganis — those buildings rock. But this one’s three times the size, so you certainly feel that when you’re down on the bench, and I think our players did.”​

The decibels didn’t lessen for most of the night on Causeway, especially for a matchup between two of the top teams in the PWHL.

Before the puck even dropped, Keller, Frankel, and the rest of their teammates had front-row seats to the rows of posters plastered up against the glass during warmups.​

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Some of those placards set the terms of a trade for a puck or twig, with one fan wagering a swap of their younger brother for some hockey gear. Fleet fans honored their favorite players by holding aloft signs featuring Keller and Frankel.

But it was clear what resonated the most for the Fleet among the scrapbook of banners and signs sandwiched into the glass.

One fan — her eyes barely peaking above a poster in the front row — held a small sheet above her head as Keller and Co. made their rounds.

An arrow on the board pointed down at the youngster as she watched her hockey heroes take to the Garden ice.

“Future Fleet Player”, it read.

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TD Garden roared as one in approval when one fan showed off her own piece of artwork from the upper bowl.

“Now I know I can do it, too!” her message declared.

The presence of Boston sports greats like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, and Derrick White might have added further validity to the Fleet’s standing as one of the sports teams woven into the fabric of this town.

But it was the promise rooted in those young fans’ messages that offered the greatest sign yet that the Fleet’s future in this city is only destined to shine bright in the coming years.

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“It’s incredible,” Frankel, who turned aside 18 of 19 shots, said of Saturday’s atmosphere. “I think when you have the moment to look up and look in the stands and see all of the people there to support us and to support this league — it’s been a long time coming.

“Selling out this place is a huge accomplishment for women’s sports, women’s hockey, and I think seeing the impact that we have on the young girls is a really special thing.”

While sing-along ballads of Chappell Roan and Justin Bieber punctuated a joyous atmosphere at the Garden, those same pleasantries weren’t echoed between the Fleet and Victoire out on the frozen sheet.

Much like their counterparts in the NHL, Boston and Montreal traded verbal barbs, cross-checks, and shoves after just about every whistle.

​A tally from Montreal forward Lina Ljungblom at 5:52 of the third period stood as the lone puck that sailed past Frankel, while Victoire netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens turned aside all 20 salvos that sailed her way.

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“It’s no secret we have a rivalry with them,” Keller said of Montreal, who sit four points ahead of Boston in first place in the league. “It gets physical out there. We see them a lot, and saw them in the playoffs in year one, and we’re at the top right now, kind of battling for home ice here in the playoffs… .We wanted to come out and give the fans a game and give them some action and get them involved.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get any in the back of the net tonight. But yeah, I think we’ll see them a few more times before the season’s over.”

A win in the standings? Perhaps not.

But a win for women’s hockey in Boston?

The cheers that never waned — from warmups until the final Fleet skater left the TD Garden ice — removed all doubt of such sentiment. ​

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“They have something to look forward to when they’re our age,” Keller said of what younger fans could take away from Saturday’s game. “When we were growing up, we were dreaming of playing in the NHL.

“Tonight, I think they saw that they can play in a professional hockey league and they can sell out buildings that the men play in.”

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Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.

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GBH Daily: Come sail away

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GBH Daily: Come sail away


This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.

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🥵Very hot, with highs around 97 degrees. Sunset is at 8:19 p.m.

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GBH’s Dan Murphy captured Abby Evangelista and her corgi, Rocko, at Sail250 this weekend. “Rocko gets dressed up for lots of occasions … sometimes just to go to the store, and he does so great with meeting people,” Evangelista said. Keep reading for more photos from the tall ships. 

A year ago today firefighters were extinguishing flames at the Gabriel House, an assisted living facility in Fall River. Ten people died in the fire, a tragedy for their loved ones and a scary moment for about 18,000 people who live in assisted living facilities across the state.

Now state officials have created new regulations for fire safety in assisted living facilities, going into effect later this month. Fire departments will inspect these facilities once a year, and facilities will need to submit emergency plans and train their workers on what to do in case of a fire.

