The foggy glass belonged to 9-year-old Alice Comans.
She held up a handwritten poster with her hands, about a body length apart, that read, “Let's Go Sirens!” Each corner included a message to four of her favorite athletes, including Sarah Fillier, Alex Carpenter, Ella Shelton and Chloe Oral.
When the final horn sounded and Frank Sinatra's “New York, New York” began to play during the Sirens' 4-2 victory over the Toronto Scepters, Comans had some new friends by his side.
Maybe they will become teammates someday.
“It's unbelievable that this league exists,” said Comans, who started playing hockey four years ago. “It's so much fun. It's the kind of thing a little girl like me dreams of, watching the girls play.”
The Sirens made their season debut Wednesday at Prudential Center, their permanent home after this season.
For the players, this was an exciting and welcome change from last season, when New York played home games at three different arenas.
Goaltender Colin Schroder said Wednesday night “certainly” felt like a home game, with the Sirens having home-ice advantage.
“It was really nice to be able to go to this game on our own and not have to stay in a hotel,” Schroeder said. “I think this allows us to feel like we're at home. We can schedule our own home game days instead of having a special schedule.”
The night began with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka honking his turquoise horn and blaring the siren.
The first period was a heated back-and-forth between New York and Toronto, but neither team was able to score.
During the first intermission, new Siren fan Adam Levine said he expected more action, meaning more goals.
In the second period, the siren sounded not once, but four times, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
It was the usual suspects who scored New York's first goal of the night.
Fillier passed the puck to Carpenter, who set up Noura Tursu for his first goal of the season.
Fans jumped to their feet and pumped their fists in the air as Britney Spears' “Gimme More” blared from the arena's speakers.
They exchanged high fives and fist pumps.
Chants of “wee woo” echoed from section to section.
When Emmy Feteau, Micah Zandi-Hart and Jaime Bourbonnais each scored their first goals of the season, giving the Sirens a 4-0 lead by the end of the second period, fans were forced to repeat the ritual three more times. It will be.
The 2,700 fans spread out in the lower bowl of the Prudential Center were mostly lively, but sections 12, 13 and 14 were the loudest groups.
Manhattan resident Aubrey Dearen sat amidst the chaos in Section 13.
She and her friend Jenna Travis wore matching siren helmets made from Spirit Halloween Monsters, Inc. costumes.
When the Sirens scored, a red beacon light above each head illuminated.
Dearen and Travis started following New York last season, but neither knew much about hockey.
They watched several games, but Dearen said she had to Google them to find out how many periods were played.
Their passion for the Sirens was born out of their love for women's sports.
“[We] “I wanted to support women's sports and show that there is a market for it,” Dearen, 26, said. “We want to see that. We're just as good as the men…it's for us.”
Eric Tao of Bergen County, the proud father of two female hockey players, was seated a few rows behind Dearen and Travis.
“I grew up wanting to play for the Leafs,” said Tao, a Toronto native. “The fact that we have a women's league that they can aspire to means a lot to me because all the boys grow up thinking, 'I want to play in the NHL.' But the girl couldn't do that–until now. They said, “We want to play in the PWHL.” they say that all the time. I'm like, “Wow, that's amazing.” ”
The Sirens will be hoping to build on Wednesday's momentum as the season continues. It will take time for them to establish a place in New York's saturated sports market.
But if there's one thing every New Yorker can achieve, it's being a winning team, and the Sirens are looking to achieve even more of that this season.
