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Date | December 31, 2015 | ||||||||||||
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Arena | Gillette Stadium | ||||||||||||
City | Foxborough, Massachusetts |
The 2016 Outdoor Women's Classic presented by Scotiabank was an ice hockey game played on December 31, 2015, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, between the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League and Les Canadiennes of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. It was the first outdoor ice hockey game between professional women's teams; it ended in a 1–1 tie. [1] The game was played one day before the 2016 NHL Winter Classic, between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens.
Publicity around the game was kept to a minimum after a report surfaced on December 5 that there would be a game between the two teams. On December 28, the game was officially announced, although players felt that it was overshadowed by other game-day events, including an NHL alumni game that followed the women's game. [2]
The game was played in two 15-minute periods, with running time. [3] Montreal's Kim Deschenes scored the first goal of the game at 3:15 of the first period, while Blake Bolden registered the game-tying goal for Boston late in the second period. [1]
During the game, Pride player Denna Laing stepped on a stick and crashed into the boards head first. Removed from the ice on a stretcher, she was taken to the hospital. [4] On January 8, 2016, Laing's family announced that she had suffered a severe spinal cord injury and that she had limited movement of her arms and no feeling in her legs. [5]
Les Canadiennes de Montréal were a professional women's ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 2007 as the Montreal Stars, they competed in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) in every season. The team appeared in and won the Clarkson Cup the most times out of any CWHL teams with four championships.
Jillian T. Dempsey is an American ice hockey player who currently captains the Boston Pride in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She currently holds the all-time PHF records for games played, goals, assists, and points, and has won both the Clarkson Cup and the Isobel Cup.
The 2016 NHL Winter Classic was an outdoor ice hockey game played in the National Hockey League (NHL) on January 1, 2016, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The eighth edition of the Winter Classic, it matched the Montreal Canadiens against the Boston Bruins; the Canadiens won, 5–1, a significant event in one of the NHL's best-known rivalries. A Bruins and Canadiens alumni game was also played on December 31, 2015. The Boston Pride women's professional hockey team played before the alumni game against Les Canadiennes of the Canadian Women's Hockey League to a 1–1 tie in the first ever 2016 Outdoor Women's Classic.
The Premier Hockey Federation or PHF was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established as the National Women's Hockey League or NWHL in 2015, at which time it comprised four league-owned teams. Over time, some teams gained independent ownership and the number of teams grew to seven: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, Minnesota Whitecaps, Montreal Force and Toronto Six.
The Metropolitan Riveters are a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink.
The Boston Pride are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League. The Pride play 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 2015–16 Boston Pride season was the first in franchise history and participated in the National Women's Hockey League's inaugural season.
Blake Alexis Bolden is an American ice hockey player and scout for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). On October 11, 2015, she became the first African-American player to compete in the National Women's Hockey League. She won the 2015 Clarkson Cup with the Boston Blades of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). In 2016, she won the Isobel Cup with the Boston Pride of the NWHL.
Kaleigh Fratkin is a Canadian women's ice hockey player with the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). The second-longest tenured player and leading scorer among defenders in PHF history, she was the first Canadian player to sign a contract in the league, is a five-time PHF all-star, and is a two-time PHF Defender of the Year in 2020 and 2021. She was also a member of the Boston Pride roster that captured the 2021 and 2022 Isobel Cup, and was one of three 2023 PHF All-Star captains. Previous to the joining the NWHL, she won the Clarkson Cup in 2015 and was the first girl to play boys' midget AAA hockey in British Columbia.
Alyssa Marie Gagliardi is an American ice hockey defender currently with the PWHPA. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, Gagliardi is one of the first women from Raleigh to become a professional ice hockey player.
Shannon Turnernée Doyle is a retired Canadian ice hockey player. She served as captain of the Connecticut Whale of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).
Denna Christine Laing is an American former professional ice hockey player. She last played for the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) until a career-ending injury. At the collegiate level, she accumulated 77 points while competing for the Princeton Tigers women's ice hockey program from 2010 to 2014. She was also the captain her junior and senior year.
Kim Deschênes is a Canadian ice hockey player, currently signed with the Montreal Force of the Premier Hockey Federation. She played five seasons with the Canadiennes de Montreal of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), until the league ceased operations in 2019.
The 2017–18 NWHL season was the third season of the National Women's Hockey League. All four teams from the previous two seasons returned for this season: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, and the Metropolitan Riveters.
The 2018–19 NWHL season is the fourth season of the National Women's Hockey League. All four teams from the previous three seasons returned: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, and the Metropolitan Riveters while the Minnesota Whitecaps entered the league as an expansion team bringing the league to five teams.
The 2019–20 NWHL season was the fifth season of the National Women's Hockey League. All five teams from the previous season returned: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, and the Minnesota Whitecaps.
The Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, abbreviated PWHPA, is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to advocating for the promotion of professional women's ice hockey. It was founded in May 2019 following the dissolution of the Canadian Women's Hockey League, which only paid stipends, and player's dissatisfaction in the operations of the National Women's Hockey League. Their goal is to create a sustainable professional league for women's ice hockey in North America.
Since 2016, the year of its inaugural season, the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) grants several annual awards to players in the league, including Most Valuable Player, Goaltender of the Year, Best Defender, Rookie of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Denna Laing Award, Foundation Award, Offensive Player of the Year, and the Fans' Three Stars of the Season. The award for Most Valuable Player is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. Nominees for the Foundation Award are chosen by the Players Association and voted on by fans. Other awards are voted on a panel of journalists.
Kelly Cooke is an American ice hockey official, currently serving as a referee in the American Hockey League (AHL). A retired ice hockey forward, she played with the Boston Blades of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) during the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons, and with the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation during the 2015–16 season. Her college ice hockey career was spent with the Princeton Tigers in the ECAC Hockey conference of the NCAA Division 1.
Alexandria "Lexie" Laing is an American ice hockey forward, currently playing for the Minnesota Whitecaps of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).