Boston Pride

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Boston Pride
2021–22 PHF season
175px
City Boston, Massachusetts
League Premier Hockey Federation
Founded 2015
Home arena Warrior Ice Arena
Colors black, gold, white
              
Owner(s) Miles Arnone
General manager Danielle Larouco
Head coach Paul Mara[1]
Captain Jillian Dempsey[2]
Media ESPN+, TSN
Affiliates Boston Bruins (NHL)
Website Official Website
Championships
Regular season titles 3 (2015–16, 2016–17, 2019–20)
Playoff championships 3 (2016, 2021, 2022)

The Boston Pride are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They were one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). The Pride play at Warrior Ice Arena, which is also the practice facility for the Boston Bruins. They won the inaugural Isobel Cup in 2016 and were the first pro women's hockey team to win three titles when they repeated in 2021 and 2022.

History

First seasons

The Boston Pride celebrating their first Isobel Cup win in 2016.

The Pride were announced as one of the four founding teams in the National Women's Hockey League, the first women's hockey league in North America to pay its players a salary, to begin play in the 2015–16 season. In May 2015, the Pride announced the hiring of Bobby Jay as their head coach. Jay was previously an assistant coach for the silver medal-winning 2014 U.S. Women's Olympic Team, and on the coaching staff of the U.S. Women's National Team at the IIHF Women's World Championships in 2012 and 2013, and the Four Nations Cup in 2011, 2012, and 2013.[3] The team announced its inaugural season would play home games at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center at Harvard University in the Allston neighborhood of Boston.[4] In June 2015, Amanda Pelkey became the first player to sign a player contract with the Pride.[5]

The team played their first game with a 4–1 victory over the Buffalo Beauts. Hilary Knight scored the first goal in franchise history and would also record the first multi-goal game in NWHL history. The Pride's first win was recorded by Brittany Ott, simultaneously becoming the first American-born goaltender to win an NWHL regular season game. During a 5–3 road win against the Buffalo Beauts, Brianna Decker scored the first hat trick in NWHL history. In November 2015, Briana Decker and Hilary Knight were named co-captains of the Pride.

On December 31, 2015, the Boston Pride played the Les Canadiennes de Montréal of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) to a 1–1 tie in the 2016 Outdoor Women's Classic at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which took place the day before the 2016 NHL Winter Classic. It was the first outdoor professional women's hockey, the first women's game sanctioned by the NHL, and the only game between the NWHL and the CWHL. In the second period of the game, Denna Laing crashed into the boards and suffered a career ending injury. A rally of support resulted in funds raised for the Denna Laing Foundation. At the end of the season, Laing was awarded the NWHL's Foundation Award and the Perseverance Award, which was later named after her.[6]

The Pride finished the league's inaugural season with the best record, earning the top seed in the Isobel Cup playoffs. The team then swept both the semifinals and finals over the New York Riveters and Buffalo Beauts, respectively. Decker was named the season's Most Valuable Player and Knight was the top scorer.

For their second season, the team moved their home games to Warrior Ice Arena, the practice arena of the NHL's Boston Bruins, in the Boston neighborhood of Brighton. On April 28, 2016, the Pride acquired the rights to Alexandra Carpenter, the first overall pick in the previous 2015 NWHL Draft.[7] On February 2, 2017, the team traded Zoe Hickel to Connecticut Whale for their first pick in the 2017 NWHL Draft.[8] The Pride led the league by a large margin, earning a 16–1–0 record over 17 games. The Pride then lost to the Buffalo Beauts in the Isobel Cup final.[9] Decker was named the NWHL's Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season and also led the league in scoring.

