Swiss forward Evelina Raselli ignited a third-period rally that saw the Boston Pride overcome a 2-1 deficit and surge to a 4-2 win over the favoured Connecticut Whale to win the Isobel Cup.

Raselli’s goal early in the third period tied the game, 2-2, and just 18 seconds later Taylor Wenczkowski scored the go-ahead goal. She also scored the Cup-winner last year when Boston beat Minnesota, 4-3, to win the Isobel.
 
Jenna Rheault added an empty netter to solidify the win against a Whale team that led the league in wins (15), goals scored (74) and fewest goals allowed (44) this past regular season. Katie Burt was sensational in goal for Boston, stopping 26 of 28 shots.
 
It was the second straight championship for the Pride and third overall since the NWHL started in 2015 (the league was re-named PHF at the start of this season). They were also inaugural winners six years ago. This year’s team was captained by Jillian Dempsey, who won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2009 Women’s U18 World Championship and a silver medal at the senior Women’s Worlds three years later. She has been with the Pride since Day One of the team’s existence.
 
“It’s hard to put into words,” said Boston coach Paul Mara, a former NHLer who was up against Colton Orr, another retired NHL player coaching the Whale. “It’s a roller-coaster of emotions. I think, all day [Monday] and the leadership, the character in that room is second to none. And I just love this team, love what we brought this week. I’m really proud of our team for battling the way they did and never quitting.”
 
“We played a good game today,” Orr said, gracious in defeat. “We gave ourselves an opportunity. It wasn’t meant to be, but we accomplished a lot this season.”
 
Wenczkowski’s game winner came off the rush. She went hard to the goal as teammate Christina Putigna drove down the right wing. Putigna took a shot that was stopped by goalies Abbie Ives, but the rebound came right to Wenczkowski who poked it into the open cage. Raselli’s game-tying goal was similar. She also benefitted from a rebound off a shot by Mary Parker.

Swiss forward Evelina Raselli ignited a third-period rally that saw the Boston Pride overcome a 2-1 deficit and surge to a 4-2 win over the favoured Connecticut Whale to win the Isobel Cup, emblematic of supremacy in the Premier Hockey Federation. Raselli’s goal early in the third period tied the game, 2-2, and just 18 seconds later Taylor Wenczkowski scored the go-ahead goal. She also scored the Cup-winner last year when Boston beat Minnesota, 4-3, to win the Isobel.
 
Jenna Rheault added an empty netter to solidify the win against a Whale team that led the league in wins (15), goals scored (74) and fewest goals allowed (44) this past regular season. Katie Burt was sensational in goal for Boston, stopping 26 of 28 shots.
 
It was the second straight championship for the Pride and third overall since the NWHL started in 2015 (the league was re-named PHF at the start of this season). They were also inaugural winners six years ago. This year’s team was captained by Jillian Dempsey, who won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2009 Women’s U18 World Championship and a silver medal at the senior Women’s Worlds three years later. She has been with the Pride since Day One of the team’s existence.
 
“It’s hard to put into words,” said Boston coach Paul Mara, a former NHLer who was up against Colton Orr, another retired NHL player coaching the Whale. “It’s a roller-coaster of emotions. I think, all day [Monday] and the leadership, the character in that room is second to none. And I just love this team, love what we brought this week. I’m really proud of our team for battling the way they did and never quitting.”
 
“We played a good game today,” Orr said, gracious in defeat. “We gave ourselves an opportunity. It wasn’t meant to be, but we accomplished a lot this season.”
 
Wenczkowski’s game winner came off the rush. She went hard to the goal as teammate Christina Putigna drove down the right wing. Putigna took a shot that was stopped by goalies Abbie Ives, but the rebound came right to Wenczkowski who poked it into the open cage. Raselli’s game-tying goal was similar. She also benefitted from a rebound off a shot by Mary Parker.
 
The 29-year-old Raselli has had a long and distinguished career with the Swiss in IIHF competition, starting with the 2008 WW18 and most recently with the team at the 2022 Olympics last month in Beijing, where she averaged nearly 20 minutes of playing time a game. Indeed, she is the only Olympian in the PHF.
 
The Pride opened the scoring early in the first on a goal from Dempsey, but Connecticut tied the game late in the first off an Amanda Conway goal and took the lead just 33 seconds into the second when Taylor Girard scored.
 
The loss was particularly hard for Whale forward Melissa Samoskevich, a native of Sandy Hook, Connecticut. She played for USA at the 2014 and 2015 WW18 and the senior Women’s Worlds in 2019, winning a medal each time (silver, gold, gold).
 
The finals capped a successful weekend for the PHF, which concluded its seventh season of operation. This year, they did something different, gathering all teams in one venue for a playoff weekend at AdventHealth Center Ice, a four-pad hockey rink in Wesley Chapel, just outside Tampa, Florida.
 
All six teams qualified for the playoffs, and in Friday’s qualifying games third-place Boston Pride shut out the sixth-place Buffalo Beauts, 6-0, and the fifth-place Minnesota Whitecaps upset fourth-place Metropolitan Riveters, 4-1.
 
That set up semi-finals games on Sunday between the Pride and second-ranked Toronto Six and the top-ranked Connecticut Whale playing Minnesota. The Pride posted a 5-1 upset over Toronto while the Whale played to their ranking in defeating the Whitecaps, 4-2.
 
All teams played a 20-game regular season that was as eventful off ice as on. During the season PHF commissioner Ty Tumminia announced her departure at season’s end after only a year and a half on the job. The league vowed to expand to eight teams for 2022-23, including one team in Montreal and another at a U.S. location yet to be determined. It also promised to increase the salary cap for next season from $300,000 to $750,000. The PHF also increased its financial commitment to the players, and the Toronto Six landed a group of new owners that included Angela James (the team’s assistant coach), Anthony Stewart, Ted Nolan, and Bernice Carnegie, daughter of Herb.
 
And then there was the meeting last week that might have been vital, might have meant nothing. No one knows yet. But last Wednesday, representatives from the PHF flew to New York and met with the NHL and PWHPA to see if there were common ground upon which to develop one combined pro women’s league. None of the three parties commented on the meeting, so no one knows yet whether to be excited or despondent, but the very fact that the meeting occurred was, at least, positive.
 
NOTES: The busy weekend also included an announcement from USA Hockey naming Taylor Heise winner of the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Award. The forward from the University of Minnesota was one of three finalists, along with Sophie Jacques of Ohio State and Gabby Hughes, a teammate of Heise’s at the U of M…Meanwhile, north of the border, the women’s Concordia Stingers won the Canadian university championship by defeating the Nipissing Lakers, 4-0. It was their first title in 23 years.