Boston’s sports championship drought of two long years has ended: the Boston Pride of the National Women’s Hockey League have won the Isobel Cup and the 2021 championship title.
The matchup was one long awaited, as the Pride and their opponent, the Minnesota Whitecaps, were supposed to play in the Isobel Cup Final last year before the championship game was cancelled due to COVID-19. The two teams went into this 2021 season with a chip on their shoulder for the game that was never played; and, as luck would have it, both of them managed to find their way back to the Final to complete their unfinished business.
Boston and Minnesota were well matched: there was a lead change in the second period and a tense end to the third, with Minnesota pulling within one goal not long after goaltender Amanda Leveille made a huge stop on a Boston penalty shot. Ultimately, the Pride held on to their lead and, after a nail-biter of a game that was arguably their best performance of the entire season, emerged victorious.
The Pride’s championship title is not only a rewarding end to a difficult season, but is a personal victory for several of the players. Captain Jillian Dempsey is the only player remaining from the Pride’s 2016 championship team, and the only one to have been present for the club’s two titles. Defenseman Kaleigh Fratkin, another important veteran for the Pride’s locker room, waited six years in the NWHL to win her first Cup, and finally got it done this season with the Pride.
The Isobel Cup is an important trophy for women’s hockey: named after the daughter of Lord Stanley (the namesake of the NHL’s Stanley Cup), it often goes everywhere with the players in the offseason. Isobel, nicknamed “Izzy” by the Pride players, has made appearances at both Bruins and Celtics games that the team was invited to, as is tradition with Boston championship teams. Boston fans will likely see a lot more of Izzy in the coming weeks as the Pride continue to celebrate their well-earned title.
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