Brand Getting Back Down to Business in Boston
January 22, 2022 - Premier Hockey Federation (PHF)
Boston Pride News Release
McKenna Brand has never missed a game in four Premier Hockey Federation seasons, so you can imagine what the last seven weeks have been like for the Boston Pride star forward.
That's the time her and the rest of the defending Isobel Cup champions have been waiting to get back into competition following a pair of COVID-19 postponements that produced an uncharacteristically long holiday break.
This weekend the wait is over when they host the Metropolitan Riveters at Warrior Ice Arena.
"I'm very excited. It's been such a long time," Brand said. "We were laughing the past couple of weeks at practice because it feels like a completely different season right now. We've all been apart from each other with Christmas break and COVID stuff. It'll be nice to get out there on Saturday, especially at home. I'm sure in the first period we might be kind of getting the legs and lungs back a little bit, but we're excited to play."
One can expect a change of pace in the weekend games relative to Pride practices, but you can bet the intensity won't catch Brand off guard. The Park Rapids, Minnesota native spent time at home over the break and played a lot of 1-on-1 games with younger brother Chase, a forward in his junior season at St. Cloud State, outside on the frozen water.
"I used to beat him all the time when we were younger, but now he's beating me," she laughs. "He's getting his payback.
"This week was definitely conditioning heavy. Paul (Mara) did a good job getting our legs back. We did some five-on-five stuff to try and remember how to play hockey again. I feel like we're prepared. Nothing is exactly like game shape and you can't get that until you're playing in games. I think it'll come pretty quickly for all of us. I think we've all been doing a good job eating right and taking care of our bodies as best we can."
The Pride have played eight games and stand third in the PHF standings with 15 points from a 6-2-0 record. They were actually in first place on December 5 following an 8-2 statement win over Toronto in their last taste of action and have since watched the Six and Connecticut Whale surpass them.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't look at it (standings), but trying not to focus on it," Brand said. "We're all excited to play games. I think it's just focusing on what we have in front of us instead of what other teams are doing and what other teams have already done. For playoffs it really matters where we're going to be ranked for those games."
Brand knows all about playoff hockey and what it takes to win, and how much of that success comes through development over the course of a full season. Had the schedule gone according to plan the Pride would have played 12 games by now, but instead have time to focus on areas for improvement.
"I think that we can find a little bit more consistency in our scoring," she says. "I think we started to find that in our last games against Toronto, which was good, but otherwise before that weekend we were struggling to score. Obviously we've been playing such great defense too, that's something we definitely pride ourselves on, but we need to score more than one or two goals a game if we're going to want to win. A big area we can improve on is our power play. I definitely think moving forward we want to see some progress in that regard."
The alternate captain has high expectations of herself. They come with good merit as the fourth highest scorer in PHF history with 67 all-time points to date including 30 goals. So far this season Brand has seven points with two goals.
"I need to start scoring, that would be better," she says. "I don't think I've scored since the first weekend, but I'm trying to do my job the best I can for our team. If this year it's me setting people up instead of putting the puck in the net then that's what I'll try to do. Personally I think I can get a little bit hungrier in front of the net and have a better nose for the net going forward.
Brand acknowledges she's well known for her scoring ability and describes that as a critical component to building her game from Northeastern University to the professional level.
"I like to use my feet and my shot a lot," she says. "Using my speed to drive wide or cut to the middle and putting myself in good positions to shoot the puck and score."
Her scoring prowess helped earn her selection for the 2022 PHF All-Star Showcase next weekend in Buffalo where she'll suit up for Team Dempsey coached by Sami Jo Small. It will be her second All-Star appearance alongside Dempsey like in the 2020 event in Boston. The captain picked her fourth overall in this year's virtual draft, immediately after teammate Kaleigh Fratkin.
"Me, her (Dempsey) and Fratty (Fratkin) are all pretty tight," she laughed. "She said 'I picked you first two years ago so I had to pick Fratty first this time'. We all ended up on the same team so we'll have a good time. It should be a good weekend of hockey. I definitely like the 3-on-3 format, and I love this year that we've got the 3-on-3 OT, kind of following suit with the NHL. I just love the open ice and being able to use speed. I think at the All-Star game that's where you'll see a lot of the skill being shown on the ice.
"It's interesting this year having the three teams. I think it'll be fun. Going from 3-on-3 straight into the shootout will be exciting for the fans."
Before Buffalo, it's all business for Brand and Boston as they face a fourth place Metropolitan unit hungry for wins. Originally a third round pick of the Riveters in the 2017 draft, the 25-year-old says it's a team she always enjoys facing, and her numbers suggest the same with 17 points in 11 career games against the Founding Four franchise.
"We're very excited to play them. We haven't seen the Riveters in two years. We didn't get to play them last year. There's actually a lot of people that haven't played against the Riveters yet on our team. They're always a physical team, they've got some skill though too. I'm excited to play them. For some reason I just love to play against this team. We all just get really fired up to play them. They just play really hard. They've got a lot of grinders. We do historically play them pretty well, but they're just a fun team to play against."
Returning to game action wasn't the only good news of the week for Brand, her teammates and the rest of the PHF with the announcement of a $25 million commitment from the Board of Governors to directly enhance the player experience over the next three years.
"It's so exciting. It's a testament to the work that we've put into this league," Brand said. "I'm just proud of the people who have helped us get to this point and the people who have stuck with us. Just reflecting, this is my fourth year now in the league and it's crazy to see the leaps and bounds that we've made and what will be made in the future. It's an exciting time for the league and I hope that everybody starts to recognize what we can be and what we're going to be."
Premier Hockey Federation Stories from January 22, 2022
- Brand Getting Back Down to Business in Boston - Boston Pride
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