CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The National Women's Hockey League's Connecticut Whale shut out the Metropolitan Riveters, 4-0, in front of a standing-room only crowd of roughly 1,000 -- the league didn't announce official attendance -- at the Lemieux Sports Complex on Sunday evening.
This game was the third time the NWHL has played a game in the Pittsburgh area. The Lemieux Complex was previously host to a regular-season game between the Whale and Buffalo Beauts in the 2017-18 season, and the NWHL All-Star Game in the 2016-17 season.
The NWHL, which has teams in Boston, Buffalo, Stamford, Newark and Saint Paul, has played games in neutral sites in the past, but it's never played in a neutral location as often as in Pittsburgh. It's a sure sign that Pittsburgh is at the top of the NWHL's list for a future expansion team.
The Riveters were without the services of Amanda Kessel, who did not make the trip to Pittsburgh due to prior commitments.
The first goal of the game came from Whale rookie Nina Rodgers only 3:28 into the first period:
.@star8nina scores the opening off the rebound! @CTWhale_NWHL lead 1-0 #NWHL pic.twitter.com/YEhYBRn2Kv
— Women's Sports Highlights (@WSportHilites) December 2, 2018
Czech forward Katerina Mrazova extended the Whale's lead to 2-0 in the second:
.@Mrazka98 ON THE REBOUND! @CTWhale_NWHL lead 2-0 pic.twitter.com/0JQlauPUh8
— Women's Sports Highlights (@WSportHilites) December 2, 2018
Defender Shannon Doyle, in her fourth season with the Whale, scored a highlight-reel breakaway goal midway through the third:
.@SDoyle_6 WITH THE MOVES! ? @CTWhale_NWHL #NWHL pic.twitter.com/us6itjKRZT
— Women's Sports Highlights (@WSportHilites) December 2, 2018
Third-year pro Juana Baribeau capped off the win with an empty-net goal.
The Whale was led by a 31-save shutout by Finnish goaltender Meeri Raisanen. It was Raisanen's first career shutout, and the first regular-season shutout in Whale history.
The win was the perfect present for Raisanen on Sunday, her 29th birthday.
"It feels amazing," Raisanen told DKPittsburghSports.com. "I can't even tell. It's the best birthday gift I could get. It feels amazing."
Raisanen, an NWHL rookie, had spent her entire professional career in her native Finland, in both men's and women's leagues. She was a backup on Finland's Olympic roster in 2014 and 2018, and has played for Finland in four World Championship tournaments.
This isn't Raisanen's first experience in North America, though. She spent the 2010-11 season as the starting goaltender for the Robert Morris women's team. For Raisanen, this game was somewhat of a homecoming.
"I wasn't here that long, but I remember I had a good time," she said of her time at Robert Morris. "I learned a lot. I learned the culture, the hockey here. It's easier to me to come back now and play for the team and league."
Raisanen was impressed by the loud, sellout crowd in her return to Pittsburgh.
"It was awesome, it was a full audience and it was awesome to play for them," she said. "I was really excited to see that there were so many people here. Our fans, their fans, everyone was watching the game and living in the game with us."
With only five teams in the NWHL and six in the CWHL, there are very few spots for women to play professional hockey, especially goaltenders. Even with a player of Raisanen's pedigree, it was difficult to find a place to play this season:
Good summary, you seems to know where I am atm. Still unsigned. Tried to reach out CWHL Boston, NWHL Boston and Connecticut, teams in Sweden, and nothing. I am very confused about how things are at this point. I just wanna play,want to get back the joy of the game and wanna win. https://t.co/TmYBGBmnBp
— Meeri Räisänen (@meeriraisanen) September 1, 2018
Women's hockey is growing in European countries, and an expansion would open up spots for other players like Raisanen (the first Finn in the NWHL) to make the jump to North America. Even from Raisanen's perspective in goal, she sees how much stronger the game is in North America compared to Europe.
"It's totally different," Raisanen said of playing in North America. "I think over here it's more intense. They skate harder, they shoot harder. They go right to the net, they don't skate into the corners like in Europe."
Pittsburgh's own contingent of girl's and women's amateur hockey players were well represented in the crowd. The Steel City Selects and Pittsburgh Penguins Elite U10 girl's teams were in attendance, and played during intermission. An adult women's rec team, the Pittsburgh Puffins, took up a few rows of their own.
When the NWHL was founded in 2015, the locations for the founding four teams were chosen with the cities' existing girl's and women's hockey popularity in mind. Pittsburgh already has such a strong girls' and women's hockey presence, it would appear to be a no-brainer to put a team in this city when the league is ready to expand again. Pittsburgh has proven -- three times now -- that it will show up to support professional women's hockey. Even when there isn't a particular rooting interest in either team.
Imagine how Pittsburgh fans would support a team of their own.
