Kaleigh Fratkin may soon be part of hockey history.
The Burnaby defender, alongside her resilient Boston club, is set to play with for the first-ever Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) championship trophy — the Walter Cup.
Boston completed the sweep of Montreal, 3-0, in its best-of-five playoff semifinal series on Tuesday, May 14.
Overtime was needed for the green and white to win Game 3 by a score of 3-2 and advance to the finals.
While Fratkin, 32, has yet to contribute on the scoresheet in the postseason thus far, she's the reason why Boston is in the banner hunt.
The 2010 Burnaby Central Secondary grad scored the game-winning goal in Boston's final regular-season tilt on May 4, also against Montreal. The team needed to win in regulation to clinch a playoff berth.
Her rocket from the blue-line broke the 3-3 deadlock with 80 seconds left and nearly two minutes after a goal by Montreal's Marie-Philip Poulin evened the score.
That was Fratkin's second marker of the year, finishing the inaugural PWHL campaign with three points, 26 penalty minutes and a plus-five (+5) rating in 24 games.
Fratkin now has eyes set on winning a fourth professional league trophy in her career.
She won two Isobel Cups with the Boston Pride in the former Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), as well as one Clarkson Cup with the Boston Blades in the former Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL).
Fratkin and her Boston squad will face Minnesota in the Walter Cup finals. Minnesota rallied back from a 0-2 series deficit to eliminate top-seeded Toronto, 3-2.
Game One of the best-of-five finals is tomorrow, May 19, at 2 p.m. PDT.
- with a file from The Canadian Press
