Agganis Arena was lit up in green on Tuesday, and not for Saint Patrick’s Day, but for the Boston Fleet’s fourth game on Boston University’s campus this season.
The Fleet, Boston’s professional women’s hockey team, took on the Toronto Sceptres in front of a sold-out crowd of 6,095 fans. Although the night ended in a 2-0 loss for Boston, it certainly was a win for women’s sports.
“The year before we had a league, we were playing at local rinks at 9 a.m. in front of not many people, if any,” Fleet forward Jessie Eldridge said, following her debut game for Boston after being traded from the Seattle Torrent. “Visibility is the biggest thing we were fighting for the whole time.”
This sold-out night came less than two weeks after the Fleet announced an April 11 matchup against the Montréal Victoire at TD Garden. The Garden’s capacity of 17,800 will support a new U.S. attendance record for the PWHL. Public interest in women’s hockey is rapidly growing after the U.S. women’s hockey team won gold at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in February.
The Boston City Council declared March 17, 2026 as “Boston Fleet Olympic Medalist Day.” Four Fleet players earned medals during the Olympic Games. Defenders Megan Keller and Haley Winn and goaltender Aerin Frankel all won gold with Team USA, while forward Alina Müller won bronze with Team Switzerland. All four were recognized and celebrated throughout the game on Tuesday.
“Post-Olympics, it’s been really cool to see all the ticket sales go up everywhere across the league,” Winn said. “The fans were here for us today … we’re excited for a few home games here.”
Although the Fleet are based in Lowell’s Tsongas Center, Agganis Arena is also designated as a home venue. The loss versus Toronto was the Fleet’s first home game after the Olympic break.
“We go back to when [Haley] committed to Clarkson and she went to school for four years, there was no real place for her to play after college,” said Winn’s brother Tommy. “To be able to do this for a living, and in front of amazing fans, it’s really cool to see.”
During the Olympics, Haley Winn’s three brothers, Casey, Ryan and Tommy, went viral on TikTok while supporting their sister. On Tuesday, the brothers participated in the ceremonial puck drop and intermission activities throughout the game
“You have all the young talent that we’ve been able to watch, because Haley’s been playing with them coming up,” Ryan Winn said. “The product is so good that it deserves more attention.”
Both the Fleet and the Sceptres brought a competitive fire to this matchup, especially as both are still in the hunt for playoff berths.
“Every team’s getting better right now,” said Fleet head coach Kris Sparre. “We’re going to … see if we can give the players something to get excited about, going into our next game down the stretch.”
The Fleet currently have a 9-5-2-4 record, tying the Minnesota Frost for first in the league. The Sceptres left Agganis with an 8-1-5-8 record, good for fourth in the standings.
But the Fleet’s record clearly meant nothing to the Sceptres on Tuesday night.
After two periods of equal momentum by both teams, Sceptres forward Daryl Watts opened the scoring at 8:59 in the third period, assisted by defender Kali Flanagan. It was a rare score against Fleet goalie Aerin Frankel, who only allowed two goals on 99 shots at the Olympics. Frankel recorded 28 saves on 29 shots against Toronto as the Agganis crowd chanted her name.
“It was just really entertaining and so much fun in the third period,” Watts said. “Great pass by Kali [Flanagan], and we just got a break and capitalized. Such a tight game, we’re just glad we came out on top with the last 15 minutes in the third.”
Toronto forward Blayre Turnbull scored an empty-net goal with 27 seconds remaining to finish out the matchup, finalizing the score at 2-0, Toronto.
Although the thousands of Boston Fleet fans in Agganis Arena didn’t get the outcome they were hoping for, there were a number of things to celebrate: A sold-out crowd and Olympic gold medalists, all in an environment BU has fueled to continue to draw attention to women’s sports.
