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As her team stands at the halfway point of its inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League season, Boston general manager Danielle Marmer feels her squad has accomplished quite a bit, but still has plenty to prove.
Fresh off a big 2-0 road win last weekend in Minnesota, Boston (4-2-2-4) has posted back-to-back regulation wins for the first time. They have 18 points, moving them into sole possession of fourth place, two points ahead of Ottawa and New York, and just three shy of third-place Toronto.
As they hit the road against Montreal on Saturday at Verdun Auditorium, Boston will look to maintain its winning ways.
“I think we’re getting into a groove,” said Marmer. “We’re excited about the team we have. We’ve got an awesome group of hockey players. It’s a special group and I’m excited about the second half.”
It hasn’t been easy. Boston has struggled to find its identity, especially on home ice. The team has just two victories at the Tsongas Center in eight games, including a 4-3 overtime win against Ottawa on Jan. 27. But the squad is hoping their back-to-back wins, including its stellar 3-1 road victory over Ottawa on Feb. 21, will serve as a springboard in the month ahead.
“We’ve had a tough stretch at home for a bit,” said Marmer. “February was a long month for us with the all-star break and rivalry series, so to cram in a bunch of games for that month with no breaks and not get the outcome that we wanted was hard at times. But I think that those are moments in seasons that define teams. You learn a lot from the losses. I’m happy with how we bounced back the past two games.”
According to Boston defenseman Kaleigh Fratkin, the team has been working hard at turning things around.
“We’ve had some highs and lows over those wins and overtime losses,” said Fratkin. “We’ve run the gamut in all outcomes, but overall we’ve been doing a good job building on each game.”
“Like all the teams, we’re trying to find our footing in this league,” said assistant captain Jamie Lee Rattray. “I think we’re finally starting to hit our stride. We’ve had our ups and downs in terms of consistency, but I really think we’re starting to figure out what works for our group. The two wins in two games definitely helps.”
Goaltender Aerin Frankel made 41 saves for her first shutout of the season, as Boston blanked Minnesota, 2-0, last Sunday in front of 10,186 PWHL fans at the Xcel Energy Center.
Frankel’s shutout came despite Boston being outshot in all three periods, including a 15-7 blitz in the third with Minnesota trailing by a goal. The 24-year-old Northeastern product has now posted back-to-back regulation wins, sporting a 1.72 goals against average, third best in the league, and .940 save percentage.
“She’s been phenomenal,” said Marmer. “That’s why we took her in free agency, because we knew how valuable she would be for this group. We believe in all the goaltenders. We wanted to give everyone an opportunity to show what we had with her and Emma (Soderberg). Aerin has just been so solid that it’s hard not to go back with her. It’s exciting to see her take her game to where we know it could be.”
Forward Alina Müller and defenseman Meghan Keller lead Boston’s attack with 10 points each. The pair are tied for fourth overall among the PWHL scoring leaders.
A Northeastern University product and Boston’s top overall draft pick, Müller is also tied for the league lead with eight assists. She has adapted well to the pro game.
“Alina has stepped in and has been able to make an impact right off the bat,” said Marmer. “Her confidence and composure with the puck on her stick is so impressive for her age. We have high expectations for her to continue to develop her game.”
Meanwhile, Keller continues to loom large on the Boston blueline. The former Boston College Eagle is tied for the scoring lead among PWHL defenders with 10 points. She has three goals and seven assists in her first 12 games.
“I think Megan the best defenseman in the world,” said Marmer. “She just dominates. I wouldn’t want to go into a corner with her. I think she makes other players feel that same way. They don’t want to end up in a battle with her, which is a special quality. She’s just a generational player in my opinion.”
Forwards Loren Gabel, new acquisition Susanna Tapani and Rattray round out the top five Boston scorers with seven points each.
Sunday’s game at Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota generated the third-highest attendance figure of the season (10,186). More than one-third of all first-half games were sold out.
The league set a women’s hockey attendance record with a crowd of 19,285 on Feb. 16 at Scotiabank Arena for the Battle on Bay Street featuring Montréal at Toronto. Their total first-half attendance is 183,925 for an average of 5,109 per game.
“It’s exceeded expectations by a long shot,” said Marmer. “We felt the product was exciting enough, but just didn’t know if we were going to get it in front of enough people. You can see the success in the numbers.”
“A lot of us were pretty optimistic about what the league could do in the first year,” said Rattray. “I’ve been really happy with the people that have shown up everywhere. The buzz is there.”

TSA wait times are still painfully long at airports across the country because of the partial government shutdown. Even if you avoid the problem by leaving Logan Airport in Boston, you will likely run into it when you fly home.
Exhausted travelers flying into Boston from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, said they spent several hours in TSA lines before getting on their flights Tuesday.
Nay Dedrick of Dorchester was to supposed to arrive in Boston at 6 p.m. Monday, but said she missed her flight after waiting “6 to 8 hours” in the long security line in Houston.
