Rivalry weekend matchup for Toronto Six against the Boston Pride: PHF Weekend Roundup

In what was another exciting clash for the Toronto Six, away from home, they visited the Boston Pride in their “den” at Warrior Ice arena in Boston. The Pride are the team to beat in the PHF, coming off of yet another championship win, defeating Toronto on their way there for the second year in a row. This has spurned a bit of a rivalry between the two clubs, especially between defenders Saroya Tinker and Kaleigh Fratkin Lee. Fratkin Lee took a couple of shots at Tinker after the Pride’s championship win, after Tinker publicly stated she was rooting against the Pride after being defeated by them earlier in the playoffs:

As much as this dunk is frustrating from the losing end, it’s hard to argue that this kind of beef is bad for showing off the entertainment value the PHF can bring.

Let’s dive in and see how this pair of games against the reigning champs went.

Here are the lines Toronto went with for this game. Notably, Brooke Boquist returned to the lineup after missing last weekend’s games against the Riveters. It’s unclear if this was due to injury or personal or what, but to see her returning on the 4th line after generally playing in the top 6 the last two seasons makes me suspect it was injury, and coach Geraldine Heaney is easing her return to action with limited minutes.

After a hard fought, scoreless first period, the Pride jumped on the board first in the second period of this one, with a goal from none other than Kaleigh Fratkin Lee. The Six fought back at the start of the third period, though, tying it up just under 2 minutes in with a goal from returnee Brooke Boquist on a mini breakaway:

The Pride and Six exchanged another pair of goals later in third, but no one could give either team the game winning goal, so it went off to overtime. The Pride generally dominated the OT period from the get go, not allowing the Six a shot on goal, and scoring the winner after just a minute and a half from McKenna Brand:

Here were your three stars for this one, with captain Shiann Darkangelo getting the 3rd star for the game tying goal in the 3rd, and McKenna brand earning the 1st star for her overtime winner.

It was a tough game but well done by the Six to steal a point from Boston, as the two are fighting for the regular season standings lead so far this season.

The lines for this game shifted slightly, as Boquist regained her place in the top six, bumping down rookie Lexi Templemann to the 4th line. The defence also shifted around a little bit, with Alexis Woloschuk coming in for Taylor Woods. Elaine Chuli earned the start again, as well.

Veteran Michela Cava opened the scoring for Toronto in this one, and Brittany Howard added her 6th goal of the season, and Dominika Laskova added her first PHF goal, and then Loren Gabel got one back for Boston, all within a span of about 4 minutes at the end of the 1st period. It was an epic span of hockey. Here was Howard’s snipe for the 2-0 goal:

In the 2nd period, the excitement picked right back up, as the Pride scored two goals early to tie this up at 3-3 before the 2nd period had 5 minutes pass, including this tying goal from Allie Thunstrom, displaying her speed to create a small breakaway:

Howard broke the tie late in the second, with her second goal of the night and league leading 7th goal of the season. Lum added another in the 3rd to make it 5-3, and then Michela Cava scored her second of the night on this incredible rush through two Boston defenders by herself:

Lexi Templemann added her first pro goal at the very end of this one, to make it a 7-3 dominant final.

Unsurprisingly, the Six dominated the 3 stars for this game as well:

This was a pretty clear statement game from Toronto, showing that they have plenty of offensive muscle, especially from Brittany Howard.

This was a great weekend of hockey for Toronto, getting 4 points of 6 on the road against the defending champs is nothing to take lightly. It’s clear that Howard has a great chance at finishing the year with the most goals, and possibly even the most points. She currently sits at the 1st spot for both.

Otherwise, the game is available on streaming services ESPN+ in the US and TSN Live in Canada.