BOSTON-The Toronto Six lost a game before the Isobel Cup final in the hockey club’s first Nwhl season, but head coach Sarah Murphy believes her team has put up its flag for a future championship.
The Boston Pride advanced to Saturday’s championship game with a 6-2 win over the Six in the semifinals on Friday.
Boston will meet the Minnesota Whitecaps for the title after beating the Connecticut Whale 7-0 in the other semifinal.
The NWHL intended to shorten the Regular Season and the Isobel Cup between Jan. 23 and Feb. 5 at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y.
When the league suspended the Season on Feb. 3 due to several positive tests for the recent times virus, all six were 4-1-1.
Toronto was the top seed when the Isobel Cup resumed Friday in Boston.
Restrictions on the recent times in Ontario limited the six before their NWHL debut in Lake Placid to half a dozen team drills.
The six won’t win the cup in the league’s sixth season, but Murphy believes Toronto has proven its Talent during a tough year.
“In the seventh Season, pay attention to the Toronto six,” the head coach said.
Murphy also asked the NWHL and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association to collaborate.
The PWHPA players, who include the Stars of the U.S. and Canadian national teams, will not play in the NWHL because they feel the League does not offer a sustainable life to play hockey, nor the competitive support that male professionals have.
“We need to get together with the PWHPA and ourselves to really work together to make women’s hockey a household name, because we’re really, really, really good and all together are better,” Murphy said.
“I know everyone says, ‘Oh my God. She mentioned PWHPA.’I don’t care.
“What I would like to see is for both leagues to sit down, pool the talent, pool the sponsors, pool the leagues and do women’s hockey for women’s hockey.”
The NWHL, which pays annual salaries of up to did not win a Champion in its fifth Season due to the recent times.
Boston was the favorite last year with a 23-1 regular-season record.
Tereza Vanisova, Jillian Dempsey, Mary Parker and McKenna Brand each had a goal and an assist for Pride on Home ice Friday at Warriors Ice Arena.
Mallory Souliotis and Sammy Davis also met with the hosts. Boston-goalie Lovisa Selander of Sweden made 23 saves for the win.
Mikyla Grant-Mentis of Brampton, Ont., led Toronto with a goal and an assist. Breanne Wilson-Bennett of Markham, Ont., also scored for all Six.
Six starter Elaine Chuli of Waterford, Ont., stopped 19 of 25 shots. She was replaced in the third period by Samantha Ridgewell of Outlook, Sask.
After losing twice in a row to start their first Season, the six broke their Underdog status with four straight wins in Lake Placid to reach a semifinal.
Toronto couldn’t restore that momentum in Boston. All six were stymied on offense hitting a latte early in the first half and unable to convert a short-handed outlier in the second.
Boston made the most of Toronto’s defensive problems, scoring two goals in less than a minute in the first and second halves.
“It’s hard to get into a game and find our stuff right away, especially when it took us a game or two in Lake Placid to get there,” said Grant-Mentis, Toronto’s leading scorer.
“But Boston was tough. We had to bring them together and we didn’t today.”
The NWHL planned to hold 24 games over 14 days in a “restricted environment” in Lake Placid to prevent the spread of the recent times.
The withdrawal of the Metropolitan Riveters and Whale on the 10th day – the Riveters cited several matter of the Virus -prompted the league to spontaneously revise the Format before the competition was stopped on the eve of the semi-final.
The NWHL announced Friday that no player or team member who traveled to Boston has tested positive for recent times.
Toronto players and staff face another mandatory two-week quarantine when they return to Canada, which they also served upon their return from Lake Placid.
“It’s definitely worth it,” Grant said. “We definitely wanted to win. That was our Plan.
“It sucks that we had to spend 14 days in quarantine without a cup. But I would have done it too, if only it had been, a match for fourth place or something like that. It doesn’t matter. Actually, I just wanted to play hockey.”
The digital platforms of NBCSN and NBC Sports are American broadcasters of Isobel Cup games broadcast on Twitch in Canada.
“It’s huge to be on NBC today, no matter the result, just for women’s sport,” Six captain Shiann Darkangelo said. “We are very happy to have played this Season.”
