On 17 March 2026, the Toronto Sceptres visited the Boston Fleet at the Agganis arena for the two teams’ third match of the season. At puck drop the Fleet were 9-5-2-3 (39p and 68.4p%) in first place in the league standings, while the Sceptres were 7-1-5-8 (31p and 47.0p%) sitting in an approximate tie with Ottawa for fourth place. Both clubs were coming into this game after a win on Sunday afternoon. Toronto turned to Raygan Kirk after her shutout against Seattle on Sunday, while Boston started Aerin Frankel.

The Fleet opened the first period with momentum, placing three shot attempts in the Sceptres zone in the opening two minutes, but Hadley Hartmetz took a hooking penalty at 2:04 to curb some of the momentum. Despite being shorthanded, Shay Maloney was sprung on a breakaway, but wasn’t able to put the puck past Kirk, keeping the score deadlocked at one. The game stalled into defensive trapping before a Maloney hooking penalty in the ninth minute, but the ensuing Toronto woman advantage only yielded two shots on goal. In the thirteenth minute, the Fleet applied pressure with a flurry of shots from Loren Gabel, Liz Schepers, and Jamie Lee Rattray, but the score remained at zero. Inside the final five minutes, the Sceptres made a push to get pucks to the Boston net, but Frankel kept the net empty. An Emma Maltais cross check ended the Toronto surge in the final minute. Shots on goal were even at eight after one.

Boston’s power play was largely ineffective to start the period, but Allie Munroe sent them back to the advantage for a hold almost as quickly as it ended. Unfortunately for the Fleet, the second powerplay was just as low event as the first. And low event hockey took gold through the midway point in the middle frame. Rattray went to the box for a slash at 12:09, sending Toronto’s power play unit back out. Maloney and Schepers had a pair of quick looks for Boston on the penalty kill, but neither were able to finish. After a largely quiet two minutes, the Sceptres landed a series of looks at the Boston net from their defenders, but nothing made it past Frankel. With only three shots making it to the net in the final five minutes of the frame, the 0-0 draw coasted into the second intermission. Shots on goal were once again even at eight.

The Fleet surged in the opening five minutes of the third. Eight shot attempts, five of which made it to the goal were launched, but Kirk was dialed in, keeping the scoreboard clean. The Sceptres responded with a surge of their own. In the fifth minute, they hemmed the Fleet down, landing seven shots on Frankel; however, it was the eighth one from Daryl Watts at 8:59 that broke the tie, giving the Sceptres a 1-0 lead. Thirteen seconds after the goal, Blayre Turnbull went to the  box, putting the Fleet back on the advantage. Keller and Tapani both had a look with the power play, but once again, Kirk was up to the task. As the clock became Boston’s enemy, they failed to consistently get to the attacking zone to mount their comeback for the tying goal. In the sixteenth minute, the Sceptres took control of the game, hemming Boston in their zone, and forced them to defend. Frankel didn’t make it to the bench until 18:39 in the period, and Maloney placed the only shot on Kirk with the net empty. Turnbull placed an empty net goal with twenty-seven seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Overall, this is the third straight game where the Sceptres have played the way they need to play. Despite only scoring twice in this game, the Sceptres’ goals-for-per-game increased to 1.95 (7th in the league). Lockdown defense and trusting Kirk for anything that gets through is their best path to victory when the offense almost (5 games with 3+ goals) never gets going. For the Fleet, this is their second loss in four games. Boston is the epitome of a team that plays lock down defense and trusts their goalie, but it was clear the night before this game that Danielle Marmer knew this team might not have the high-end talent to turn an impressive season into a legitimate Walter Cup run. Jessie Eldridge will practice with the Fleet ahead of Saturday’s game against Seattle, making for a better barometer of where this team is at.