“TSA was only 2 people working,” she said. “The line started downstairs and went all the way down to the basement, and then it goes all the way back up to the third floor.”
So, she slept at the airport and tried again on Tuesday.
“It’s very frustrating. I’m very tired,” Dedrick said after finally arriving home in Boston Tuesday afternoon.
Mary Jo Kane of Jamaica Plain arrived at the airport in Houston nearly six hours before her 7 a.m. flight to Boston Tuesday.
“I got there at 2-2:15 (a.m.) and then you go to the TSA and it’s kind of like Disney World during school vacation week,” she said.
One thing these travelers had in common is sympathy for TSA agents.
“I commend them,” Dedrick said.
“These people came in here, they’re not getting paid. Maybe their pay is deferred, but would you come into work?,” Kane said.
TSA agents have now gone 40 days without pay since the Department of Homeland Security stopped getting funding from the government.
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College Sports
With Boston College nearby, and Bill O’Brien as a close friend, Mike Vrabel and the Patriots have plenty of intel when it comes to monitoring local players potentially worth drafting.
Even so, it never hurts to compile additional data, and Monday’s Pro Day gave the Patriots — along with 29 other teams — another opportunity to see what the Eagles have to offer. Vrabel and O’Brien watched intently, side by side, as players completed drills and more in front of a packed crowd inside the Fish Field House.
“Mike’s done an unbelievable job at the Patriots in a very short time, turning that around,” O’Brien said. “We try to recruit guys that are tough, that are smart, that are dependable, and I think those are the type of guys that he’s looking for on his team. So yeah, you’re hoping there’s a little bit of a pipeline.”
Twelve players participated in the event, including 11 former Eagles: offensive linemen Jude Bowry, Kevin Cline, Delby Lemieux (Duxbury/Dartmouth), and Logan Taylor; running backs Jordan McDonald and Andre Hines Jr. (BC/Wagner); wide receiver Lewis Bond; tight end Jeremiah Franklin; defensive linemen Quintayvious Hutchins and Sed McConnell; linebacker Vaughn Pemberton; and long snapper Ben Mann.
Some had the chance to interact with Vrabel, who stayed for the duration of the event alongside Patriots offensive line coach Doug Marrone and vice president of personnel Ryan Cowden.
Hutchins (6 feet 3 inches, 240 pounds) said Vrabel gave him feedback, including hand placement and how to leverage his body weight. While there was certainly some added pressure given the circumstances, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It was genuine,” Hutchins said. “He took the time out to see something in me, to stop his day to say something to me. It was a moment of shock of him coming to me face to face, but it was really cool.”
Vrabel also had an extended conversation midway through the event with Taylor (6-7, 312), a capable tackle and guard.
Bond (5-11, 190), who caught passes from current Boston College quarterbacks Mason McKenzie and Grayson Wilson, said having Vrabel nearby shows the type of connections present at BC.
“Great guy,” Bond said of Vrabel. “He kind of reminded me of Coach O’Brien a little bit. All about football. Smart, knows football. He’s very disciplined and going to lead that way.”
For Bond, BC’s all-time leader in receptions, Pro Day was another opportunity to prove himself after he didn’t receive an invite to the NFL Combine. He displayed his usual precise route-running abilities and reliable hands and made a splash throughout the day.
Bond remembers watching his teammates compete at Pro Day his freshman year. He has remained in contact with former BC star Zay Flowers, who has shown him that putting in extra work yields fruitful results.
O’Brien said he believes Bond has a “really good shot” to be drafted and highlighted his versatility and dependability as defining attributes.
“Lewis Bond is one of the best players to ever play here,” O’Brien said.
He also praised Bowry and Taylor for their intelligence and character, along with their talent, and expressed confidence in their ability to blend into their surroundings at the next level.
O’Brien said that when former Eagle Zach Allen spoke to the team last week, he noted that Boston College is held in high regard in NFL locker rooms. His goal is to keep that tradition going after Donovan Ezeiruaku, Ozzy Trapilo, and Drew Kendall impressed in their rookie seasons last year.
“The NFL locker room is a sacred place to be, and I think guys like BC guys fit right in there because of the type of guys they are,” O’Brien said.
Bowry (6-5, 311), who has worked with O’Brien, Marrone, Vrabel, and Dante Scarnecchia at various points, is optimistic Monday was another step in the right direction.
“There’s always something I can improve, but I think I showed what I needed to show,” Bowry said.
For Lemieux (6-4, 295), a first-team All-American who participated in the Senior Bowl, Pro Day also felt like a full-circle moment after coming to the Boston College campus as a kid.
He grew up watching Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and the rest of the Patriots win Super Bowls, and it’s still difficult for him to fathom that he has a shot to play in the NFL himself. With that said, he proved Monday that he belongs and fulfilled his mission of leaving with no regrets.
“A big part of this process for me hasn’t been about trying to prove people wrong, but about trying to prove the people right that believed in me and have supported me through all of this,” Lemieux said.
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