Fleet to host Victoire at TD Garden in April
Two of the PWHL’s rivals are set to face off under the big top.
The league announced on Tuesday that the Boston Fleet will host the Montreal Victoire at TD Garden, home to the Boston Bruins, on April 11.
Laura Marie Davey, the Fleet’s business operations director, says it’s “an exciting milestone” for the team.
“Playing at such an iconic venue presents an incredible opportunity to showcase the PWHL on one of the biggest stages in sports and to connect with fans from across Greater Boston,” Davey said in a release.
The game will mark the fourth of five meetings between the Victoire and Fleet this season. The two Original Six teams will wrap up their season series the following week in Laval.
Playing in NHL barns is nothing new to the league. The Minnesota Frost have been calling Grand Casino Arena, the Minnesota Wild’s home rink, home since their inception, while the Seattle Torrent are sharing Climate Pledge Arena with the Seattle Kraken. Not to mention the fact that all of the league’s Takeover Tour games for the past three years have come in some of North America’s largest arenas.
Along with being home to the Bruins and the NBA’s Boston Celtics, the TD Garden, in its 30th year of operation, has quietly become a home for significant women’s sporting events. The arena – originally known as the Fleet Center – has housed the Women’s Beanpot for the last two years, as well as holding a couple of WNBA games featuring the Connecticut Sun over the past two seasons.
This will be the first time the Fleet will be playing in the biggest arena in town. The franchise has mainly called the Tsongas Center in Lowell home for the first two-plus seasons. Boston has also played at Agganis Arena, home to Boston University’s men’s hockey team, a few times. The Fleet lost to the Victoire and Toronto Sceptres at the Terriers’ barn last March. The team is scheduled to play four home games at Agganis this season, starting this week with matchups against the Vancouver Goldeneyes (Wednesday) and Minnesota Frost (Sunday).
Puck drop between the Victoire and Fleet at ‘Tha Gahden’ is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.