Vancouver Goldeneyes 0 – 2 Boston Fleet
The Boston Fleet have made a remarkable turnaround this season. From missing the playoffs last year, they had a chance to go to the top of the standings tonight if they could pick up three points against the Vancouver Goldeneyes. With Aerin Frankl in net, recording her sixth shutout of the season, they won and went to the top of the table.
Vancouver can’t beg for a win lately. They are on a dismal run of form right when they can’t afford to be losing games. They won last week but in their last seven games they are 6-1. Still, they sit only six points out of a playoff spot and in every game they keep looking like a team that is willing themselves to make it. Tonight they had a dominant third period, chasing a 1-0 deficit that was afforded by Kluge’s tipped puck in front of Campbell in the second period. The Goldeneyes were relentless in front of goal but Frankl is that good. In a small league like this, with the quality the PWHL has, you know the goalies are going to be the best eight players in their position in the world and goals are hard to come by. Of course it doesn’t help that Sarah Nurse takes a mugging on a regular basis and the refereeing was a little iffy. The third period penalties to Nurse and Thompson were marginal, and didn’t impact the score sheet, but they broke the momentum.
The game was in Lowell, Mass., but you knew it was pure Boston every time the crowd chanted “U-S-A, U-S-A” when Nurse and Thompson were sent to the box.
The Vancouver hockey media, who only ever know what it’s like to lose, are starting to write about whether the Goldeneyes should start tanking to improve their chances at a good draft pick I’m looking at you Steve Ewen, you absolute muppet). This is what passes for punditry in some North American cities, where fans who advocate this line of thinking start to accurately express what the league incentivizes. The idea that professional athletes would ever tank a season to get a better draft pick is bizarre. The idea that women playing pro hockey in a league they have only ever dreamed about would take their foot off the gas for a second is an insult to all of them. Fans calling for their teams to lose every game at the end of the season are generally unpleasant to be around and shouldn’t be trusted.
The PWHL is a great league. It is intense, condensed, and hosts the best players in the world. These are athletes at the top of their game, seizing the brass ring, and testing themselves against the best competition in the world. It’s a great thing to watch and I’ve finally been bitten by it. Sarah Nurse and Sophie Jaques have stolen my heart for this team. I went along to my first game two weeks ago and it was brilliant.
It’s amazing to watch how quickly women’s professional sports have become normalized. Where before it seemed like there was a glass ceiling to overcome, the rapid establishment of the PWHL and the NSL here in Canada has shown that it was just gas lighting all along. There never was a ceiling, just a group of millions of people looking for women’s pro teams to get behind. Well, here they are!