Boston Blades lose home opener

In what could have been a turning point for the young team resulted in more of the same for the Boston Blades, as the get shut out at their first game at home, 7-0.

As it has been with the first four games of the season, an overworked Genevieve Lacasse was the backbone of teams efforts.

Final shot tally for @GLacasse31 - 60. 53 saves. That's incredible. #BBvsCI

— Chris Knoblock (@cknoblock17) November 1, 2015

Despite the Inferno out shooting the Blades 20-2 in the first period, there were positives to take away the teams play. They played well in the neutral zone and had several offensive zone possessions, including a hit post by Blades forward Olivia Keefe. Unfortunately, things turned drastically in the second period.

Even after letting up one goal early that period, Blades still played hard. It wasn't until Boston gave up a goal while on a power play several minutes later that they fell back into their defensive minded, poor transitioning ways.

"As soon as one thing goes down it just keeps going and gets worse," said Lacasse after the game.

Lacasse, herself, had a rare misstep. While playing the puck behind her net, she was run into by a Calgary play, to took the puck and passed it in front,m giving her teammate a virtual empty net. Even with the error, Blades head coach Brian McCloskey liked the aggressive play of his netminder.
"I don't want her to change the way she plays the puck, I think that's a strength of hers," he said.

No one, however, would put the loss on Lacasse's hands. The team's biggest problem on the night is what it has been all along: an inability to transition out of their own zone. After the game, McCloskey was frank about his team and their transitioning problems.

"We're not deep enough as a skating team. we're just missing some overall team speed, but I think we can do a lot better than we did tonight," he said

The team turned around in the third thanks to some help from their veterans.

"When the game was no longer in doubt after the second, our kids just started to play," McCloskey said. "Between the second and third, some of the older players challenged the team just to step up and compete and play hockey and stop thinking."

From the drop of the puck in the last period, the Blades played aggressive. They only allowed 11 shots from Calgary and had eight of their own, but spent far more time in the Inferno's zone.

"I'm really happy with how we finished. We stepped it up in the third period, and if that's something we can take away, I'm happy," Blades Captain Tara Watchorn said after the game.

The team hopes to build off this lose in today's rematch. They will, however, forward Sadie St. Germain, who left the game in the second with a knee injury.