DETROIT – Professional Women’s Hockey League fans in Detroit set a new U.S. attendance record on Saturday.
There were 13,736 women’s hockey fans at Little Caesars Arena for the matchup between Ottawa and Boston. The previous record was set this season during Minnesota’s home opener against Montréal on Jan. 6, which had 13,316 fans.
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“It was pretty special to play in front of this crowd. They were loud all night. Especially coming home to Michigan and bringing the PWHL here is awesome to be a part of and hopefully it’s not the last time that we’re playing here. Hopefully there were a lot of young girls in the crowd here tonight and now they have something to look forward to and look up to once they’re our age,” Boston defender Megan Keller, a Michigan native, said.
Boston’s Hilary Knight gave her team an early 1-0 lead just 3:05 into the game. Ottawa forward Emily Clark evened the score to 1-1 at 15:20 of the first period. The score remained even the rest of the game, with shots ending up tied as well at 26-26.
“They were playing a pretty physical game and I think at the end of the third we kind of just allowed them to play physical. Heading into overtime, it was making sure we matched their energy, trying to get good changes and catch them tired. You saw some back and forth, really huge chances in the three on three, so I think we were lucky to get away into the shootout. Then it was just great to put that away,” Boston head coach Courtney Kessel said.
The game went into overtime and then into a shootout with Boston claiming 2-1 victory over Ottawa.
“Every game is a big game. That’s the joy of this league. It was a great effort. It was back and forth. We had our chances. We’re working to find our way when the extra time comes but this isn’t a set back. This is just part of us getting better and building. The momentum that we’ve had in the last three, four or five games is noticeable. There’s no doubt in our mind that we will continue to do what we are doing. We will be able to reap the results a little bit better,” Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod said.