Two months and an entire Olympic Games after their 4-3 comeback win against Boston in Detroit, the Goldeneyes hosted the Fleet in Vancouver for the only time this season, where Boston captured the 2-1 overtime win.
The PWHL-leading Boston Fleet entered the Pacific Coliseum on a day Vancouver welcomed a rare appearance of March snow, though most had melted by the time both teams took to the ice. 9,731 Goldeneyes fans filtered into the historic building, excited for their team’s first game in nine days. The team was also hosting their inaugural First Nations Celebration game, honouring the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations whose unceded traditional territories are occupied by the city of Vancouver.
It was a hard fought battle from the start, possession switching constantly and whistles mostly silenced through the first half of the opening frame. Heavy checks and hits were exchanged, Boston looking for revenge after the Goldeneyes’ 4-3 comeback win in early January. The rematch was on as the Fleet searched for their sixth straight win in their lone visit to Vancouver this season, Boston also not losing in regulation since their meeting against the Goldeneyes in Detroit.
Another rematch nearly took place on the ice just over 14 minutes into the game, as Boston’s Jill Saulnier and Vancouver’s Teresa Vanišová started to tussle in the Fleet zone. Last season when Vanišová was still with the Ottawa Charge, her and Saulnier got into the first fight in PWHL history, and were looking for another round as a scrum developed to the left of Fleet netminder Aerin Frankel. Vanišová and Saulnier got coincidental minor penalties for roughing, and Saulnier got an extra two for slashing. Overall it was a very physical game, with 33 hits from Vancouver and 42 registered by Boston, Sarah Nurse and Cranbrook’s Rylind MacKinnon leading the way with seven apiece for their respective teams.
The resulting Goldeneyes power play from the first period scuffle had one shot from Claire Thompson, a backhand chance directly in front of Frankel, who was lights-out through the majority of the game, her 16th start in Boston’s 17th game of the year. Kristen Campbell was at the other end of the ice in net for Vancouver, her sixth game of the season, backed up by Kimberley Newell with Goldeneyes goalie partner Emerance Maschmeyer out day-to-day with an upper body injury. Most of the game was a goalie duel, Frankel facing the speed of the Vancouver offense, while Campbell faced the hard-hitting firepower of the league-leading Fleet.
“We know that Frankel’s an elite goalie and so you try to get traffic, take away her eyes, […] She very rarely gets beat clean when she’s on top of the crease and can see [the puck],” Goldeneyes Head Coach Brian Idalski commented on the battling netminders. “I thought [Campbell] was terrific. She gave us a chance and that’s all you ever ask of your goaltenders. Thought she was really good on the PK, we gave up some grade A looks there and she was super solid.”
The Goldeneyes had two penalties to kill in the middle frame, Mannon McMahon called for both infractions. The first game at 4:42 into the second, the call for interference as the Fleet prepared for their first player advantage of the game. Boston had six shot attempts on the power play, five of which made their way to Campbell, while the sixth and last was blocked by defender Thompson. The next penalty came just a few minutes later, McMahon headed to the box at 7:44 of the second period for cross-checking. The Fleet would get three shots on net during this chance, the Goldeneyes penalty kill continuing to improve as the game progressed.
It was eventually a losing effort for the Goldeneyes, though the crowd in the Coliseum still rallied around their team. Haley Winn scored her second goal of the year just over three minutes into the third period, breaking open the scoring in favour of the Fleet. Reminiscent of the comeback win in January, Hannah Miller notched the tying goal for Vancouver with under four minutes left in the final frame.
The loyal Coliseum crowd exploded as Miller scored her second goal of the season, and her first on home ice. There was a chant of “Hannah Miller” to the left of the press box in the upper bowl as the minutes ticked down, cheering on the North Van native who scored on her seventh shot of the night. Both of Miller’s goals have come against Boston, and four of her eight points this season have come against the Fleet, after also earning two assists against them earlier this year.
“It feels good obviously. Would’ve liked [for it] to probably come sooner, but the fans here are incredible.” Miller spoke post game about her first goal in front of the Goldeneyes faithful. “It's my hometown so I have a lot of pride in playing for Vancouver and we've been really fortunate and lucky to have incredible support throughout the entire season.”
Campbell also spoke on the raucous crowd, saying, "Everyone's out here having such a good time. And yeah, I mean, [Miller and I] both were in Toronto last year and I thought it was loud there and then I came here. So, it's been pretty incredible playing in front of this fan base."
It was a frenetic final few minutes on both sides as the two teams exchanged chances as the game entered next-goal-wins territory. The final regulation buzzer went, and the teams earned a point each, ready to fight for the last one available. The Goldeneyes entered the offensive zone early in extra time, holding possession and trying to set up when Fleet forward Shay Maloney stole the puck just inside the Boston blue line. Maloney raced down the ice, outwaiting Campbell to win it for the Fleet 41 seconds into overtime.
“I kind of saw the pass coming from the blue line there and just tried my best to pick it off and ended up getting a stick on it and then I was alone so I knew I had one opportunity to to end it and kind of blacked out from there,” Maloney commented on scoring her third goal of the season and first career PWHL overtime winner.
“We've been down this road many times before and and we find our way um we find ways to to get it done,” Boston Head Coach Kris Sparre said of his team’s “gutsy” road win. “For me, confidence comes from two things. It's preparation and past experience. We have both of those. We're prepared as a team every night and we have the past experience of winning those games.”
Sparre also had praises for the young Goldeneyes team, saying “That's a fast team over there in Vancouver. They got a lot of skill. Credit to them. They played a hard game tonight and threw a lot of great pucks towards our net.”
With the win, Boston further cement their lead in first in the league, while the Goldeneyes sit at the near opposite side of the spectrum in seventh. Vancouver has fared better of the two expansion teams, with the Seattle Torrent four points behind them for last in the league. This is their third of five meetings against the 2024 Walter Cup finalists, with Boston taking their first meeting in Massachusetts 2-0, and Vancouver with the comeback win in Detroit on the Takeover Tour. With under two months left in the regular season, both teams are looking to build down the stretch.
“That was probably our most solid game from start to finish,” Coach Idalski commented on his team’s effort against the difficult opponent, “So obviously that's encouraging, but at the same point, you don't love the outcome and kind of feel bad about that. But overall we got to take away some of the positives things we did and you know try to build off that for the next one.”
“It's really hard to win in this league,” goaltender Campbell said post game on moving forward this season, “It's best on best every night. It can go either way. […] I really think that that was one of the best games that we've played a full 60 minutes and really battled even if the pucks weren't going in for us, we created a lot of opportunities. So, I think just taking away all the positives from tonight and then showing up ready to go Saturday and getting after that three-points.”
The Goldeneyes host the Ottawa Charge on Saturday afternoon, their third of a five-game homestand as Vancouver still searches for its first win after the Olympic break. Vancouver previously eked out a 2-1 home win in December against the Charge, though have dropped their other two contests in Ottawa 5-1 and 4-2, respectively. They will look to even the season series at home, in front of a crowd adorned in blue, cream, and gold, with duck calls in hand.