Building An Empire: The Sirens Are Making Noise In New York

There is something magical in the air over the New York metropolitan area, and it's not all the glitz and glitter of the holiday season.

It is that winning feeling which fans of professional women's sports locally have experienced over the past several months.

The height of the euphoria took place in late October when the Brooklyn-based New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx to capture their first Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) title.

Also recently, Gotham FC which plays its home games in Harrison, New Jersey made it all the way to the National Women's Soccer League playoff semifinals before losing in a tiebreaker to the Washington Spirit.

With all that success around them, one would think the still relatively new Sirens of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) would need more time to generate the same type of excitement with only one season under their belts.

Well, as they say in these parts, fuhgeddaboutit!

Granted it is a two-game sample size in season two, but the Sirens appear -- at least early on -- to have no intention of being a footnote to the terrific women's sports happenings in this tri-state region.

New York state of mind

It's no secret that New York pro sports fans take tremendous pride in their superstars and support them passionately, and the Sirens have added another name to the bright lights of the big city in Princeton University alum and top draft pick Sarah Fillier..

Fillier's stellar start this season -- including the first two goals of her pro career against Montreal on Wednesday night -- might not yet have her mentioned in the same conversations with the likes of Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu (Liberty); and Esther Gonzalez and Ella Stevens (Gotham FC) -- but she is certainly headed in that direction.

Sirens' head coach Greg Fargo firmly believed from the opening puck drop that her generational talent would not take long to showcase itself at the PWHL level, and he never thought he was alone in that feeling.

“I don’t know that there’s a person around the hockey world that didn’t think she could come in and dominate," he said. "She has been doing it at a high level and on the world’s biggest stage. I think Sarah was ready for this challenge and for the next level, because she’s been dominating since college prior to getting here.”

New York team captain Micah Zandee-Hart shares that sentiment.

“(Sarah is) one of those players that as a D, I don’t like playing against because it means I have to be aware every time she’s on the ice," Zandee-Hart said. "But as her teammate, I love being on the ice with her, competing with her, and you saw what she did (against Montreal).”

Triple threat and much more

When the Sirens take the ice for their home opener against Toronto at the Prudential Center on Dec. 18, it will not only be the Carpenter-Fillier-Eldridge line that brings the fans to their feet. There is a talent-laden roster of women's pro hockey standouts on this team, all of whom are also putting their skills on full display.

After a rocky start that saw them trailing 2-0 after the first period of their PWHL opening game at Minnesota last Sunday, the Sirens went into warrior mode and not only rallied in regulation but also struck quickly in overtime on Alex Carpenter's clincher 19 seconds in to achieve a well-earned and hard-fought 4-3 win.

No similar first-period rust was evident over the initial 20 minutes of game two in Montreal on Wednesday as the Sirens came out full throttle with speed in transition, solid puck movement, finding the open areas for high-percentage chances, peskiness in the 'D' zone and neutral zone dominance.

And despite a valiant comeback bid and good pressure down the stretch by the Victoire, the Sirens would not be denied and prevailed 4-1 for their second win in as many outings. By virtue of the overtime and regulation wins, New York has five points heading into Boston this weekend.

Spearheading the charge

One only needs to look at the Sirens' top line to see the potency of their attack. The three members of that line rank first, second and third in total points thus far in the entire PWHL.

Fillier leads the way for the Sirens offensively with two goals and three assists for five points, while Alex Carpenter (team-leading 3 goals/assist) and Jesse Eldridge (goal/3 assists) each have four points.

This trio reads the defense, finds open areas in the 'O' zone and always seems to be one timely and pinpoint pass away from lighting the lamp.

And it is not only finesse with these three. They can rip the puck with the best sharpshooters in women's hockey, and perhaps most astonishingly -- for two games into this young season -- they already play together with veteran leadership and with a keen awareness of each other's tendencies.

Then there's former Quinnipiac University netminder Corinne Schroeder, who came away from the first two outings with a pair of wins and a .940 save percentage. Schroeder, whose first five wins between the posts last season came on the road, is among the best netminders in the league and she stands tall game in and game out.

Obviously, the Sirens making a strong impact on the PWHL right at the outset does not happen from just one line or with good efforts in any one zone. The squad has been tenacious in winning board battles, excelling on the forecheck and poke check, disrupting rushes, eliminating lanes, and jumping on loose pucks.

The 200-foot game has been exceptional, and the puck possession and movement has been executed skillfully and with precision. This is certainly, at this stage of the season, not your 2023-24 PWHL New York team that struggled in so many facets of the game. There was frustration on the ice and tension behind closed doors.

Laying a solid foundation

And while it is only two of 30 games, Fargo has crafted a physical, hard-working team that grinds and grinds until the final buzzer.

Case in point, leading 2-1 with three minutes to go and with Montreal not only on a power play but also having pulled its goalie to create a 6-on-4 advantage, the Sirens stayed focused and determined and were stifling to the point where the Victoire could not even set up a good scoring chance.

New York's tenacity led to Jade Downie-Landry winning a gritty battle for the puck along the boards and sending a perfectly placed shot across all the three lines and into the empty net for the 'jailbreak' goal that extended the lead to 3-1 before Fillier made it 4-1 on the power play with just 18 seconds left in regulation.

Zandee-Hart, who exemplified New York's fierce mentality by consistently breaking up offensive charges and quickly countering with rushes in transition, has recorded an assist in both games. Meanwhile, third-round pick Allyson Simpson had an assist for her first PWHL point.

Throughout the PWHL off-season, many Sirens' players who were in the area made it a point to attend and support the New York Liberty and Gotham FC in those teams' quest for greatness. They have also attended New Jersey Devils' games inside the very rink they will call home in less than two weeks.

One has the feeling players from all three of those teams will be returning the favor over the winter and spring as the Sirens seek to scribe their own success story. They are off to an awesome start in that regard.