As we found out yesterday, the Outdoor Women's Classic will be held at 2:00pm at Gillette Stadium, the site of the NHL Winter Classic between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens.
- The Game: Boston Pride (NWHL) vs Les Canadiennes de Montreal (CWHL)
- Where: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
- When: 2:00pm on Thursday, December 31, before the NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game
- Format: Two 15-minute periods.
- Press release: NHL.com
So... We found out about this kind of late.
The report of Boston filling in their lineup with other NWHL players turned out to be true. Here are the official rosters, with players who play with other teams noted for the Pride
| Outdoor Women's Classic Rosters | |
|---|---|
| Pride Roster | Canadiennes Roster |
| Blake Bolden | Sydney Aveson |
| Kate Buesser (Connecticut Whale) | Ann-Sophie Bettez |
| Corinne Buie | Emmanuelle Blais |
| Kelly Cooke | Emilie Bocchia |
| Jillian Dempsey | Sophie Brault |
| Shannon Doyle (Connecticut Whale) | Cathy Chartrand |
| Meghan Fardelmann (NY Riveters) | Julie Chu |
| Emily Field | Katia Clement-Heydra |
| Kaleigh Fratkin (Connecticut Whale) | Kim Deschenes |
| Marissa Gedman | Karell Emard |
| Cherie Hendrickson | Carly Hill |
| Bray Ketchum (NY Riveters) | Charline Labonte |
| Denna Laing | Noemie Marin |
| Rachel Llanes | Leslie Oles |
| Meagan Mangene | Caroline Ouellette |
| Brittany Ott | Marie-Philip Poulin |
| Casey Pickett | Lauriane Rougeau |
| Lauren Slebodnick | Chelsey Saunders |
| Pride Coaching Staff | Canadiennes Coaching Staff |
| Bobby Jay | Marc Beaudoin |
| Dave Jensen | Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux |
| Lauren McAuliffe | Dany Brunet |
All the substituted players have ties to the Greater Boston area. Buesser is from Wolfeboro, NH and graduated from Harvard; Fratkin and Doyle are former BU Terriers; Fardelmann is a former BC Eagle; and Ketchum is a Connecticut native and Yale graduate who played for the CWHL's Boston Blades last season.
Victory Press and Stanley Cup of Chowder are hosting a meet and greet at The Fours in Boston's North End tomorrow at 8pm. All are welcome!
Despite the game's very short notice announcement, the NHL responded promptly and courteously to requests for media access, and Jashvina and I (Zoë) will be covering the game in person.
Of note is the fact that the event is being sponsored by Scotiabank. Scotiabank is a major sponsor of both the CWHL and the NHL. Patrick Burke credited Scotiabank with making the game happen.
The impact of this game is something we will have to write about in detail after the fact. For now, on to Foxborough, and Happy New Year from the Victory Press!