(Photo courtesy of Boston Fleet Athletics) “Fleet goalie #31 Aerin Frankel makes a save en route to a shutout in the regular season opener.”
Jason Cooke
Connector Editor
Hosting the Montréal Victoire at the Tsongas Center, the Boston Fleet dropped the puck on its 30-game season last Sunday.
The Fleet is embarking on its third year in the PWHL and has called Lowell home for the previous two campaigns. However, this season, Boston will only play eight games in the Mill City, a decrease from the 11 the team played a year ago. Four of their home games are set to be held at Agganis Arena at Boston University instead.
The Fleet missed the postseason last year after posting a lowly 9-6-5-10 record after advancing to the Walter Cup Finals in the debut season of the new league in 2024. Boston ultimately fell in an all-important fifth game to the Minnesota Frost, a game that boasted a lot of hype and triggered ticket prices to soar at the Tsongas.
That said, a lot has happened in the PWHL since then. Expansion rocked the league, with the Vancouver Goldeneyes and the Seattle Torrent joining as the seventh and eighth teams, creating a shockwave of implications throughout the existing original six clubs.
Boston certainly felt the hit, relinquishing star player and team captain Hilary Knight in the expansion process while also losing promising young skaters in Hannah Bilka and Sydney Bard. Knight, who led Boston in scoring last season (15-14-29), is a big loss.
Boston also has a new coach and a plethora of new players on its roster. Here is everything you need to know about the Fleet this season.
Kris Sparre was named Boston’s new head coach last summer after the departure of Courtney Kessel, who served as the bench boss for the team’s first two seasons. She left to coach at Princeton.
Sparre has a laundry list of coaching experience, including in the American Hockey League, and will be looking to inject life into a roster that has 12 new faces on it. Sparre has already made his presence known behind the bench and on the ice. During training camp, the new coach was seen buzzing around the ice with the team, encouraging them during drills.
Megan Keller, who donned the “A” the last two seasons, has been promoted to team captain to replace Knight’s leadership role. Keller has been a mainstay on the backend for Boston and was fourth on the team last year in points (5-8-13).
Keller succeeds the most in the consistency department and hasn’t missed a game for Boston yet. She’s skated in all 54 regular-season games and eight postseason matchups, and she has been a solid two-way defender.
“This is a huge honor,” Keller said in a press release. “It’s so special to be a part of this team and especially this leadership group. It’s an important task at hand and I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity ahead.”
The Fleet signed all six draft picks taken in the draft last summer. All of them are expected to be impact players. Haley Winn, however, has emerged as a clear-cut favorite to log a lot of minutes for Sparre this season.
Winn is a dynamic two-way defender who has impressed so far in training camp. She skated with Keller on Boston’s top defensive pairing in a recent preseason game against Montreal in what is expected to be a dangerous combination.
Winn played college hockey at Clarkson and tallied 14-32-38 in her last season. Elsewhere, look for returning stalwarts Alina Müller (7-12-19) and Susanna Tapani (11-7-18) to lead the offense behind standout goaltender Aerin Frankel.
“We’ve built a roster that reflects exactly who we want to be as a team- fast, physical, and relentless in every zone,” said the Fleet’s general manager, Danielle Marmer, in a press release. “This group brings a blend of proven experience and hungry new talent, and they’ve shown from day one that they’re willing to put in the work. We’re excited for Boston to see a team that competes with purpose and plays with identity every single night.”
