Boston Pride

The Boston Pride was a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They were one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL; 2015–2021). The Pride played at Warrior Ice Arena, which is also the practice facility for the Boston Bruins of the NHL. They 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. History First seasons The Pride were announced as one of the four founding teams in the National Women's Hockey League, the first women's hockey league in North America to pay its players a salary, to begin play in the 2015–16 season. In May 2015, the Pride announced the hiring of Bobby Jay as their head coach. Jay was previously an assistant coach for the silver medal-winning 2014 U.S. Women's Olympic Team, and on the coaching staff of the U.S. Women's National Team at the IIHF Women's World Championships in 2012 and 2013, and the Four Nations Cup in 2011, 2012, and 2013. The team announced its inaugural season would play home games at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center at Harvard University in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. In June 2015, Amanda Pelkey became the first player to sign a player contract with the Pride. 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.