NWHL WEBSITE | BUFFALO BEAUTS WEBSITE
BOSTON – Taylor Wasylk's, Suffolk women's hockey head coach, saw her season with the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) wrap up after round-robin play.
The abrupt end came Wednesday, Feb. 3 as the league, in coordination with the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), suspended the remainder of the season due to new positive COVID-19 tests. The decision came due to the resulting safety concerns for the players, their respective staff and the community.
Prior to the shutdown, Wasylk and the Beauts found their way in the Isobel Cup semifinals after a not so traditional road.
In round-robin action Buffalo slipped in its first three games, including Wasylk's debut, a 4-2 setback to the Toronto Six Wednesday, Jan. 27.
From there, the Metropolitan Riverters departed the bubble and the remainder of the regular-season Beauts' schedule turned into a best-of-three series with the Boston Pride.
Buffalo and Boston traded victories to set-up a dramatic Monday night do-or-die contest. Minutes before Wasylk's name was announced in the starting line-up for the first time in her NWHL career, the NWHL accepted the decision of the Connecticut Whale to forfeit their game schedule and no matter the outcome of the action at Herb Brooks Arena Monday night, both the Beauts and Pride would advance to the Isobel Cup semifinals.
After falling to the Pride Monday evening, 7-1, Buffalo was set to be the fourth seed and scheduled to take on the Toronto Six live on NBC Sports Network in the first semifinal matchup Thursday, Feb. 4 at 5:30 p.m., however, the chase for the cup ended early with the NWHL's decision to cancel the remainder of competition.
Over her trip in Lake Placid, New York, Wasylk, who was the only active NCAA head coach playing in the 2021 NWHL season, got on the ice in four of Buffalo's six games. The defensive forward scattered three blocks in those outings and aided to the Beauts only victory, a 2-1 decision over the Pride Saturday, Jan. 30.
Fans of Wasylk, the Beauts and the NWHL can still purchase her official shirsey (t-shirt/jersey) here. Wasylk has deemed all of her portions of the proceeds from such sales to benefit Suffolk CARES, which works collaboratively with students and their families, faculty, staff and other campus resources to provide support for students through a variety of challenges they may encounter while at Suffolk.
Now, Wasylk turns her attention back to Ram Nation where the women's hockey squad is readying for possible non-conference competition in the coming weeks.
Wasylk on Buffalo Beauts
