PWHL Boston came within one win of taking home the first ever Walter Cup in Year 1 of the league.
Canadian national team veteran Jamie Lee Rattray knows how close they were and she likes her team’s chances of finishing the coming season on the other end of that scoreline this year.
Now known as the Boston Fleet after the league announced official names for each of its markets, Rattray has a ton of reasons to believe that Boston will be so much quicker out of the gate in Year 2.
“At first when you looked at the roster, it had a little bit of everything, kind of a miscellaneous group, and I really thought we found a way to come together at the end of the year and I truly believe that is why we did so well,” Rattray said.
“Everyone already knows each other. We kind of have that base already and I think that will make a world of difference to start off the year.”
There was no question the Boston group had the talent from the opening puck drop last season. A team that boasted U.S. national team stalwarts Hillary Knight, Megan Keller and Aerin Frankel was augmented by players like Rattray, a veteran of the Canadian national team, not to mention up-and-coming stars like Swiss forward Alina Muller and Kitchener native Loren Gabel.
But, as Rattray pointed out, it was a rather diverse group in both nationality and experience level.
A look at the way the league started last season and you find there were huge gaps in terms of teams that found their chemistry quickly and those that took a little time.
Boston was at the end of the latter spectrum. But when they did find that chemistry, it was a wake-up call for the rest of the league.
“I think the three-week worlds break (for the IIHF women’s world championship) was tough in a lot of different ways for everyone,” Rattray said. “For the girls that were at worlds, it was a heavy schedule. It can be a little taxing mentally and physically. For the girls that were still training back in their markets, I think that was still tough because we had a lot of girls away, but I do believe the girls found a way to bond during those three weeks.
“There was a lot more time to hang out, so we were able to spend more quality time together and I truly believe that was a big, big turning point for us,” she added. “When a lot of us got back from worlds, we kind of hit the ground running because the girls had been spending so much time together.”
From that point on, Boston was a team no one wanted to face. All five of their final five regular-season games after the break were one-goal games and Boston won four of them. Being battle-tested is a good way to enter the playoffs and even facing a formidable and favoured Montreal team, Boston — with some of the best goaltending of the season by a red-hot Aerin Frankel — swept Montreal in three consecutive overtime games.
The Walter Cup final didn’t go Boston’s way, but the series went the distance and Boston more than held its own.
The break for the world championship was good on so many levels for Rattray. Competing for Canada for the seventh time in her career, she came away with her third gold medal. Meanwhile, back in Boston, her club team was rounding into form.
“I do believe that was a big part of it,” she said of the international break. “Like I said before we kind of had a miscellaneous group from all different places and different teams. Sometimes it just takes time. You look at the teams around the league, some came together really quick and some took a little bit longer. There’s no right recipe all the time, but I truly believe that break was really, really good for us.”
Rattray has added reasons to expect Boston will pick up right where they left off.
A good draft that started with the selection of U.S. national team rising star Hannah Bilka was followed by a deft draft-day trade that saw Boston move up the draft board to the top of the second round, where they grabbed veteran Czechia national team standout defender Daniela Pejsova. She is only 22, but has been playing in the Swedish elite league since she was 16 while representing her homeland every chance she has gotten.
That’s two huge additions to an already stacked lineup.
“I think we got everything we needed,” Rattray said when asked about the draft.
“On paper we have a really good roster,” she added. “I think the one year of experience will be big. We had a lot of players coming right out of university as well and I think the one year out of college will make a big difference. Young legs and young speed is all great, but I do believe experience helps as well and I do believe we have a good mix now that we have a year under our belts.”
On the experience front, another mid-season turning point for the team came when GM Danielle Marmer dealt a previously struggling young defender in Sophie Jaques to Minnesota for veteran Finnish forward Susanna Tapani and defender Abby Cook.
The deal was one of those that saw the key figures take off in each of their new markets with Tapani solidifying the centre position in Boston and Jaques bolstering Minnesota’s offence from the blue line.
Rattray is recently back from a Canadian national team camp and expects to join her Boston teammates in a couple of weeks to get a few skates in before training camp officially opens.
Topping the experience of the inaugural season of the PWHL is going to be tough, but Rattray only sees better things ahead.
“For us to finally get to a point where everything really felt like it was at our finger tips and we really, truly got to play hockey as our career was really special,” Rattray said of Year 1. “I had a blast. Being able to just go to the rink every day and not think about anything else was really, really fun and a little bit surreal.
“I’m really looking forward to the second year, too, because now we know what to expect and I can only imagine how much bigger it is going to be,” she said.