LOWELL — For one of the Boston Fleet’s prospects and its new head coach, the team’s third season in the PWHL is a longtime dream come true.
The Fleet opened its season last Sunday with a shutout win over the Montreal Victoire. They are gearing up for Game 2 on the road against the Toronto Sceptres Saturday.
“It’s a day I’ve dreamed of for so long,” Abby Newhook said of hearing her name announced to the Fleet faithful ahead of the season opener last Sunday. Newhook is a rookie forward for the Fleet.
Newhook, 22, was selected in the fifth round of the PWHL draft in June as the 34th overall pick. Coming off a strong training camp, the Fleet signed her three days before the home opener as the team finalized its roster.
The native of St. John’s, Newfoundland, said it was important to leave everything on the ice during camp which led to the signing. The moment was a sense of relief five months after being draft.
In June, she recalled it being a stressful period going into the draft with the uncertainty of not knowing where she would end up and what team may select her.
The Boston College alumnus had hoped the Fleet would choose her after forging a connection to the city with her college career. At BC, Newhook played in 142 games, accumulating 113 points with 55 goals and 58 assists.
While she wanted to start her professional career in Boston, the expansion of the league meant there were two new teams thrown in the mix, and two other cities were she could have gone to. The league expanded from six to eight teams this year with Vancouver and Seattle adding more opportunities for the net wave of prospects.
“There’s so many unknowns and you don’t really know where you’re going to end up, who’s going to pick you,” she said. “I was so lucky to be drafted by Boston, the exact spot I wanted to be.”
Newhook spent the summer in Boston to gear up for camp and train with other Fleet players in the area. She said it made a difference being on the ice with them, hearing their experiences and working out with them in the gym.
“Throughout the summer, my focus was to do everything I could to be prepared for camp and train to my maximum capacity,” Newhook said. “For me that meant surrounding myself with people who were also in the same position.”
Captain Megan Keller and Abigail Levy were two of the players, also fellow BC alumni, who she felt helped her transition to the pro game. The two had similar experiences and told her to be confident in herself.
The veterans stressed to her the importance of making the most of every shift, even if she’s not the one scoring.
As she transitioned to being abprofessional, Newhook had some brotherly love in her corner, with her sibling sharing his own draft and rookie experiences with his sister.
Newhook’s older brother, Alex, was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche. He’s been with the Montreal Canadiens since 2023.
The Fleet were in Montreal to play a few exhibition games against the Montreal Victoire a week before the regular season began. In the midst of training camp and the preseason games, she was able to have a few conversations with him.
He told his sister to soak it all in.
“Talking through everything him and how his experiences shaped him to be where he is today, it was about how learning from his experiences can help me going into these first games and just keeping your head on your shoulders,” Newhook said those tips revolved around.
“His biggest thing was for me was the same thing he did, to enjoy every second, and just be the player I am and have confidence in that,” she said.
Head coach Kris Sparre said he is already “wowed” by players like Newhook and the other prospects who are exceeding expectations in the early season. But that’s really how he feels about the whole team as he starts for the first time in his career coaching women.
“These players surprise me every day,” Sparre said. “We have a group of players that have done it at the highest stages and the highest levels of hockey. Sometimes I watch them and I’m wowed. Then you have other players that surprise you in different ways coming from college that maybe you didn’t expect to jump in right away and make a difference.”
In his 10th season coaching, this is his first as a head coach, and is a moment in his career which Sparre has also dreamed about for a long time.
The win was the icing on the cake for Sparre who said he’d been looking forward to the moment behind the bench since assuming the role as the Fleet’s head coach this summer.
“It’s been a long time waiting for this for not only myself, but the whole team,” Sparre said. “To be here and playing in Lowell, and in the Boston area, couldn’t be more exciting.”
For Sparre, from Mississauga, Canada, he’s looking even more forward to having more than three dozen familiar faces in the stands when the Fleet are in Toronto Saturday. His hometown is just outside the city.
He has about 40 people planned to come out and see him for Game 2 in Toronto.
“It’s an expensive day for me,” Sparre said with a laugh. The week after, his family will come down to Massachusetts for the games in Boston.
But Sparre was all smiles after the home, touting how much fun he has had coaching the women on the ice – and seeing how much fun the team is having as well.
Captain Megan Keller said Sparre brings an aggressive system, but also a calming presence on the bench for the team.
He’s coached teams where the veterans were heavily outweighed by the youth, which was sometimes “tricky.” Then, he was on other teams where it was opposite.
“This is a good blend,” he added. “I think that the veterans will help pull them (newcomers) along quicker and the youth will push the pace.”
Sparre, and Newhook, are part of a new beginning of sorts for the Fleet in just their third season. The team made it to the Walter Cup in the PWHL’s inaugural season, but missed the playoffs last season after dropping the last game with three teams who vied for the last spot.
Sparre said everyone on the team has something to prove, himself include, but he’s excited to build around that energy.
Sparre said he knows there’s a lot riding on starting this year off strong, but he feels there’s a good balance of veterans, newcomers and prospects on this Fleet roster to keep everyone competitive and challenging each other to be better.
“This team has something to prove based on what happened at the end of last year,” Sparre said.