PWHLs Sirens provide fans plenty of incredible thrills in dominant home opener win

The fog on the glass belonged to 9-year-old Alice Commans. Her hands, body length apart, held up a hand-drawn poster that read, “Let’s go Sirens!” Each corner contained a message for four of her favorite players, including Sarah Fillier, Alex Carpenter, Ella Shelton and Chloe Aurard. When the final horn sounded on the Sirens’ 4-2 win against the Toronto Sceptres and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” started to play, Commans had a few new friends by her side.Maybe they’ll be teammates one day. “It’s incredible that we have this league,” said Commans, who started playing hockey four years ago.

“It’s so fun.It’s like you get to see girls play and then little girls like me get to dream about it.” The Sirens made their season debut Wednesday at Prudential Center, their permanent home for this season and beyond.

For the players, it was an exciting and welcome change from last season, when New York played its home games at three different arenas. Goaltender Corinne Schroeder said Wednesday night “certainly” felt like a home game, where the Sirens had home-ice advantage. “It was really nice to be able to drive ourselves to this game rather than have to stay in hotels,” Schroeder said.“I think it helps us feel like we’re at home, we’re not on a specific schedule, we can create our own home game-day schedule.” The night started with Newark mayor Ras Baraka cranking the turquoise horn to sound the siren. The first period was very much back and forth between New York and Toronto, though neither team scored. During the first intermission, Adam LeVine, a new Sirens fan, said she was hoping to see more action — goal scoring — moving forward. In the second period, the Sirens delivered — not once, but four times, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. It was the usual suspects who set up New York’s first goal of the night.

Fillier passed the puck to Carpenter, who set up Noora Tulus for her first goal of the seaso...