GBH’s Craig LeMoult found that neither the new regulations nor state or federal fire codes address checking sprinkler systems. Some of the sprinklers at the Gabriel House weren’t working the night of the fire, including the ones in the room where it started.

“Had the sprinklers functioned properly, we’re not having this conversation right now. It is maybe a single fatality fire, but certainly not more than that,” Fall River fire chief Jeffrey Bacon told LeMoult. “The good news is that some of the sprinklers did function. And had they not, we would be here talking about 20, 30, 40 victims.” You can read the full story here.

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Four Things to Know

1. Colleagues and friends are remembering Louisa Gag, a Boston transportation planner killed last week when a truck driver hit her as she rode her bike near the Roxbury Crossing MBTA stop. Gag grew up in Roslindale and worked for the city on expanding the BlueBikes bike-share program. Before that, she worked for the LivableStreets Alliance, co-authoring a plan to help cities stop traffic deaths. You can see her talk about her work in this 2019 video.

“In moments like these, there is a tendency to reduce the person to the way they died and to their activism,” said Stacy Thompson, a former executive director of LivableStreets. “While we may know Louisa as a deep champion of the city and a close advocate, she’s also a Boston Latin [School] kid. She’s also, like, the most infectious, hilarious person you’ve ever met. She’s also a daughter. It’s so important to us right now for her life to not be reduced to how she stopped living.”

2. More than 4,000 nurses are back at work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. They went on a one-day strike last week, and hospital administrators kept them from returning to their jobs for another five days. The Massachusetts Nurses Association and Brigham management have been negotiating a contract for seven months, going back and forth over wages, health insurance premiums and staffing levels.

“It’s exciting, but also frightening,” said Christine Forgeron, a cardiac nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I don’t know what to expect when we go back to our patients. What happens next, because we still don’t have a contract,is the most unsettling part.”

3. Michael Walsh, a Republican candidate for state attorney general, will be on the primary ballot in September despite what Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp called “substantial evidence in the record of voter fraud.” The case began when Adam Roof, executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, submitted a complaint accusing a signature gatherer Walsh’s campaign hired of either falsifying or not meeting state requirements for 1,021 of the 10,677 signatures they submitted. Candidates for statewide office need 10,000 signatures to get onto the ballot.

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Karp said that there was indeed evidence that the signatures came not from voters themselves but from a list of registered voters the state’s Republican party gave the signature gatherer. But the case fell on a technicality: state law required Roof, the Democratic party official, to submit his complaint by certified mail, and he did not do so. The state’s highest court still has to decide what will happen to Anne Manning Martin, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who used the same signature gatherer.

4. Residents of towns around the Quabbin Reservoir flooded into the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority meeting last week to ask for a better deal. The Quabbin supplies clean drinking water for dozens of cities and towns in the eastern part of the state. Right now, the state requires towns like Shrewsbury, Belchertown, Orange and Pelham to keep their development in check to keep the Quabbin clean. Though those towns get some money in return, local officials said it’s not enough to cover their costs.

“We are protecting this watershed by foregoing any type of economic development, which is a cornerstone of providing the basics of education [and] public safety,” said state Rep. Aaron Saunders, of Belchertown. “It’s time for a change, and not an incremental one.”

Tall ships sail into Boston

The Colombian vessel ARC Gloria passes spectators watching from Castle Island on Saturday, July 11 in Boston.


Dan Murphy / GBH News

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Tomorrow is the last full day of Sail Boston, the city’s tall ships celebration. The ships will leave our harbor Thursday morning. GBH photographer Dan Murphy was there over the weekend to capture the Parade of Sail.

People in white sailor's uniforms waving towards camera on white sailing ship flying Chilean flag

Chilean sailors aboard the Esmerelda wave to spectators on Castle Island during the Meet Boston Parade of Sail on Saturday, July 11 in Boston.


Dan Murphy / GBH News

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The Esmeralda, a ship from Chile, sailed by Castle Island.

