Although Sunday's championship final will be the last game of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) season, it may be more notable as a game of firsts.
For the first time, a Canadian team — the Toronto Six — will contend for the PHF championship. For the first time, two women — the Six's Geraldine Heaney and the Minnesota Whitecaps' Ronda Engelhardt — will be behind the bench for the one-game final.
The victor will lift the Isobel Cup — named after Lord Stanley's daughter — on Sunday in Tempe, Ariz., at the NHL Coyotes' Mullett Arena. "It's making history and with this group of girls it'll be something they'll never forget," Heaney said. "We've talked about it from the beginning of the year: enjoy the journey, and it's been one hell of a journey and we're just one game away from achieving our goals." The Six finished second overall in the regular season (51 points in 24 games) and enter the championship after a narrow three-game semifinal win over the third-place Connecticut Whale.
That series included a season-saving comeback overtime victory in Game 2. WATCH | Six defeat Whale in Game 3: The Whitecaps, meanwhile, were thought to be fodder for the first-place Boston Pride.