Frankel Sets Record as Boston Fleet Blank Seattle in Front of Historic Home Crowd

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Saturday afternoon saw the Boston Fleet return to the Tsongas Center, where they have not played for a month. They played before the largest regular-season home crowd in their history of 6,164 while hosting the Seattle Torrent, who found themselves in last place in the PWHL. Before the game, the Fleet made a roster move by activating Sophie Shirley from the long-term injury list and moving Olivia Zafuto to the reserved player list. Shirley had been sidelined after suffering an injury during practice on January 18.

The starting goalies for Saturday’s game were Corinne Schroeder for Seattle, who entered with a 3-5-1-1 record, a 2.78 GAA, and a .901 save percentage, having played every game against Boston this season. For the Fleet, Aerin Frankel started with a 13-3-0-2 record, a 1.34 GAA, and a .948 save percentage. A fast-moving first period saw four penalties called, with three against Boston and one against Seattle. The period featured only one goal, which came at 8:06 as Abby Newhook netted her 6th of the season off the defensive pair of Megan Keller and Hadley Winn. Newhook took a pass from below the Seattle goal line from Keller and beat Schroeder from the low slot to give Boston a 1-0 lead. Shots in the period were even at 12-12.

The second period had no scoring, although the Fleet maintained the better pressure in the offensive zone. They also had two more power-play chances to work with, but did not score on either, moving to 0-for-3 on the power play for the game. Boston outshot Seattle 14-6 in the second period, bringing the game total to 26-18 in favor of Boston.

The Fleet added to their lead in the third period by scoring twice in the first ten minutes. First, Susanna Tapani recorded a tap-in goal at 4:33 off a pass from Newhook, who finished the day with a goal and an assist. The goal was Tapani’s 7th of the year and 21st of her career, with a secondary assist going to Jamie Lee Rattray. Then, at 9:18 off an offensive zone faceoff, Hadley Winn scored her 3rd of the year by firing a wrist shot from the right point. Tapani and Daniela Pejsava earned the assists to give the Fleet a 3-0 lead. They protected that lead to secure the 5th shutout of the season for Aerin Frankel, who finished with 21 saves. Boston is now 10-5-2-4, while Seattle falls to 5-2-2-12.

After the game, familiar faces Emily Brown and Theresa Schafzahl talked about how much fun it was to be back in the Tsongas Center. Seattle coach Steve O’Rourke noted he liked his team’s first shift and was happy with the push they showed on Saturday, though he admitted it has been a challenge to score. Fleet head coach Kris Sparre called it the most complete game since the Olympic Break and thought his seven defenders were rock solid. Sophie Shirley expressed her happiness to be back in the lineup after missing eight weeks, and Abby Newhook liked the way the team possessed the puck to make plays. The Fleet will be back at the Tsongas Center on Tuesday night to face Vancouver.