PWHL Boston Players Taking A Break To Open Their Offseason

With their brand new contracts in hand, the core of PWHL Boston’s returning free agents reflected on the beginning of their off-season. The sting of losing in the finals is not completely gone, but the summer months now give them the chance to turn the page and get some much-needed rest and recovery.

As Sophie Shirley puts it, “Taking three to four weeks off is kind of necessary after this season, particularly with how physical it was. I’m taking a break that I needed to recover from that and I’m in the midst of making up a plan for my summer, and that includes rehab, physiotherapy, and then my training plan as well. Just starting to get back into it now, but it’s definitely nice to have that time off.”

Without mentioning any specific injuries, it sounds like the Boston players found that the long season took a toll and will now require some extra downtime to let the bumps and bruises heal. Hannah Brandt, who signed a two-year deal to remain with the team, said, “I’m taking a little time off the ice still, but already focusing on next year and trying to recover from some injuries, set myself up for success this summer and then getting to skating in a month or two."

She added that, “The time off the ice is important obviously to recover and heal up any of our injuries from the season and then start off-ice training. I’ve already started but a lot of it is just setting myself up for the summer.”

In addition, physical defender Emily Brown mentioned that finding other ways to stay fit without skating is beneficial.

“I’ve just been in the gym doing some general workouts, keeping active in different ways that you don’t necessarily get to do in the season, like I played pickleball yesterday which was fun. My calves are pretty sore, honestly. Just doing different things that you don’t normally do to stay active.”

Sidney Morin, who is in Sweden for the summer, said, “I’ve been taking a lot of time off This season wasn’t only physically demanding but mentally demanding —just the length of the season starting in January, but a lot of people had started training in the summer, so it was 9 months plus of training this past season so everybody really needs a good pause away from the rink and just to reflect on everything.”

Still, the focus of their training when they do intensify their workouts will be on improving on last year’s result.

“I think most of us have probably moved on from the final game but it’s obviously in the back of everyone’s mind that we had a really great opportunity to win a championship and didn’t,” Morin said.

“I think everyone’s still reflecting on that and going to be working towards that for next season, but for me personally, taking some time off and starting to hit the gym here soon, then we’ll hit the ice sometime in August and ramp it up as the season gets closer.”

Brown added, “It’s good to be off the ice. Obviously, you miss it a little bit, but it’s good for the body to use some different muscles. I think as we train throughout the off-season [this past season] will be in the back of our minds and also just looking forward to this upcoming season and how we want a different result.”