The Boston Fleet had a night filled with bad breaks, catalyzed by a big break in their schedule.
The Boston Fleet played Friday night against the Toronto Sceptres hoping to continue their two-game win streak. The team left the first period, however, with six penalty minutes, down one goal, and looking like a team that hadn’t played in weeks. The catch is, looks weren't deceiving, they hadn’t played in the past few weeks due to scheduling. The result was a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Toronto Sceptres.
The Fleet have struggled this season with penalties and offensive opportunities, however for the past few games of the 2024-25 season, their play has been more consistent. What hasn’t been consistent is the scheduling. Since December 8, 2024, the Fleet have played only two games. The first being Tuesday December 17, and the second being Friday December 27.
Why did this occur? The PWHL took two breaks early on in the season that ended up spacing out the Fleet’s schedule. The first was the gap from December 9-16 for the international break.
The team then took a short break for the holidays, which resulted in the team playing twice in 19 days. This was less than ideal for the team and showed during the beginning of their game on Friday.
Four penalties were called in twenty-minutes in the game. Three of them were on the Fleet. Sidney Morin served two minutes for delay of game, followed by Megan Keller for tripping. Finally Emma Greco served two minutes in the box for interference. Keller and Greco’s penalties overlapped for a couple of seconds resulting in a five-on-three for the Toronto Sceptres.
This is the first of three international breaks the league will be taking this year. The next will be February 3-10, 2025 for the Rivalry Series and Olympic Qualifying tournaments, and the final being April 3-25 for the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship.
The break for the Fleet however, will not be the longest of the season. The World Championship will keep many teams off the ice for 23 days, some even staying off for 25 days.
The solution? The league may consider shifting the start of the season earlier, to avoid taking breaks early on which disrupt play.
There are still two international breaks left this season and the future breaks may benefit teams needing recovery. Regardless, it will be interesting to see exactly how other teams come back from breaks, and if they handle it the same way that the Fleet had.
The Fleet ended up losing four-to-two in a not-so-close game against the Toronto Sceptres.