No Knight, No Ott, No Problem for the Pride.
The Boston Pride extend winning streak to 18 games (@Michelle_Jay3/Twitter)
The Connecticut Whale have yet to play a game at home this season. Heading to Boston at 2-3, the Whale hoped to knock off the reigning Isobel Cup Champion, Boston Pride, who had won 17 straight games. The Whale have been led by the combination of Kelly Babstock, leading assists, and Haley Skarupa, leading goal scorer, and were looking for a big win to end their long road trip. Nicole Kosta after the game said “our mindset was to get hard on them in the zone, it worked out early in the period and we got some chances.”
The Pride put away the white, yellow, and black uniforms in favor of wearing black and pink uniforms in support of “Strides for the Cure” Breast Cancer awareness. They also celebrated a longtime supporter of women’s hockey and a huge Kacey Bellamy fan dating back to her University of New Hampshire playing days, Miriam Watson, who passed away recently after a long battle with Breast Cancer. The Pride will be auctioning off the game used jerseys online soon.
The shots were even between the Whale and the Pride in the first period, but it was Connecticut who outplayed the Pride in the period. Amanda Pelkey put the first shot on net, but Shanae Lundberg easily kicked it to the side. On the other end of the ice, the Whale might not have put a lot of shots on net, but they put more pressure on Lauren Slebodnick in net for the Pride. With the Pride playing a back to back and heading to New York to play the Riveters Sunday, Coach Bobby Jay decided to give Slebodnick another shot in net and sat Brittany Ott. “Lauren deserved another opportunity, she played well her first time here.” Slebodnick lost sight of the first goal, as Dana Trivigno punched a rebound past her in the middle of six players.
Slebodnick, who defeated the Riveters on October 22nd, would not be shaken by the 1-0 deficit after the first period. The Pride have scored the most goals in the second period in the league, and as usual, came out on fire, when Emily Field tied the game just 1:12 into the period with a close range wrist shot that beat Lundberg. Just a minute and a half later, Lundberg couldn’t handle a puck as she tried to catch it and stop play, Meghan Duggan made her pay, sneaking it just over the line for the goal, giving the Pride the 2-1 advantage. Just as the PA announcer began announcing the Duggan goal, Kelli Stack tied the game up with a beautiful move right in front of Slebodnick. That was the last goal Slebodnick and the Pride would give up.
Both teams were charged with trying to stop the other team’s top scorer. The Pride kept Rookie Haley Skarupa off the scoreboard all game and until the middle of the 2nd period, the Whale had done the same to Brianna Decker. However, Babstock received a tripping penalty to put the Pride on the power play. NWHL teams don’t want to test the dangerous Pride Power Play. On the advantage, the Pride took multiple shots from the point, but it was a blast from Decker that beat Lundberg on the glove side to give the Boston the 3-2 lead. “I just said after the second (goal), I loved the grit, we got the two goals, then they got one right back, then we got another, that’s pretty mentally tough.” Coach Jay said to the team after the second period.
The puck was traded back and forth during the 3rd period, with the game remaining 3-2. With 1:57 left in the game, Decker put the game out of reach with her second goal and made it a hat trick as she threw an empty netter in with six seconds remaining. Decker’s hat trick is the first Hat Trick scored at home in NWHL history. “It’s disappointing to have the first goal against, but I believe in my team, they got a couple in and I got right back at it.” Slebodnick still felt that she needed to be a little more mentally focused in the game. “After the second goal, I was like, ‘ok I gotta get going.’ When we went up one goal, I had the mentality ‘we can win, don’t let one in.’”
The Pride now begin their long road trip and will be on the road until February 4th. MyWSports asked Coach Jay what the team needs to improve on to succeed on the road for the next two months. “We want to make good decisions with the puck and recognize when there isn’t a play to be made and have the discipline to accept that… and if anyone gets anything on us, we’re going to make them work.”
New York Riveters (Troy Parla/NWHL)
The Pride defeated the New York Riveters 3-2 in a shootout on Sunday to wrap up the first half of their season at 8-0-0. Boston took a 2-0 lead in the first only to see New York storm back to even the game in the 3rd period. After a scoreless overtime the teams went into a sudden death shootout. Zoe Hickel scored the lone goal and Brittany Ott shut the door on the Riveters to give the Pride their 19th straight win. Morgan Fritz-Ward of the Riveters played in her last game with the team after announcing her retirement earlier this week. The Whale have their home opener next Saturday, the 10th, against the Buffalo Beauts.
