Second Half of Season Begins for the Boston Blades

Happy 2017! Crazy to think another year has come and gone, but I hope 2016 treated all of you beautiful people extremely well!
It’s been awhile, but I believe I left off with Thanksgiving. With a flight to Calgary the day after Thanksgiving, the gals stuck around locally and enjoyed the amazing feast with family or friends families. I was fortunate enough to have joined my best friends family out in Walpole. My twin brother is also in Boston, so we were able to spend the holiday together, which is always nice. Thanksgiving happens to be one of my favorite holidays. There truly is so much to be grateful for, and obviously the food couldn’t be better! That being said, I am grateful for YOU!

The next morning came early, especially with a turkey hangover and food coma. The Bladies all met at the airport, boarded the flight, and were off to Calgary. For those who have never gone to Calgary, I definitely recommend it. I have been there before, so I could not wait to get back. We didn’t arrive until the early evening, but once we collected our bags we went straight to the hotel to check in. As you can imagine after a long flight we were all super hungry, so we treated ourselves to a nice sushi meal, after we got settled in.

You’re certainly able to disagree, but something about hotel beds just makes for a great night sleep. In the morning we had team breakfast, and then decided to go for a walk around town. It was super cold, but the views were beautiful. We found a little stream to walk around to get the blood flowing. Some of the gals decided to go nap, grab coffee, or even explore Calgary a bit more. The Roots store always draws attention to us, so that happened to be our first stop. From there we had another team meal at the Spaghetti Factory to get us ready for game #1. As soon as we got some pasta in us, we went back to the hotel to change and get ready to depart for the arena.

The arena that we played in was gorgeous, and the fans and the environment were incredible, so thank you all who came out to support! Game #1 also happened to be Erica Kromm’s (Calgary) 100th game playing in the CWHL, so both teams honored her before the puck drop. Great ceremony for an even better person! The hockey world is so small, and for the most part everybody knows everyone (or of everyone), so it’s a really cool experience having the opportunity to play against familiar faces. One of my best friends from Northeastern happens to play for Calgary as well, so it’s always a fun matchup. We ended up losing both games, but we played well and of course had a good time playing the game that we love. Huge shoutout to Hillberg and Berk company as well for the sponsorship and providing each of us with a couple of sets of earrings. The purpose of the second pair was to give to somebody in your life that inspires you everyday. I decided to share my sparkle with my teammate, from my time at Northeastern University, from the Team IMPACT organization. She is the strongest gal I know, and no doubt the earrings were a perfect fit! 

Our second game ended fairly early on Sunday afternoon, so the bus took the gals to Banff, Alberta. Also another incredible sight if you have not visited this beautiful place. It felt like we were in a postcard in the middle of the mountains. We had a few hours to explore the cute little town and checkout different restaurants and stores. It wasn’t until long before we were back on the bus and heading to the bus to catch our redeye flight back to Boston. The plane landed bright and early Monday morning, and the majority of us had to go straight to work. Overall a fantastic weekend spent with amazing people!

This takes us into the first week of December, but as you can guess we had our typical week of practices and then we hosted Montreal for a couple of games at our home arena(s). What made this weekend special was that quite a few of the players, from both teams, (Woodworth, Tutino, Watchhorn, Lefort, and Poulin) were returning back to Boston University to play a game at their old arena, Walter Brown. We also hosted an autograph signing for our fans to come meet some of us before our game on Saturday night. While these types of events are cool for the fans, we also have a lot of fun with them as well! Our first game was played at BU and our second gamewas played back at UMASS Boston. Both teams also supported the epilepsy foundation, and Chanda Gunn Made an appearance for the ceremonial puck drop. After two games Montreal heads back to Canada with two wins.

The following weekend Toronto hosted us for another two games. After game one the Bladies received our first win of the season! Both teams played really well, and ended up with a weekend split.

After another week of practice, work, homework, and the daily routines, we were back en route towards the Toronto area. This time, however, via bus. This meant that the gals had to meet outside of the TD Garden on Friday night in order to make it to Ontario, at somewhat of a reasonable hour, for us to get enough sleep before our first game. But get this, right before we got comfortable on the bus a couple of my teammates spotted Patrice Bergeron. After a few words were exchanged he wished us luck in Canada, and of course we were able to take a selfie with him. No picture no proof right?

So, many many hours later and we finally arrived at our destination in Brampton, Ontario. We got checked in and went right to sleep. Luckily we were able to sleep in a bit and then enjoy a nice breakfast buffet. After a great meal some of us decided to go for a team walk, nap, and get ready for game #1 against Brampton. Both teams battled hard, but after 120 minutes of play over the weekend Brampton added two more W’s to their list.

From here, the gals were able to head home for the holidays. Some drove, some flew, but this is always a great time for us to wind down and spend time with family and friends. Personally, I was fortunate enough to have flown home to California for the holidays and spend this amazing break with even more amazing people.

This leaves up to date, Tuesday, January 3rd, 2017. I hope everybody had an amazing holiday, whatever you celebrate, and rung in the New Year with your loved ones. It’s important to reflect on the good and even bad, in order to make 2017 even better.

A couple of reminders coming up; the Blades are hosting Montreal this upcoming weekend, January 7th and 8th, so be sure to check out a game or two if you’ve got the time to do so! Both of these games will be played at BU at the Walter Brown Arena. This also marks our heritage weekend, so fans are encouraged to participate in these events, meet and skate with the Blades, and celebrate 10 seasons of women’s professional hockey.

In addition, on Saturday, January 7th, the Blades will be hosting a pond hockey event from 9am-11am at the Patriot Place Rink at Gillette Stadium. This is a fun experience for both the fans and players to play some hockey and have a great time! Sign-ups can be found online.   

On Saturday night, we will also be doing our Teddy Bear Toss, so be sure to bring a Teddy Bear to the game! All bears will be tossed when the first goal is scored. All teddies will be donated to kids in need.

Sunday marks our heritage game, so I hope you are all ready to celebrate 10 years of professional women’s hockey and support your favorite team =)  

Lots of exciting events to forward to! Be sure to follow us Blades, myself, as well as the CWHL on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our webpage for more updates!

Hope to see you and meet you all soon!  Happy New Year to all, and I am wishing you all the very best in 2017!

Cheers,

Chels