Team turnover

The team had several personnel changes prior to the 2017–18 season, including a new head coach in Thomas Pöck, and lost seven players for the season in preparation for their participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics, including Carpenter, Decker, and Knight. Additionally, many of the NWHL's players opted to play in the CWHL as the league had begun offering players stipends and the NWHL had made an up to 50% pay cut on its players during the previous season.[10] Jillian Dempsey was then named the next team captain. After two seasons, in which the Pride finished regular season in first place, played in the Isobel Cup finals, the Pride finished in third place. The Pride ultimately lost to the Buffalo Beauts in the first round semifinal game and failed to make the Isobel Cup finals for the first time.[11]

On May 30, 2018, Paul Mara was named head coach for the 2018–19 season[12] and inaugural Pride member Marissa Gedman retired from playing to join the staff as an assistant coach.[13] The Pride again finished third during the regular season and lost in the semifinal game to Buffalo. Johnny McInnis was hired as an assistent coach for the Pride in the 2020-2021 season and remains the only assistant coach on staff as of the end of the 2022 season.[14]

Under independent ownership

In September 2019, the league announced the Boston Pride had been purchased by a group of investors led by Miles Arnone.[15] On January 26, 2020, Dempsey became the first player in league history to reach 100 career points, including playoffs. She reached the century mark with an assist in a win versus the Minnesota Whitecaps.[16] The Pride won their third regular season title with a 23–1–0 record and qualified for the 2020 Isobel Cup final against the defending champion Minnesota Whitecaps. However, the championship was initially postponed and then cancelled as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated causing limitations for social distancing and traveling. Dempsey was league's the top scorer and was named the NWHL's co-Most Valuable Player with Allie Thunstrom of Minnesota. In September 2020, Logan International Airport unveiled a pair of championship banners for the Pride's 2016 Isobel Cup win and their 2019–20 regular season first-place finish. The Pride became the first women's sports team from Boston to have their banners hung in the airport with the men's Boston Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox already present.[17]

Owing to the ongoing pandemic, the NWHL announced a two-week single-site season to be played at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, from January 23 to February 5, 2021.[18] The Riveters were forced to withdraw early due to too many positive cases of COVID-19, leading to a schedule alteration with the Pride and the Beauts playing each other in a three-game series to determine the fourth seed, which the Pride won. The single-site season was curtailed prior to the playoffs due to an excessive outbreak of COVID-19 among all teams and personnel in Lake Placid. The postseason was rescheduled for March 26 and 27 at the Pride's home arena in Brighton. The Pride then defeated the top seed Toronto Six before winning their second Isobel Cup by defeating the Minnesota Whitecaps 4–3 in the championship game.

On March 10, 2022, the Pride and PHF announced that Willie O'Ree had joined the team's ownership group.[19][20]

The Pride finished the 2021–2022 season as the #3 seed in the playoffs. Boston outscored the Buffalo Beauts and Toronto Six by a combined 11–1 margin en route to the Championship game against the Connecticut Whale. On March 28, 2022, the Pride repeated as PHF champions beating the Whale 3-2. Taylor Wenczkowski scored the Isobel Cup-winning goal for the second year in a row and was named MVP of the Isobel Cup playoffs. [21]

Season-by-season records

Season GP W L T OTL SOL Pts GF GA Playoffs
2015–16 18 14 3 0 1 0 29 75 39 Won Isobel Cup Championship over Buffalo Beauts
2016–17 17 16 1 0 0 0 32 73 29 Lost Isobel Cup Championship to Buffalo Beauts
2017–18 16 4 8 — 4 — 12 33 48 Lost semifinal game to Buffalo Beauts
2018–19 16 11 5 — 0 0 22 60 36 Lost semifinal game to Buffalo Beauts
2019–20 24 23 1 — 0 0 46 120 43 Qualified for Isobel Cup Championship vs. Minnesota Whitecaps
Championship cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 7 3 4 — 0 0 6 22 11 Won Isobel Cup Championship over Minnesota Whitecaps
2021–22 20 10 5 — 5 0 32 48 47 Won Isobel Cup Championship over Connecticut Whale

In the 2021-2022 season the NWHL rebranded as the PHF (Premier Hockey Federation) and used a new system for points in the standings where regulation wins counted for 3 points. Overtime wins still counted as 2 points and overtime losses remained worth 1 point like prior seasons.

