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After rallying to repeat as Isobel Cup champions, Pride players celebrated by trolling Toronto
Boston latest's sports dynasty staged a dramatic third period comeback to clinch a third title in team history.
For the third time in team history — and the second time in two seasons — the Pride are Isobel Cup champions. Boston rallied with three third period goals to overcome the No. 1 seeded Connecticut Whale 4-2 on Monday night.
Entering the 2022 playoffs as the third seed — reeling from five consecutive overtime defeats to close out the regular season — Boston marked a return to form with three straight postseason wins.
After beating the Buffalo Beauts in the quarterfinals 6-0, the Pride upended the second-seeded Toronto Six in the semifinals, 5-1.
In the aftermath of the game, the Toronto twitter account acknowledged that the team was rooting for Connecticut in the final instead of Boston.
The tweet did not go unnoticed by Pride players.
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The final itself turned out to be a dramatic, back-and-forth matchup. The Whale, possessing both the league’s best offense and defense through the regular season, took a 2-1 second period lead after PHF points leader Kennedy Marchment set up 2021 No. 1 overall pick Taylor Girard for the go-ahead goal.
But in the third period, it was all Boston. Evelina Raselli tied it up for the Pride before Taylor Wenczkowski gave the defending champions a 3-2 lead less than 20 seconds later.
A tense final few minutes ensued as both teams scrambled in a one-goal game. It was finally broken open by Jenna Rheault’s empty-net goal with 1:30 remaining, clinching the championship for Boston.
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Afterward, the Pride celebrated the win, hoisting the Isobel Cup once again.
And as it turned out, Boston players hadn’t forgotten about Toronto.
Kaleigh Fratkin, one of the pillars in the Pride’s defense, had a humorous response to Toronto rival Saroya Tinker, who had tweeted her support for Connecticut (in response to the Six’s tweet) prior to the final.
Pride forward Christina Putigna had a simple summary of how Toronto helped motivate Boston’s bid to repeat.
“We heard you,” she said in a social media post.
The Pride became the first team in league history to repeat as Isobel Cup winners following last year’s 4-3 victory in the final over the Minnesota Whitecaps.
And had it not been for the cancellation of the 2020 final due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pride might have been three-time champions (having gone 23-1 in the 2019-2020 regular season and advancing to the final prior to the season’s suspension).
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