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.”
Advertisement
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.”
Advertisement
Frankel fantastic
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.”
Müller, Keller lead way
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.
Advertisement
“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.
Packing them in
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.
Advertisement
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.”
BOSTON – Holiday travel is in full swing with Christmas just days away and travelers at Logan Airport in Boston spent the day dealing with delays from snowy weather.
Delays nationwide
There was gridlock traffic at Logan as travelers embark on their holiday excursions. Donna Ragucci just flew into New England from Florida.
“I am so excited, I get to see my sister and we are going on the trolley today and North End,” Ragucci said.
AAA said snowy weather conditions on Friday led to delays, spinouts and disruptions with flights.
Advertisement
“Overall, we’ve seen a pretty strong volume, which is what we forecasted, a record number of people traveling this year,” said AAA Northeast spokesperson Mark Schieldrop. “There was a storm system that affected a good swath of the country, so Chicago and Boston are two major hub airports, so anytime you have delays or cancellations in one part of the country, we often see a little bit of a domino effect.”
Kevin Walker said this is his first and last time traveling for the holidays.
“Well, we got here yesterday morning and our flight was canceled right when we got here,” said Walker.
AAA said more than 119 million people will travel during from now and Jan. 2. While most flights are on time at Logan there are several delays and cancellations leading to holiday angst.
“Hasn’t been great, my first flight was cancelled and now I guess I didn’t make the cut off for this flight, so now they can’t check the bag but yeah, it’s alright. I got a JetBlue flight tomorrow,” traveler Abbey Reynolds said.
Advertisement
“It’s different because I’m driving this year, so we got the dog coming with us, so I just hope the flight goes OK for the two kiddos and we meet them on the other end,” said a Brookline man heading to North Carolina with his family.
Coping with travel stress
Paul Pierre is heading back to Columbus, Ohio and has his own philosophy when it comes to traveling.
“Don’t let the small stuff upset you. You just go through the airport and you do your best and be kind and you’ll get through it,” Pierre said.
“I’m a therapist, so I practice meditation, go to the gym,” said Ragucci.
“It is what it is, like, I’m not going to get that bent out of shape over it,” said Reynolds.
Advertisement
Paul Burton
Paul Burton is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV News.
Boston Celtics (22-6, second in the Eastern Conference) vs. Orlando Magic (18-12, fourth in the Eastern Conference)
Orlando, Florida; Monday, 7 p.m. EST
Advertisement
BOTTOM LINE: Boston visits the Orlando Magic after Jayson Tatum scored 43 points in the Celtics’ 123-98 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
The Magic are 14-7 against Eastern Conference opponents. Orlando is fifth in the Eastern Conference with 10.9 offensive rebounds per game led by Goga Bitadze averaging 2.9.
The Celtics are 20-4 against Eastern Conference opponents. Boston ranks sixth in the Eastern Conference with 10.8 offensive rebounds per game led by Luke Kornet averaging 2.0.
The Magic are shooting 45.2% from the field this season, 0.5 percentage points lower than the 45.7% the Celtics allow to opponents. The Celtics are shooting 45.7% from the field, 0.6% lower than the 46.3% the Magic’s opponents have shot this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Franz Wagner is averaging 24.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.7 steals for the Magic.
Advertisement
Tatum is averaging 28.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists for the Celtics.
LAST 10 GAMES: Magic: 5-5, averaging 106.4 points, 42.0 rebounds, 22.3 assists, 9.4 steals and 7.6 blocks per game while shooting 46.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 106.0 points per game.
Celtics: 7-3, averaging 118.5 points, 49.7 rebounds, 25.7 assists, 7.5 steals and 5.8 blocks per game while shooting 44.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 109.7 points.
INJURIES: Magic: Paolo Banchero: out (oblique), Franz Wagner: out (oblique), Jalen Suggs: day to day (ankle), Gary Harris: day to day (hamstring), Moritz Wagner: day to day (knee).
Celtics: Sam Hauser: day to day (back).
Advertisement
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.