Lexie Laing: The NWHL Championship Pride Of Marblehead

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Lexie Laing said she and her Boston Pride teammates felt the coronavirus had stolen two National Women's Hockey League championships from them in the past year.

Saturday night was the night for the Marblehead native and the Pride to take the crown back together playing for the Isobel Cup on their home ice in Boston.

A year ago, the NWHL postponed the March 13 title clash between the Boston Pride and Minnesota Whitecaps on the eve of the game out of virus concerns. As the weeks went on, Laing said hopes dimmed the squad would be able to hit the rink one last time to accomplish the season's ultimate goal.

The NWHL officially canceled the title contest two months later on May 15.

"We were going to play it when everyone thought COVID would be this two-week pause in life," she told Patch Wednesday morning. "In retrospect, we wish they would have just let us play the last game."

The NWHL took another shot at crowning a champion this winter with a bubble tournament at Lake Placid, N.Y., but once again virus concerns prevailed and the tournament was suspended because of positive tests among players and staff.

But while some feared yet another "maybe next year" moment, Laing said the Pride never stopped working toward the elusive title. She said the team resumed practicing after all players and staff passed through league testing protocols and they were thrilled earlier this month when the NWHL announced a four-team tournament at Boston's Warrior Ice Arena to determine a true champion.

"It was a running joke among the players that COVID-19 had won back-to-back championships," she said. "It was a great effort from the league and the sponsors to plan and play those final games.

"We had a lot of motivation from the end of the tournament Lake Placid to the start of the tournament in Boston. We were confident in what we could do based on how we finished in Lake Placid. We knew we had to bring the same energy and commitment and we would be fine."

Laing contributed an assist in the 6-2 semifinal victory against Toronto on Friday night before scoring a goal and winning the decisive faceoff in the final seconds of Saturday night's 4-3 triumph against Minnesota.

"Honestly, I knew we were going to win right from the start of the day," Laing said. "I had all the confidence even though we were down a goal at the start of the game. I had no doubts we were going to come back."

The Pride trailed, 1-0, after one period before Laing's tally capped a three-goal surge in the second period that put them ahead to stay.

"We knew from our experience we were not going to let that one-goal deficit defeat us," Laing said. "As soon as Mary (Parker) scored that first goal (to make it 1-1) I was like: 'Oh, yeah, we're going to be fine.

"We had that team mentality that we had not been through all this just to lose this one game."

Laing said that confidence carried over to the final 20 seconds when Minnesota pulled within a goal and she was put in the position to dash the Whitecaps' hopes for a miracle comeback on the faceoff. She wound up winning the draw and Watertown's Lauren Kelly was able to run out the clock.

"All of our centers are really, really good at taking faceoffs and winning them," she said. "Anyone could be out there for that final draw and it happened to be me. They were all pumping me up on the bench (during the preceding timeout): 'You're going to win this.'

"It was definitely good to win that faceoff because the game was essentially over. It was a good feeling to have my teammates behind me, supporting me and believing in me."

Laing said it was then a "special" to celebrate as a Boston professional sports champion on the home Warrior ice.

"It says a lot about us that almost every single one of the girls on the team played in Boston or grew up in the Boston area," said Laing, who grew up in Marblehead before playing at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham and starring for Harvard University. "We grew up in that culture that Boston wins championships. Period. There's no doubt.

"To be part of that legacy is something you dream about as a kid."

Making the moment even more meaningful for Laing was that her older sisters, Denna and Brianna, both played for the Pride.

Denna Laing suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury while playing for the team at Gillette Stadium on New Year’s Eve in 2015.

"I am the youngest of three and I am so thankful of how super supportive my parents and my sisters have been of me all this time," Lexie Laing said.

Not only did the Pride get to celebrate on the ice at Warrior Saturday night, they have been celebrated throughout the New England sports community since with the five other major sports teams heralding the newest member of the region's crowned royalty. Some members of the team were guests of the Boston Bruins at Tuesday night's victory against the New Jersey Devils with more celebrations to come as virus protocols allow.

"It is nice to see that support," Laing said. "In previous years when my sisters were both playing for the Boston Pride there had not been that kind of support. The support from the Bruins was always there. But it's really nice to see how the Celtics, Red Sox, Patriots, the Revolution have all stepped up their support, and amplified it, and how it has evolved and grown exponentially."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)