Woman in navy shirt and black baseball cap points to ship out of frame for child in white pinstripe shirt sitting on her shoulders

Carolyn Gustine points out a ship to her son, Patrick Gustine, during the Meet Boston Parade of Sail on Saturday, July 11 at Castle Island in Boston.


Dan Murphy / GBH News

Carolyn Gustine carried her son, Patrick, on her shoulders.

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You can see the full photo essay here. 

Dig deeper: 

Spectators line Cape Cod Canal to see tall ships make their way to Sail250 in Boston

The World Cup transformed Greater Boston. Will it last?

Department of Agricultural Resources celebrates Ice Cream Trail program

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Boston man charged after allegedly assaulting Burger King employee, punching customer

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Boston man charged after allegedly assaulting Burger King employee, punching customer


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The customer, who was evaluated for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” was punched three times while being called racial slurs, prosecutors say.

A Burger King sign in Erie, Pa.
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File

A Boston man is facing charges after he allegedly lunged at a Burger King employee, punched a customer, and then resisted arrest at a nearby MBTA station in East Boston, authorities announced Monday afternoon. 

Patrick Donovan, 59, was charged July 1 with one count of assault and battery causing injury on an over 60 or disabled person, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault, and vandalism, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said in a press release. 

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The charges stem from an incident shortly before 10 p.m. on June 30, when Boston police responded to a disturbance call from Burger King at 1 Maverick Square, Hayden’s office said.

A Burger King employee told officers that, after ordering his food and receiving it, Donovan yelled that he no longer wanted it and smacked a napkin holder off the counter. He then allegedly lunged at an employee and grabbed her by the arm, prosecutors said. 

Donovan subsequently shoved a customer from behind and allegedly punched him in the face three times while calling him racial slurs, the DA’s office said. 

Emergency medical services evaluated the customer for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” but the victim declined additional treatment, authorities said. 

Donovan fled the restaurant following the assaults, and officers tracked him to the nearby MBTA Maverick Station, prosecutors said. 

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“While officers tried to detain Donovan inside the station, he swung at them with a closed fist but did not make contact,” Hayden’s office said, noting that Donovan made racial slurs towards the officers. “Donovan was placed into custody after a brief struggle.” 

During his arraignment in the East Boston division of the Boston Municipal Court, Donovan pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Court records show he was also ordered to stay away from Maverick Square and Burger King. 

He is scheduled to return to court Aug. 7 for a pre-trial hearing, prosecutors said. 

Officers obtained security footage of both assaults. Authorities said the incident remains under investigation and could result in further charges. 

“Our workers deserve to be safe in their workplaces and our consumers deserve to be safe in their shopping or dining places, without exception,” Hayden said in a statement. “Beyond that, none of our citizens or first responders should be subjected to racial slurs. These appalling words have no place in Suffolk County or anywhere else in our society.” 

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Attorney information for Donovan was not immediately available Monday afternoon.

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Rideshare driver charged in Logan airport passenger assault to appear in court

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Rideshare driver charged in Logan airport passenger assault to appear in court


A rideshare driver suspected of assaulting a passenger at Boston Logan International Airport on Friday is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.

Leonard Bacon, 23, was found in Lowell, where he lives, and taken into custody on Sunday, Massachusetts State Police said. He’s charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Bacon, who’s due to face the charge in East Boston District Court, had an attorney who could speak for him.

Police didn’t share more details on what Bacon is accused of doing. They’ve previously said that the rideshare passenger entered Terminal C just before 5:30 a.m. and reported that they had been physically assaulted by their driver prior to being dropped off.

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After the passenger got out of the vehicle, the rideshare driver left the scene, according to police, who alerted area law enforcement agencies to look out for the suspect. The victim was taken to a Boston-area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police added.

Police are looking for a rideshare driver who was reported to have assaulted a passenger right before drop-off at Boston’s Logan airport.

In a statement, Uber said they’ve checked in with the rider and removed the driver’s access to their rideshare platform.

“We are horrified by this reported violence,” a representative for the company said in a statement, adding, “Our specialized team has been in touch with law enforcement, and we will continue to do whatever we can to support their investigation.”

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