2021 Pride Draft Picks - A Film Study

Thanks to my great friends over at InStat, I’ve spent the last week and a half since the 2021 NWHL Draft poring over game film from the two Boston Pride Draft Picks. I’ve taken the liberty of clipping some of the more intriguing plays by both Finley Frechette and Abby Nearis, in order to get a better sense of who the Pride selected, particularly given that neither played this past season due to both attending Ivy League Schools.

C Finley Frechette, Cornell (Round 4, Pick #21)

Finley Frechette is going to be a really good bottom six, defensive center. She’s got great hockey IQ, and I was consistently impressed with her defensive positioning and stick skills. She’s great on the forecheck and down low in both zones, but isn’t a natural creator or facilitator offensively, mostly due to her merely above average hands and below average skating and shot. But she is good enough to compensate for her offensive shortcomings by playing a very simple, responsible, straight line game that Paul Mara is going to love. In the clips below, Frechette is #23 in the red jersey.

This is what I mean when discussing her positioning and defensive stick skills. She’s in the right position to not only poke the puck off a defender’s stick, but she creates a loose puck battle below the goal line, which she then proceeds to win.

Again, because of her positioning she is able to win a race and come up with the loose puck. After regrouping, watch her fake the reverse with her sister Gillis, and sneak behind the Harvard defender to find herself open space to create an opportunity for a deflection.

Smart play, she doesn’t have to take many strides, and creates an opportunity out of a one on two. Consistently, Frechette makes the right decisions and the correct reads regardless of the situation. She also easily rotates to take the spot of her defender after the reverse.

This was unfortunately the only point she tallied in the sample, but it’s an excellent job of taking and utilizing the space the defense provides her, and simply getting the puck towards the net. The release could be a bit cleaner and quicker, but goal scoring is not her forte anyways.

Yes, this is a great read on the forecheck, creating an opportunity, then she drives the center lane on the regroup for a screen. But I suppose this is a good time to bring up one of the biggest flaws in Frechette’s game - her skating stride is…less than ideal. It’s not that Frechette is slow, she simply lacks the elite, pull away gear that you’d like to see with a player this cerebral. I find she has a lot of wasted upper body motion and can be a little upright and stiff as she skates. I think she’s smart enough that she’s able to prevent it from becoming a major issue, but I don’t see her having the ability to lead the rush at the next level.

More absolutely stellar forechecking work. She’s not overly large, but is still able to shake off a Harvard defender as if she isn’t there.

I’m just going to leave this one here to allow the readers to enjoy the heck out of brilliant defensive positioning work from Finley (remember, #23 in red). Absolute masterclass.

W Abby Nearis, Brown (Round 5, Pick #27)

Abby Nearis is about as peculiar a player as you’re going to find in college hockey. First of all, Brown is not very good. At all. As a result, Nearis is consistently on the wrong end of your typical shot and goal metrics. She’s also asked to do a LOT. In the InStat games available, she was averaging over 22 minutes a game - as a forward. She’s big too - you don’t find a ton of true, 6 foot power forwards in women’s hockey. Despite that, she doesn’t play at the net front all that often. She plays on the point not only on the powerplay, but at four on four AND on the penalty kill. I honestly have never seen such bizarre deployment for a player. I think she’ll be significantly more comfortable in a bottom six role where she’s asked to do much, much less. As expected for a bigger player, her stride is heavy, and lacks a ton of explosiveness. She does have a heck of a shot, likely why the Bears prefer to station her at the point on the powerplay. She’s a very capable player along the boards, and is more than willing to use her body to fend off the opposition. She shows reasonable hockey IQ, but it’s tough to say how much the lack of overall creativity in her game is a result of the players around her or not. Overall, I think she’s solid, yet unspectacular, and could still have some untapped potential due to the sheer workload she was asked to shoulder in college. She is number 22 in the dark jersey in the below footage.

As I said, she has a heavy, quick shot. Her ability to slide into an open pocket here on the powerplay is evident, as she is able to get off the one timer with fantastic accuracy and relative speed, and it’s heavy enough to ricochet right back into the slot for a teammate to clean up the rebound.

This is a bit of a longer clip, but while she shows off her heavy slapshot first, it’s the latter half that I find particularly impressive. She’s playing the point once again on the powerplay, so she’s the last line of defense as RIT manages to get the puck towards the Brown defensive blueline. But she quickly recognizes the attacking player begin to lose the puck, and jumps into the play without hesitating. When she has the space to do so, she can generate a reasonable amount of speed for her size, and this allows her to create off the rush a little. I particularly appreciate the angle at which she is forced to get the shot off on the two-on-one, as the return pass is much closer to her feet than would be ideal. Yet, she is able to elevate quickly and produce a quality scoring opportunity.

I can see at some level why Nearis was deployed defensively on the penalty kill. What how she is able to front the oncoming attacker, and keeps herself square. The poke check is quick and decisive, and she purposely creates a board battle against a much smaller opponent that she should be able to easily win.

This clip does a good job of showing my reservations about her skating. It’s smooth, but slow to develop, and quite heavy. She still manages to play the defensive role fantastically here despite those reservations.

For what Nearis lacks in straight line speed, she showed bursts of agility that will serve her well at the next level. I particularly like this reverse tight turn in the neutral zone, both because she executes it quickly, and because she leans into her attacker to shield the puck effectively as she does so.

She’s also a menace along the boards, which will be an asset in Paul Mara’s system.

Despite her physicality, she did lose a few puck battles I’d expect her to win - whether that was a result of being asked to play so much or not is up for debate. I’d have liked to see her come out of this one with the puck, however.

When she’s fresh, you aren’t knocking her off the puck. She shrugs off a forechecker here without even breaking stride.

I’d love it if she showed a little more explosiveness here, but this was one of the few instances where Nearis actually cut towards the net and puts her shoulder down to create an opportunity. With about a step more quickness, this is a dangerous move that will be difficult to properly defend even for the league’s best rearguards.

If Nearis had a bit more help offensively, she likely would be more productive. This cycle is off of a won puck battle (sensing a theme here) where she rotates into the soft spot in the slot. If she were playing with more skilled linemates, she’s in a perfect position to bury a royal road pass.

As mentioned, when she is able to get moving, it’s difficult to take the puck off of her. This is a one on four that she creates with a deft stick in the neutral zone defensively, and she is able to out battle all four defenders with relative ease. Unfortunately, once she gets deep into the offensive zone, the chance sort of fizzles out. But the potential is there.

Let’s finish it off with one more example of her quick release. One stickhandle, and she has it in a shooting position immediately. She even has the wherewithal to pick up her own rebound and get a secondary opportunity.

Again, big thanks to InStat Hockey for the footage used for this analysis. I can’t wait for the Pride to start signing players so we can see what the Isobel Cup defense will begin to look like. Abby and Finley, if you are reading this, welcome to the Pack. We couldn’t be happier to have you on board!