Team

2021 roster

As of March 28, 2021[22][23]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
2 United States Meaghan Rickard F R 27 2022 Coventry, Rhode Island
3 United States Delaney Belinskas F R Expression error: Missing operand for and. 2022 Port Orange, Florida
4 United States Lauren Kelly D L 27 2018 Watertown, Massachusetts
6 United States Kali Flanagan D R 28 2021 Burlington, Massachusetts
7 United States Mary Parker F L 30 2022 Milton, Massachusetts
8 United States Amanda Boulier D R 31 2021 Watertown, Connecticut
9 United States Tori Sullivan F R 27 2020 West Bloomfield, Michigan
11 Switzerland Evelina Raselli F L 31 2021 Poschiavo, Switzerland
12 United States Jenna Rheault D R 27 2019 Deering, New Hampshire
13 Canada Kaleigh Fratkin (A) D R 32 2017 Burnaby, British Columbia
14 United States Jillian Dempsey (C) F L 33 2015 Winthrop, Massachusetts
17 United States McKenna Brand (A) F L 27 2018 Park Rapids, Minnesota
18 United States Taylor Wenczkowski F R 26 2020 Rochester, New Hampshire
19 United States Sammy Davis F L 26 2020 Pembroke, Massachusetts
20 United States Paige Capistran D R 25 2020 Manchester, New Hampshire
21 Canada Christina Putigna F L 26 2019 Grimsby, Ontario
23 United States Katelynn Russ F R 25 2021 Crystal Lake, Illinois
29 Canada Kayla Friesen F L 26 2021 Winnipeg, Manitoba
33 United States Victoria Hanson G L 29 2019 Stoughton, Massachusetts
35 Sweden Lovisa Selander G L 29 2019 Sollentuna, Sweden
42 United States Meghara McManus F R 26 2020 Milton, Massachusetts
47 United States Mallory Souliotis D L 28 2018 Acton, Massachusetts
73 Czech Republic Tereza Vanisova F L 28 2022 Strakonice, Czech Republic
88 United States Katie Burt G L 27 2018 Lynn, Massachusetts


Team captains

Head coaches

General managers

Team Presidents

Draft history

With their first pick in the 2015 NWHL Draft, the Pride selected Kendall Coyne.

NWHL Draft

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Main article: 2015 NWHL Draft

The following are the Pride' selections from the 2015 NWHL Draft of college players in their junior year held on June 20, 2015. A player who is drafted but does not sign with the organization that selected her, may enter free-agency after completing her senior year.[27]

# Player Position Nationality College
3 Kendall Coyne Forward  United States Northeastern University
7 Emerance Maschmeyer Goalie  Canada Harvard University
11 Lexi Bender Defense  United States Boston College
15 Miye D’Oench Forward  United States Harvard University
19 Shannon MacAuley Forward  Canada Clarkson

Media

In November 2015, it was announced that all Pride home games would be broadcast live on NESN.[28] During the 2019–20 and 2020-2021 season, all NWHL games were broadcast live on Twitch. Starting in the 2021-2022 season all PHF games were broadcast on ESPN+ in the US and TSN in Canada.[29]

Awards and honors

Franchise milestones

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See also: List of Boston Pride records
Milestone Player Date
First goal Hilary Knight October 11, 2015
First hat trick Brianna Decker October 25, 2015
First multi-point game Hilary Knight October 11, 2015
First win Brittany Ott October 11, 2015
First African-American player Blake Bolden October 11, 2015
First playoff goal Brianna Decker March 4, 2016
First playoff game-winning goal Brianna Decker March 4, 2016
First playoff win Brittany Ott March 4, 2016
First playoff shutout Brittany Ott March 4, 2016

References

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External links

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