6,120 fans attended Boston Fleet Fan Appreciation afternoon at Tsongas Center to close the 2025-26 regular season.
The Boston Fleet kicked off the game with a slow first period, managing one shot on net, compared to the Sirens’ 16.
The team took two early penalties, the first from Riley Brengman for delay of the game, and the second from Rylind MacKinnon. However, the Sirens stayed off the boards.
The Fleet offense struggled early on, getting their first shot on goal 11 minutes into the game. At that point, the Sirens already had eight shots.
Following the game, head coach Kris Sparre spoke about the slow start.
“I think that the coffee machine was broken in our locker room, and then we found a way to scratch a claw back,” Sparre said.
It was a defensive period for the Fleet, who were outshot 16-1 in the first intermission.
The team improved their performance in the second period, recording 6 shots on goal, but the game remained scoreless. Physicality also increased in the second, and Aerin Frankel kept the team in it through the first two periods.
“[We] didn't have the start that we wanted to. [We were] asleep a little bit there in the first and the second,” Captain Megan Keller said after the game. “But credit to Aerin. She's best in the world for a reason, kept us in that game, and I thought the team did a great job of adjusting into the third.”
The Fleet delivered in the third, scoring three times against Sirens’ goaltender Callie Shanahan. Jessie Eldridge opened the scoring 2:53 into the third. Ella Huber added the second eight minutes in. Haley Winn scored the third, and Jill Saulnier netted an empty-netter.
The momentum picked up towards the end of the game, the Fleet doing their part in the push for the number one seed in the playoffs.
The team now awaits the results of the Montreal Victoire-Seattle Torrent game tonight to determine their playoff spot.
“We want to play our best hockey going into the playoffs. There were certainly some components to that game that I really, really liked, not so much, obviously, in the first period, but in the third, I thought we found our rhythm,” Sparre said. “That's what we preach. It doesn't always happen that way, but we're certainly really proud of our group and everything that they've done this year.”
Megan Keller echoed the head coach's statement.
“It always takes everybody, every single night, to win, and off the ice, we're such a special group, such a close group, and you feel that in the locker room. I think that's what ultimately helps us on the ice….and obviously Aerin Frankel as well.”
The Fleet will play their first playoff game on Thursday at the Tsongas Center.