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After coming up one win short in the PWHL’s inaugural season, the Boston Fleet are back with a vengeance
“We got a little taste of what it was like to be in that final playoff run... it put a little fuel in the fire for all of us in the offseason.”
The Boston Fleet aren’t dwelling on last year’s loss to Minnesota in the Walter Cup Finals, but they certainly haven’t forgotten about it.
“We got a little taste of what it was like to be in that final playoff run, and obviously not the outcome we wanted, but it put a little fuel in the fire for all of us in the offseason,” said Fleet forward Lexie Adzija. “That’s definitely our goal this year.”
The Fleet used last year’s 3-0 loss in Game 5 of the championship series as motivation for their offseason. A return trip is on their radar, but it’s not the only thing they’re focused on.
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“You don’t play in this league unless you’re driven to win championships. So for sure, that’s our goal. But it’s a long ways away,” Fleet coach Courtney Kessel said. “If you just strive toward that goal, you’re probably not going to get there. It’s about how you break the year down, and how you focus on the little details of the game. Those are the things that get you there.”
Kessel and Fleet general manager Danielle Marmer spent the offseason scouting and acquiring coaches and players who Marmer dubbed missing “puzzle pieces,” including a trio of new additions to the staff.
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Woburn native and former longtime Boston College associate head coach Courtney Kennedy joined as a skills coach, Ludlow native Lenny Mosca signed on as a goalie coach, and former Quinnipiac assistant Shawn Roche assumed the role of video coach.
The Fleet, who scored the fewest goals in the PWHL last season, needed to add some scoring power. They hope they found some in 2024 first-round draft pick Hannah Bilka. In 39 games at Ohio State, Bilka put up 22 goals and 26 assists, including an assist on the winning goal in the national championship game.
She appeared on the stat sheet in Boston’s first scrimmage Wednesday, skating on the top line with Alina Muller and captain Hilary Knight and assisting on one of Knight’s two goals in a 3-1 win over the Montreal Victoire.
Knight, assistant captains Megan Keller and Jamie Lee Rattray, and starting goaltender Aerin Frankel are among the Fleet’s core returning players, as Boston welcomed back 70 percent of its playoff roster.
The Fleet signed one free agent over the summer, inking defender Emma Greco to a one-year deal. Greco joined Minnesota as an undrafted free agent before last season and did not record any points in 32 games. Draftees Bilka, Sydney Bard, Hadley Hartmetz, and Daniela Pejsova were all signed to contracts.
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A handful of free agents, camp invites, and draftees remain unsigned. PWHL teams have until Wednesday to finalize their rosters.
“Every decision was very intentional,” Marmer said. “It was because we believe that they can make an impact, because we believe that they can make our team better and help us win a Walter Cup.”
With its new pieces in place, Boston returned to the ice to beat Montreal, then lost, 6-1, to the Ottawa Charge. Throughout the exhibition games, Kessel tinkered with the lines and gave Frankel, last year’s primary starting goaltender, some rest. Emma Soderberg split time in net with unsigned players Cami Kronish and Klára Peslarová.
Two preseason scrimmages in a six-team league where parity reigns aren’t necessarily definitive, but early returns on the offseason alterations are promising.
“When you’re a sports team in Boston, the expectation is that you’re winning the whole thing,” Marmer said. “We’re not afraid to say it. A lot of teams don’t want to talk about championships too early. … This time we’ve got some unfinished business to attend to.”
New rules and rule changes
The PWHL prides itself on innovation, which in its inaugural season included the jailbreak rule — teams could terminate minor penalties by scoring a shorthanded goal. The league also introduced a 3-2-1 point system, and new body checking rules.
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Last week, a new crop of changes were announced, with some specific to player safety.
- Illegal checks to the head will now default to a major penalty and game misconduct. Such penalties can be reviewed, after which officials may confirm the original call, reduce the penalty to a minor if the hit was accidental, or rescind the call entirely if the head was not the main point of contact.
- The league also increased the penalty for head-butting to a major and game misconduct. The same punishment is assessed if a player pulls her opponent’s hair or grabs her chin strap, face mask, or neck guard.
- If a goaltender is removed because of injury or mandatory medical evaluation, the substitute goaltender will be given a brief warm-up period.
Here’s a look at the innovative rules for the 2024-25 season, which are designed to favor offense.
- The “No escape rule:” Players on the ice when a penalty occurs must remain on for the ensuing faceoff. Only once play has resumed can the team conduct substitutions. (Fans in attendance for Boston’s scrimmage against Montreal got an early taste of the rule in action, as the Victoire got stuck with three forwards and one defender for a full two-minute penalty kill.)
- If a shot from the attacking zone is deflected out of play, the ensuing faceoff will be held in the attacking zone.
- Coaches can challenge penalties for delay of game when the puck is fired over the glass. If the challenge isn’t upheld, the challenging team will receive an additional delay-of-game penalty.
The league also clarified the language in the rule regarding body checking to make it clearer to officials.
Key dates for the Boston Fleet
Teams will have until 5 p.m. Wednesday to make roster cuts before the league’s second season kicks off on Nov. 30
The Fleet open their 2024-25 campaign in Toronto against the Sceptres at 2 p.m. Nov. 30. They’ll return to the Tsongas Center on Dec. 4 for their home opener — a rematch of last season’s Walter Cup Finals against the rechristened Frost. Kessel said she and her team are looking forward to “a little bit of redemption.”
As part of the regular-season schedule, the Fleet will play three neutral-site games during the league’s “Takeover Tour.” They’ll face Montreal on Jan. 5 at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, the New York Sirens on Feb. 23 at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center, and Ottawa on March 29 at St. Louis’s Enterprise Center.
The trade deadline is noon on March 2, and rosters will be frozen on March 3. The regular season is scheduled to conclude May 3, when the Fleet take on Minnesota at the Tsongas Center, before playoffs begin on May 6.
Eligible players have from March 1 to May 8 to declare for the 2025 PWHL Draft.
How to watch the PWHL this season
The league has not yet announced its broadcast partners, talent, and schedule for viewers in the US beyond the games again being streamed live on YouTube. All 90 regular-season games plus playoffs will be available to Canadian viewers via a combination of TSN, RDS, CBC/Radio-Canada, and Prime Video.
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TSN will have exclusive coverage of 57 regular-season games, CBC will have exclusive rights to 17 Saturday afternoon games, and Prime Video will broadcast all 16 Tuesday night games. French-language coverage will be available for all of Montreal’s games. The PWHL playoffs will be split mostly between TSN and RDS, with one semifinal series exclusively on Prime Video.
Click here for the full Canadian broadcast schedule.
Around the league
The league named Meghan Duggan a special consultant to hockey operations. The three-time Olympian from Danvers currently serves as the director of player development for the New Jersey Devils. In her role with the PWHL, Duggan will focus on player safety, rules, international federation relations, grassroots growth, and player development . . . PWHL players and teams will be playable in EA Sports’s “NHL 25″ video game via an update scheduled to launch Dec. 5. The women’s game first appeared in “NHL 22” through an agreement with the IIHF; Toronto’s Sarah Nurse was the cover athlete . . . New York enters its second season with a new head coach, as former Colgate coach Greg Fargo took over for Howie Draper after last season . . . The Frost have a new general manager, with Melissa Caruso hired to replace Natalie Darwitz, who left the team just days before the draft . . . Toronto forward Natalie Spooner, one of the top players during the PWHL’s inaugural season, will start the second on long-term injured reserve after a knee injury cut last season short.
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