NWHL Isobel Cup Preview

Boston and Buffalo meet again in isobel Cup Finals

#1 Boston Pride vs #3 Buffalo Beauts

Boston Pride: Boston finished the regular season with the best record, 14-3-1. The Pride swept the New York Riveters 6-0 and 7-4 in the Semifinals. They have won 9 straight games and have averaged over 5 goals per game over that stretch. Offensively, the Pride have Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker who are #1 and #2 in Goals, Assists and Points during the regular season. Boston attacks the net, so other players like Jillian Dempsey, Corrine Buie, and Jordan Smelker will see the scoring sheet as well. The Pride are dangerous when on the power play, but are susceptible to goals on the penalty kill. They have Brittany Ott in goal who had a 1.94 Goals Against Average during the regular season which is 1.02 goals better than the next best goalie in the league. Ott has 2 shutouts this season, the first one in a 1-0 win over these Beauts.

Buffalo Beauts: For the Semifinals, we said “The Beauts have been the most dichotomous team in the NWHL this year.” They proved that last weekend in their 3 game series win over the Connecticut Whale. The Beauts were shut out in Game 1 3-0, then came back to win Game 2 4-1 for their first win of the season against the Whale, after 7 previous tries. Buffalo finished off Connecticut with a 4-3 win, leading them into the Isobel Cup Finals. They finished the regular season 5-9-4, with 6 overtime or shootout games and 3 one goal games. The Beauts are small in stature, but scrappy on the ice. Buffalo is led by Kelly Steadman’s 13 goals and 20 points, but also got 9 goals of productivity out of Devon Skeats and Koutney Kunichika. The Beauts goaltending was split during the regular season between Brianne McLaughlin (14 games) and Amanda Makela (6 games), however it was clear from the Semifinals that the Beauts intend to ride McLaughlin. McLaughlin is the right move for the Beauts though, she is a great goalie who just stopped the Whale offense and will stand on her head to stop the Pride as well. The Beauts smaller size has hurt them with the worst Penalty Kill Percentage in the NWHL, but this didn’t hurt them against the Whale, allowing just 1 Power Play goal in the Semifinals.

Who will win?

The Pride in 2 games. The Pride won the season series 5-1, however four of those games were one goal games. Why the Pride in 2 games then? This will be a close series, both games could be one goal games. However the Pride have not only been the best team of the regular season, but more importantly, since starting 3-3 before November 1st the Pride have been 11-0-1 with the only overtime loss coming to the Beauts. Boston attacks the net and puts the most shots on net of any NWHL team. Although McLaughlin is tough in net and the Beauts defense does a nice job keeping the Pride out of the crease, the Pride will find a way to continue their winning ways. The Beauts will also be without the duties of Meghan Duggan on Saturday due to her responsibilities as the Assistant Coach for the Clarkson Golden Knights who are in the NCAA Division 1 Hockey Elite 8. The loss of Duggan is a huge blow to the Beauts, who lost Game 1 against the Whale without Duggan, but won Game 2 and 3 with Duggan.

How can the Beauts pull the upset?

The Beauts are small, but scrappy, as we saw with the Whale series, they never give up. McLaughlin is a great goalie who can slow offenses single handedly. The Beauts will need to control the puck, the defense will have to slow down the Pride offense, and the offense must test Ott. The Beauts have been so close to beating the Pride all year, they will need to win game 1, Friday night with Duggan in order to put the Pride on their heels. Game 2, without Duggan, the Pride have an even larger advantage. However, if the series were to go to game 3, anything is possible. Neither team will stop fighting until the final horn sounds and that fact will lead the inaugural Isobel Cup Final to be a great series.