|
Forward Liz Schepers slipped the game winner
past Boston goaltender Aerin Frankel midway through the second
period, with Michela Cava and captain Kendall Coyne Schofield
adding goals in the third.
"I'm a little bit in shock. We had a great game, great energy
all game," Cava told a rink-side reporter. "Just worked as a
team and (it) paid off."
Boston netminder Frankel has been busy throughout the postseason
and made 41 saves on Wednesday as Minnesota kept her on her
toes.
Schepers had not scored a goal this season but got one when it
mattered, tipping the puck into the net off a neat flick from
Sydney Brodt to break the impasse.
Playing to a sold-out home crowd at Tsongas Center in Lowell,
Massachusetts, the Boston team had no potency in their offense
as they retook the ice for the final period and Cava threaded
the puck through Frankel's legs about eight minutes in.
Boston pulled their goalie with little more than three minutes
left but Schofield pounced to score Minnesota's third about a
minute later, chasing after the puck and sending it into the
empty net.
As time ticked down on the clock, both sets of fans stood to
cheer and celebrate the first season of a league financed
largely by Mark Walter, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles
Dodgers.
After stop-start attempts to get women's professional hockey off
the ground in North America, the PWHL hopes to have the same
kind of success as the Women's National Basketball Association
(WNBA) and National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
"It's been an amazing journey so far," said Cava. "It's been
great to have all these people watching us play. The fans have
been incredible - so we owe it all to you guys."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Peter
Rutherford) [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely
responsible for this content. |
|
