Hilary Knight wasn’t surprised that Saturday’s women’s hockey game between the New York Sirens and Seattle Torrent at Madison Square Garden was sold out. She also hopes it isn’t the last time the PWHL is at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
A sold-out crowd of 18,006 fans shook the Garden as the Sirens defeated the Torrent 2-1 in a shootout, on a night when the final score was just a part of the story. Saturday’s game encapsulated the growth women’s sports have seen over the past few years, and women’s hockey has gone through since February, when the American women’s team captured gold at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
Sarah Fillier scored late in the third to tie the game, and Maja Nylén Persson scored the game-winning goal in the shootout.
“It’s just a testament to all the hard work that these players put in when the lights aren’t bright and you get to see us on the brightest stage,” Knight said after the game. “Yes, I’m looking forward to more opportunities like this, [when] this is the norm. … I think for so long, we showed up in spaces that weren’t necessarily created for us, and we’re starting to see those spaces change, which is really exciting and encouraging.”
The game set a new U.S. attendance record for women’s professional hockey and was another feather in the cap for the PWHL since the Olympics. March drove a 25 percent year-over-year increase in average attendance for the league, and it said that it saw a 101 percent increase in merchandise sales during the Olympic window.
Saturday’s game also helped inspire future generations of female hockey players and gave hope to those who grew up without the stars that currently make up the league.
For Sirens fan Victoria Brown, the evening touched her in a more personal way. Brown had played hockey until she was 12 and coached a high school girls team in Ithaca last year.
She said during a second-period conversation that it “would have been amazing” to have PWHL players to look up to when she was younger.
“These girls are always looking for other players to look up to,” Brown said. “They always talk about the NHL players, which the men’s players are amazing, but it’s also important to have a woman influencing you to look up to, like, for example, [Torrent star] Hilary Knight is here tonight. … Having that is something I’ve dreamed of as a kid. I would like to buy a jersey that has a woman’s name on the back. I’ve always thought that. So that’s been huge just as a coach to see other young women looking up to other women.”
Friends Emily Sen, Sonya Derntl, Amy Eiferman and Tina Allen were just overcome by the scene.
“Everyone’s watching every move, everyone’s rooting for everyone,” Sen said. “Just the pop of the crowd when they were introducing the players, it brought a tear to my eye. It’s really amazing to watch.”
It was hard to walk through the concourse and not see fans of all ages wearing a teal Sirens jersey. And outside MSG, where it’s a common occurrence on game days to see red and blue Rangers jerseys meandering around, they were replaced by enthusiastic Sirens fans.
The Garden erupted in a fashion similar to that of a Rangers or Knicks playoff game when Fillier scored her ninth goal of the season with 3:35 left in the contest to tie the game at one.
Anne Cherkowski nearly sent the Garden into rapture when she slipped a shot past Torrent goaltender Corinne Schroeder, but it was saved at the last moment by former Siren Alex Carpenter, who swatted the puck out of the crease before it crossed the line.
“At the end of all this, we just hope to inspire the next generation of PWHL players and continue to grow this league,” Fillier said.
