Nicole Hensley makes 33 saves, Minnesota holds off Boston 3-2 in PWHL debut
MINNEAPOLIS — Taylor Heise and Sophia Kunin each scored less than eight minutes into the game, Nicole Hensley made 33 saves and Minnesota beat Boston 3-2 on Wednesday night in the Professional Women's Hockey League debut for both franchises.
Heise, the No. 1 overall pick, scored the first goal in Minnesota history — and the first league goal scored on American ice early in the first period.
"I think it's poetic. How could you write the script any better? She's one of the best players to come out of the University of Minnesota program and there she just proved it," fan and former hockey player June Mendoza said.
Kunin capitalized on another Boston turnover and beat Aerin Frankel with a shot from the circle.
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Theresa Schafzahl, a former star for Vermont, scored the first goal in PWHL Boston history, cutting Minnesota's lead to 2-1 at 7:59 of the second period. But Grace Zumwinkle, a University of Minnesota alum, scored just 55 seconds later with a shot off the crossbar from the slot to regain a two-goal advantage.
Megan Keller sent in a shot from the blue line for a power-play goal with 2:40 to go. But Hensley sealed it with a glove save at the final horn.
Minnesota had just one week to prepare — for Boston and four-time Olympian Hilary Knight — with its new coach Ken Klee after Charlie Burggraf suddenly resigned during the holiday break.
Jillian Hiscock, the owner of "A Bar of Their Own" — the first fully dedicated bar to showing women's sports exclusively on their TVs — partnered with the Woman's Club of Minneapolis to host a watch party. Her bar doesn't open until March.
"To me, there's something about watching sports in a community that feels really powerful, so knowing we can't do that yet, it's great to have another space we can do that at," Hiscock said.
Women there recognized just how important a league like PWHL is.
"There's going to be little girls ice skating, looking at that and saying, 'She's from Minnesota, she grew up a block from me, that's going to be me someday,'" fan Grace Cooper said.
Minnesota plays its home opener at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday against Montreal.
