The 2016 Outdoor Women's Classic presented by Scotiabank was an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

game played on December 31, 2015, at

Gillette Stadium Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, United States. The stadium is southwest of Downtown Boston and 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and admi ...

Foxborough, Massachusetts Foxborough is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, it is about southwest of Boston. The population was 18,618 at the 2020 census. "Foxborough" is the official spelling of th ...

, between the

Boston Pride The Boston Pride was a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). The Pride played at Warrior Ice Arena, which is also the practice fac ...

of the

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...

and

Les Canadiennes LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental S ...

of the

Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; ) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's Senior ice hockey, senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league expanded into Alberta (2011) and ...

. It was the first outdoor ice hockey game between professional women's teams; it ended in a 1–1 tie. The game was played one day before the

2016 NHL Winter Classic The 2016 NHL Winter Classic (officially the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic) was an outdoor ice hockey game played in the National Hockey League (NHL) on January 1, 2016, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The eighth edition ...

, between the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

and

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

Announcement

Publicity around the game was kept to a minimum after a report surfaced on December 5 that there would be a game between the two teams. On December 28, the game was officially announced, although players felt that it was overshadowed by other game-day events, including an NHL alumni game that followed the women's game.

Game

The game was played in two 15-minute periods, with running time. Montreal's Kim Deschenes scored the first goal of the game at 3:15 of the first period, while

Blake Bolden Blake Alexis Bolden (born March 10, 1991) is an American former ice hockey player, and scout for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). On October 11, 2015, she became the first African-American player to compete in the Nation ...

registered the game-tying goal for Boston late in the second period.

Injury

During the game, Pride player

Denna Laing Denna Christine Laing (born May 12, 1991) is an American former professional ice hockey player. She last played for the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) until a career-ending injury. At the collegiate level, she accumula ...

stepped on a stick and crashed into the boards head first. Removed from the ice on a stretcher, she was taken to the hospital. On January 8, 2016, Laing's family announced that she had suffered a severe

spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Symptoms of ...

and that she had limited movement of her arms and no feeling in her legs.

Announcement

Game

Injury

References

Further reading