Around the PWHL: Torrent’s upset of the season; Winnipeg’s Takeover Tour; another battle for first

Hold the press, the Seattle Torrent may have just pulled the upset of the season.

Wednesday’s matchup, which saw the Torrent host the league-dominating Boston Fleet, started as those of us covering the league this season have come to expect from Boston. The Fleet got on the scoreboard first with Austrian Theresa Schafzahl’s second goal of the season, followed by a late tying goal in the dying seconds of the first frame by the Torrent’s Alex Carpenter.

And, despite Aerin Frankel’s absence in net, Seattle peppered the Fleet’s Abbey Levy with 19 shots in the second frame only for Boston to come away with the only goal off Finn Susanna Tapani’s stick.

Entering the second intermission with the 2-1 lead, the script seemed set, particularly as things went from bad to worse for the Torrent when Milton, Ont., product Megan Carter was called for tripping with under 10 minutes left in regulation.

Cue the comeback — and the highlight of the week:

The Flower City’s own Mikyla Grant-Mentis scored an unassisted, shorthanded goal that gave Seattle life. The Brampton, Ont., product’s game-tying marker was her second goal of the season and first career jailbreak. In fact, with the jailbreak goal in Wednesday’s contest, Grant-Mentis become the 10th player in the league to net a shorthanded marker this season.

Edmonton’s Danielle Serdachny would complete the Torrent’s comeback — Seattle’s two goals coming in the final six minutes of play — with a late final-frame marker off a pass from Natalie Snodgrass, recording the first game-winning goal of her career.

With the win, Elm Creek’s Corinne Schroeder now holds a .927 save percentage against the league’s top team and became just the fourth netminder to record 20 career wins in the league.

The stage had been set for this week’s Backcheck to marvel over Boston’s dream season as the club downed the Goldeneyes 2-1 Tuesday at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum, Frankel turning away 25 of the 26 shots she faced.

North Vancouver’s Hannah Miller tied the game for the Goldeneyes with four minutes left in regulation on a pass from Hamilton, Ont.’s Sarah Nurse — the first puck to get past Frankel in 139 minutes and 30 seconds of play. But Shay Maloney scored the winner for the Fleet on Brandon’s Kristen Campbell — who had turned aside 25 of the 27 shots she faced.

However, in the ultimate underdog win, the basement-dwelling Torrent broke two streaks Wednesday evening: the club’s own four-game losing slump that dated to Jan. 20 before the Olympic break, and Boston’s record six-game winning streak.

Countdown on for Winnipeg’s Takeover Tour

Only a handful of tickets remain for the Winnipeg Takeover Tour stop March 22 at Canada Life Centre. As the countdown begins to the big game day, yours truly — along with Joshua Frey-Sam and some other friendly faces from the Free Press — will be bringing readers all the PWHL action from the rink as Ste. Anne product Jocelyne Larocque’s Ottawa Charge clash with hometown hero Kati Tabin’s Montreal Victoire.

Puck drops at 6 p.m. on the city’s first pro women’s hockey league game in what will be a heavyweight matchup as the two Olympians and their respective clubs — including Canada’s own Captain Clutch Marie-Philip Poulin — battle for playoff positioning.

Game to watch in Week 14

Speaking of playoff positioning, the game to watch this week is Sunday’s clash between Tabin’s Montreal Victoire and the Boston Fleet (12 p.m. CT, Sportsnet 360 and RDS).

Sunday’s matchup has first place in the standings on the line as Seattle’s regulation upset on Wednesday gives the Victoire a chance to take first place in the standings.

winnipegfreepress.com/graceannepaizen