When the Boston Fleet announced back in December that they would be playing a game at TD Garden for the first time, general manager Danielle Marmer was hopeful they could draw a good crowd.
Usually, the Fleet play their home games in Lowell at the Tsongas Center, although they’ve also started to play at Agganis Arena on BU’s campus for select dates as well. But playing at the Garden, the most important rink in New England, offered them a unique opportunity that Marmer said marked a special milestone in the club’s history.
“Hopefully, we can create a fanbase that’s a little bit bigger than what Tsongas and Agganis can hold combined for this game,” Marmer said. “So, they deserve to be able to watch our team play in an atmosphere like that.”
Those hopes, and then some, were exceeded Saturday night when the Fleet hosted the Montréal Victoire in front of a sell-out crowd of 17,850—the second largest crowd to ever watch a women’s hockey game in a U.S. arena.
And while the Fleet fell 1-0 to their rivals from the north, it was still a night that just about everyone in the building will remember.
Saturday’s game could have been played on a frozen pond and it would have been a big deal. Coming into the matchup, Montréal and Boston had the two best records in the PWHL as the season winds down. And whenever these two cities meet on the ice, there’s plenty of bad feelings to go around — as evidenced by the multiple scuffles and nine penalties dished out between the two squads.
“Yeah, it’s no secret we have a rivalry with them, it gets physical out there,” Fleet captain Megan Keller said. “We see them a lot and saw them in playoffs in year one. And we’re at the top right now kind of battling for home ice in playoffs.”
Add in the extra frosting of the first PWHL game at TD Garden, and the recipe was perfect for a classic Boston crowd.
Those fans didn’t disappoint. On a day that was declared “Hockey Day in Boston” at the Garden as the venue hosted a Bruins-Fleet double-header, the Fleet crew came prepared with everything from homemade signs to tributes to TV sensation “Heated Rivalry.” (Cast member Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova was shown sitting in the crowd in her own Fleet jersey.)
While neither Boston team ended up with a win on Saturday, the night was a success by just about any metric. And Fleet head coach Kris Sparre is hopeful the team will be able to return to the Garden in the future.
“You know, it’s unfortunate that we’re not able to get the win here tonight,” he said. “But so many positives when you look at what we were able to do, sell out the TD Garden in Boston. You know, this one’s bigger than just a hockey game.”
And Keller said it was special to play at the Garden.
“You know the first time a lot of us... have played in this building was pretty special,” she said. “And I think we’ve all felt it after the Olympics, the buzz around women’s hockey and around our league and every venue we’re going into, it’s loud and the seats are filled and the fans are passionate, so it’s an exciting time for us.”
