The Boston Pride were a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. It was one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). The Pride played at Warrior Ice Arena, which is also the practice facility for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. The Pride won the inaugural Isobel Cup in 2016 and became the first professional women's ice hockey team to win three championship titles when they claimed consecutive victories in 2021 and 2022.
The team folded at the end of the 2023 season, when the PHF's assets were purchased and the league dissolved as part of the process of creating a new, unified, women's professional league.
The team played their first game with a 4–1 victory over the Buffalo Beauts. Hilary Knight scored the first goal in franchise history and would also record the first multi-goal game in NWHL history. The Pride's first win was recorded by Brittany Ott, simultaneously becoming the first American-born goaltender to win an NWHL regular season game. During a 5–3 road win against the Buffalo Beauts, Brianna Decker scored the first hat-trick in NWHL history. In November 2015, Briana Decker and Hilary Knight were named co-captains of the Pride.
On December 31, 2015, the Boston Pride played the Les Canadiennes de Montréal of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) to a 1–1 tie in the 2016 Outdoor Women's Classic at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which took place the day before the 2016 NHL Winter Classic. It was the first outdoor professional women's hockey, the first women's game sanctioned by the NHL, and the only game ever played between NWHL and CWHL team. In the second period of the game, Denna Laing crashed into the boards and suffered a career ending injury. A rally of support resulted in funds raised for the Denna Laing Foundation. At the end of the season, Laing was awarded the NWHL's Foundation Award and the Perseverance Award, which was later named after her.
The Pride finished the league's inaugural season with the best record, earning the top seed in the Isobel Cup playoffs. The team then swept both the semifinals and finals over the New York Riveters and Buffalo Beauts, respectively. Decker was named the season's Most Valuable Player and Knight was the top scorer.
For their second season, the team moved their home games to Warrior Ice Arena, the practice arena of the NHL's Boston Bruins, in the Boston neighborhood of Brighton. On April 28, 2016, the Pride acquired the rights to Alex Carpenter, the first overall pick in the 2015 NWHL Draft, from the New York Riveters for rights to Miye D'Oench, the Pride's 2015 fourth round pick. On February 2, 2017, the team traded Zoe Hickel to Connecticut Whale for their first pick in the 2017 NWHL Draft. The Pride led the league by a large margin, earning a 16–1–0 record over 17 games. The Pride then lost to the Buffalo Beauts in the Isobel Cup final. Decker was named the NWHL's Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season and also led the league in scoring.
On May 30, 2018, Paul Mara was named head coach for the 2018–19 season and inaugural Pride member Marissa Gedman retired from playing to join the staff as an assistant coach. The Pride again finished third during the regular season and lost in the semifinal game to Buffalo. Johnny McInnis was hired as an assistant coach for the Pride in the 2020–21 season.
Owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the NWHL announced a two-week, single-site season to be played at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, from January 23 to February 5, 2021. The Riveters were forced to withdraw early due to too many positive cases of COVID-19, leading to a schedule alteration with the Pride and the Beauts playing each other in a three-game series to determine the fourth seed, which the Pride won. The single-site season was curtailed prior to the playoffs due to an excessive outbreak of COVID-19 among all teams and personnel in Lake Placid. The postseason was rescheduled for March 26 and 27 at the Pride's home arena in Brighton. The Pride then defeated the top seeded Toronto Six before winning their second Isobel Cup by defeating the Minnesota Whitecaps 4–3 in the championship game.
On March 10, 2022, the Pride and PHF announced that Willie O'Ree had joined the team's ownership group.
The Pride finished the 2021–22 season as the #3 seed in the playoffs. Boston outscored the Buffalo Beauts and Toronto Six by a combined 11–1 margin en route to the Championship game against the Connecticut Whale. On March 28, 2022, the Pride repeated as PHF champions beating the Whale 3–2. Taylor Wenczkowski scored the Isobel Cup-winning goal for the second year in a row and was named MVP of the Isobel Cup playoffs.
Won Isobel Cup Championship over Buffalo Beauts |
Lost Isobel Cup Championship to Buffalo Beauts |
Lost semifinal game to Buffalo Beauts |
Lost semifinal game to Buffalo Beauts |
Qualified for Isobel Cup Championship vs. Minnesota Whitecaps Championship cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic |
Won Isobel Cup Championship over Minnesota Whitecaps |
Won Isobel Cup Championship over Connecticut Whale |
Lost semifinal round to Minnesota Whitecaps |
Coaching staff and team personnel
Kendall Coyne of the Northeastern Huskies women's ice hockey program was the first player ever drafted by the Boston Pride, selected in the first round, third overall in 2015.
Huskies |
Crimson |
Eagles |
Crimson |
Golden Knights |
October 11, 2015 |
October 25, 2015 |
October 11, 2015 |
October 11, 2015 |
October 11, 2015 |
March 4, 2016 |
March 4, 2016 |
March 4, 2016 |
March 4, 2016 |
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