Boston Pride’s Paul Mara Confident Team Will Bring Home Isobel Cup

The NWHL is back, and that means the Boston Pride’s revenge tour will continue.

The league was forced to postpone its semifinals and Final game in Lake Placid due to COVID-19 but rescheduled the games to take place at Warrior Ice Arena — home of the Pride.

The season started a bit slow for Boston as it lost four of its first five games. The Pride finished the regular season strong with back-to-back blowout wins against the Buffalo Beauts.

Now. they’ll face the Toronto Six in a semifinal game for a chance at the Isobel Cup.

You likely remember Boston was set to play for the 2020 championship last March, but COVID-19 canceled the game against the Minnesota Whitecaps. Now the Pride have had time to rest, recover and get ready to fight for the Isobel Cup once again against a Toronto team that ended its inaugural season with a 4-1-1 record.

Toronto had its fair share of struggles, too. After the Six lost their first two games, they blew a 5-1 lead to Minnesota and lost 6-5 in a shootout. But they, much like the Pride, shook off their rust and finished strong.

Pride coach Paul Mara spoke to the media Thursday night and said he wants to face Toronto at its best — because the Pride will be at their best.

“We want Toronto to be their best, and we’re gonna be at our best. We don’t want anyone to be shorthanded. We don’t want to face Toronto when they’re down. We wanna face them when they’re at their best because we’re going to be at our best,” he said. “I think the first seven days we were in the bubble, we had eight new players, and they didn’t really know what to expect coming in. I think after the Connecticut game when we lost 4-1. I think things came to shape for us.”

Mara, with good reason, is confident the Pride can wrap up their unfinished business.

“We’re confident in our team and the 21 players we have that have been with us for most of the year,” he said. “… I’m confident that our team will show up and bring home the Isobel Cup to Boston where it belongs.”

The Boston-Toronto semifinal will air March 26 on NBCSN at 5 p.m. ET.