Buffalo Beauts Steal One From Boston Pride.
Beauts get overtime win over Pride
The last time the Boston Pride and the Buffalo Beauts played on December 20th, Brittany Ott was the star of the game, recording the first ever shutout in NWHL History. Hilary Knight scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win at the Bright-Landry Center. In the next two weeks the Pride would go to Connecticut and knock off the previously undefeated Connecticut Whale, then play to a 1-1 tie with Les Canadiennes de Montreal of the CWHL at the Women’s Winter Classic on New Year’s Eve. Both games were played without the US National Players who were attending the US National team training camp, including Captains Brianna Decker and Hilary Knight as well as Kacey Bellamy and Casey Pickett. The question for this game was whether the addition of these players was going to be the added boost the Pride needed to move to the top of the league, or if there would be struggles reincorporating these players.
Starting for the Buffalo Beauts were #24 Hailey Browne, #36 Kourtney Kunichika, #21 Devon Skeats, #14 Kelly McDonald, #7 Emily Pfalzer, and #34 Amanda Makela in the Net. Starters for the Boston Pride were #15 Emily Field, #91 Rachel Llanes, #23 Corinne Buie, #2 Alyssa Gagliardi, #19 Gigi Marvin, and #29 Brittany Ott in the net. Pride came in 7-3-0 and had won 4 straight games in the NWHL and the Beauts 1-7-2 and had lost their last 4 games.
Game Recap – as told by twitter @mywsports
Buffalo wins opening face-off, Llanes steals puck puts in first rush, Field crashes into the net, but Makela makes the first save of the game.
Kelly Cooke with shot in front of net! Makela knocks it away!
Knight cross to Field, Field pushes it just wide left.
Great stop by Bolden, Ott has great help around her.
Duggan cross to Zach in front of Ott, can't handle the pass though.
Skeats going to the box for 2 minutes for Cross checking on Buie. Pride get first power play
#24 Hailey Browne puts in a short handed goal 5 hole on Ott for the Beauts! Assist #36 Kunichika. Beauts 1-0
#11 Jordan Smelker ties it up with a great shot over the stick of Makela! Assist #7 Pickett and #3 Dempsey. Tied up 1-1
Pride score again! Goal tipped in on a blast from the point #21 Hilary Knight from #12 Marissa Gedman! Pride 2-1
Garbage in front of the net and Decker just unloads a slap shot, misses wide though and the force of the shot sends it all the way down the ice to Ott.
Duggan with a break away, tries to deke Ott but can't convert.
Duggan has bested Decker on face offs in the first.
Penalty for cross checking on #2 Paige Harrington, 2 minute Power Play for the Pride.
End of the first, Boston Pride 2, Buffalo Beauts 1. Pride lead shots on goal 14-8.
Smelker trying to punch home a rebound at the start of the second, but nice stop by Makela.
Emily Field skating circles around the Beauts right now, but Makela gets her shoulder on the shot, no goal.
Hooking penalty on Gigi Marvin, Beauts Power Play.
You have to shoot to score... No shots on goal for the Beauts Power Play...
Slapshot from Gedman, tipped just wide by Field.
Buie makes great move in front of the net, but Kelly McDonald shuts it down.
Smelker puts quick shot on net, Makela denies it.
Boston called for a delay penalty, but the Beauts #24 Hailey Browne jams in a goal, assisted by #14 McDonald and #6 Fickel. Tied 2-2
Hilary Knight fires on net, Makela makes another great glove save.
Scuffle in the net! Puck gets behind Makela, Buie goes to punch it in, multiple players down in and around the net, Browne not happy about it, comes in and shoves Buie!
Matching penalties on Llanes (slashing) and Browne (roughing), 2 min of 4 on 4 hockey.
End of 2nd period, 2-2. Pride controlling the SOG 32-12. Getting very chippy at the end of the period.
Knight in the gap with a wrister, Makela catches it in the Beauts symbol.
Brianna Decker goes high over the glove of Makela for the GOAL!!! Assisted by #21 Hilary Knight. Pride lead 3-2
Browne with a breakaway, but Ott makes a great save.
Penalty on Meghan Duggan, 2 minutes for roughing. No Goals on the Power Play.
Decker penalty, 2 minutes for slashing.
Buffalo ties it on the PP! Goal scored by #21 Devon Skeats! Browne on the assist. Tied up 3-3
Buffalo penalty on Duggan, 2 minutes for Cross Checking.
Pride put 1 shot on goal as time expires on the power play.
Holding penalty on Corinne Buie with 3:11 to go.
Decker on the shorthanded breakaway, but can't put it past Makela!
Penalty on Pelkey, 2 minutes for cross-checking with 5.4 seconds remaining in the game.
Tied up 3-3 heading into a 5 minute overtime!
Post Game
Brittany Ott after the game was complimentary after the game of the Beauts tenacity and noted that the goal for the Pride “is to have more tenacity than the other team and today, they only matched it.” She took a lot of responsibility for the loss saying “I’m not happy with my performance today” and “Have to look in the mirror and alter and fix our own game and get ready for next weekend.”
The question of whether the US National team players leaving and then rejoining today effected the outcome, Blake Bolden said “I don’t think it impacted too much, we’re all great teammates, we all play very well together, we’ve all played with each other… I think we just need to bear down, forget about this and focus on the next game and the only thing we can do is work hard to get ready for the next game.” Bolden also took responsibility for the loss on the defensive side saying “we need to do a little better in the (defensive) zone, get the puck out quicker, make better decisions.”
Brianna Decker did say there was a little bit of struggle reincorporating saying “ya a little bit, not from a team chemistry point, but a different pace of game… but there’s no excuse for what happened today.”
Hailey Browne was very excited for her team noting, “It was awesome. We’ve come so close, so many one goal games, so many loses in shootouts, overtime.” Browne also pointed to the hunger that the Beauts came into the game with saying “It wasn’t sitting well, the last game we played them, they beat us by one goal and we were just focusing on finishing and getting pucks on net and I think we just had a little more hunger.” Browne also wanted to let the rest of the league know “We’re not a team to take likely… we’re a team to be reckon with.”
This was a tough loss for the Pride coming off of the win over the Whale and the excitement of the Women’s Winter Classic.Today however, the Beauts just wanted it more. The NWHL has 4 teams who can win every game and the Beauts proved that today. The Pride will regroup and focus on the next game and I believe they too will be a force to reckon with in 2016. Both teams have great leadership on the ice and great goaltending and both teams will continue to play great competitive games every time they step onto the ice.
