Pride top Whale in NWHL game in Bridgeport

PRIDE 3

WHALE 0

BRIDGEPORT — The experience was surreal, Sarah Hughson said, playing a National Women’s Hockey League game in an 8,500seat arena Saturday afternoon.

“It’s very exciting to play in rinks like this,” said Hughson, a forward for the Connecticut Whale. “We don’t get to do that very often.”

This was the first NWHL doubleheader with an American Hockey League team. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Webster Bank Arena’s main tenant, played the Hershey Bears on Saturday night.

The Whale lost 3-0 to the first-place Boston Pride, giving up two goals in the first period but holding the Pride off the board again until a late empty-net goal.

Attendance was 957, filling sections behind the teams’ benches.

“It was a great turnout. Obvously not the outcome we wanted, but the girls played well,” Whale general manager and Greenwich native Bray Ketchum said.

“It was a good outcome in terms of fan base. Showing the league to a new fan base is always important, and the Sound Tigers did a great job putting this whole event on. We want to thank them again.”

The Whale’s regular home rink is Danbury Ice Arena. With two regularseason games left, both next weekend at secondplace Minnesota, they are 2-18-2.

On the bright side, all five teams make the playoffs. Their second win was four games ago, and the three losses since have been close.

“The Whale’s such a great organization. Everyone who plays with us works hard. We get along really well,” Hughson said. “Even though our season doesn’t show how well we do, we’re a very good team. We work together really well.”

Hughson grew up in Moodus; she still has family there, though she lives in Cheshire now. She played hockey and lacrosse at Elmira College, so it’s nice, she said, to play at home again in front of friends and family.

And she’d welcome a stronger relationship between the fifth-year NWHL and one of the men’s pro teams in the state.

“A partnership with an AHL team — Connecticut, that’s all we have, no (NHL) teams here — so with Bridgeport or Hartford, it would be unreal to play in facilities like this,” Hughson said. “Everyone was really excited. The staff here has been great. This was very organized.”

The Pride scored 8:34 into the game, McKenna Brand’s 18th, second by one to Minnesota’s Allie Thunstrom.

Christina Putigna, who’d assisted on Brand’s goal, made it 2-0 on a power play late in the first. Mary Parker’s empty-netter finished it with 2:02 left.

The Whale players then headed to the concourse to greet a long line of fans waiting for autographs.

“It’s great to show our league to a new men’s league,” Ketchum said. “The NHL has been a great support for us, and now the AHL is getting involved. It’s great to grow the game.”