At Long Last, The Boston Fleet Return Home

The Fleet are set to return home at last.

The Boston Fleet have had a long stretch of games on the road, playing six games in six cities in fifteen days. The trip began on December 27, and will end January 22.

Although the Fleet lost four of the six games they played, three of the games went into overtime and one ended in a shootout. The Fleet return to Boston with a record of 2-2-2-4. The team is in fifth place in the league with 12 points, followed by the last place Toronto Sceptres.

Although this isn’t necessarily the start the team had hoped for, they are only one third of the way through the season and still have 20 games remaining. The key to getting climbing back up the rankings? Consistency and earlier starts on offense.

The team has trailed heading into the third period in many of their games thus far. Although they do find ways to tie the score and force overtime or end up victorious, it isn’t a consistent pattern they want to fall into. The Boston Fleet’s offense needs to capitalize earlier on opportunities and be more consistent throughout the game.

Although it doesn’t contribute to their record, the Fleet accomplished another PWHL milestone while on their break. The week of January 9, three Fleet players were announced as the stars of the week, the first time all three stars were from the same team. The stars were forwards Susanna Tapani and Hilary Knight along with defender Megan Keller.

To sum up the team’s road trip, Head Coach Courtney Kessel said, “I’m just really proud of the players for leaving it all on the ice for each other.”

The Boston Fleet have returned back to Boston in preparation for Wednesday January 22nd, 2025’s matchup against the Toronto Sceptres. The Fleet have seen the Sceptres twice this season and are yet to leave the arena victorious. They hope to get their first win against Toronto next week at the Tsongas Center.

Stars of the road

Several players have found their groove over the road trip.

The first being first round pick Hannah Bilka, who has begun to shine on offense. Bilka scored her first PWHL goal in the Fleet’s first away game against the Toronto Sceptres.

Her scoring didn’t stop there, Bilka ended the road trip with three goals and four assists. She is currently tied for 12th in the league for goals, right behind teammate Hilary Knight who has four goals.

The rookie has had several opportunities for a goal in the first couple of Fleet games, but finally something clicked. This is a game changer for the Fleet’s offense, and having Bilka get on the board has led the team to several wins.

Another player who deserves constant praise is Aerin Frankel. Frankel played four of the Fleet’s six games on the road, and currently has a 0.917 save percentage.

Frankel is the glue that keeps the Fleet together and has been able to shut down other teams. Her ability to move quick and read the opposing team’s offense has kept the Fleet in their games.

Most notably on January 5th, 2025, Frankel only let one goal slip past her in the Montreal Victoire shootout. The one that got past her was from Marie-Philip Poulin, one of the strongest players in the league.

The Fleet put three goals in the back of the net during the shootout, and ended up winning the game three-to-two.

Several players also got on the board for the first time on this trip.

Right winger Lorin Gabel scored her first goal in the four-to-two loss to Toronto on December 27th.

Emma Soderberg played her first game of the season on December 30th, 2024 against the Montreal Victoire. Soderberg had 28 saves on 31 shots, but the team ultimately ended losing three-to one.

The first game of the year for the Fleet was thrilling as they executed a third period comeback but were unable to pull off the win in overtime.

Despite the loss, the Fleet were trailing two-to-zero going into the third period. A quick goal from Hillary Knight made it two-to-one. The Frost’s Brooke McQuigge quickly retaliated giving Minnesota another two goal lead, but Susanna Tapani kept them alive scoring two goals in the third period to force overtime. They however fell short of the win and the Minnesota Frost took home the points.

The ability for Tapani to keep them alive in the third and force overtime is promising for the future. That being said the team needs to begin scoring earlier, instead of spending the third period playing catch up.

Several other players have stepped up during the Fleet’s sixteen day road trip. Sidney Morin scored the game winning goal for the Fleet against the Ottawa Charge on January 11th, 2025.

Morin credited her teammates for helping set her goal up. “Obviously a great forecheck by Shay [Maloney] and Hannah [Brandt] out there. I was kind of hanging back, just seeing what was going to happen. They made a great play down low, got the puck back and Hannah found me for the second time.” said Morin.

The team has been piecing together wins while on the road and is now preparing for Wednesday, January 22, when they will once again play the Toronto Sceptres at Tsongas Center.