(Lowell) Taylor Heise and Sophia Kunin found the back of the net in less than four minutes early in the game, Nicole Hensley blocked 33 shots, and Minnesota defeated Boston 3-2 in the two teams’ league opener professional women’s hockey, Wednesday evening.
Heise, the first player selected in the league’s draft, scored the first goal in Minnesota team history early in the first period.
It was also the first goal scored on an ice rink in an American city in the LPHF.
Theresa Scharfzahl scored Boston’s first goal at 7:59 of the second period. However, Grace Zumwinkle responded 55 seconds later with a shot that first hit the horizontal bar.
Megan Keller scored the other Boston goal with 2:40 left in the third period. However, Hensley protected Minnesota’s one-goal lead by making a glove save as the final siren sounded.
Minnesota had just a week to prepare for this game under new head coach Ken Klee, following Charlie Burggraf’s sudden resignation over the holiday season.
Saturday afternoon, Minnesota will host the Montreal team at the Xcel Energy Center.