Anchors Aweigh

From the North Shore to the Back Bay, fans united to support a squad that reached the PWHL Finals by playing as one. Now, that team is hoisting anchor and setting sail as the Boston Fleet.

No single savior would rescue PWHL Boston in Game 3 of the PWHL semi-finals. They were down by two goals and being shut out heading into the third period. They were about to let a chance for a playoff sweep slip away at home. Instead, there was a steadfast team effort by the entire squad, who tightened their ranks and took control on the ice. They played stout defense and battled on the boards for every loose puck. First one, then another, and finally, a third different Boston player scored unanswered goals—the last in sudden-death overtime to propel Boston into the inaugural PWHL Finals. On the ice, five worked as one. In the Tsongas Center, thousands cheered as one, seemingly louder with each successive shift. Across New England, in TV rooms and sports bars, hardcore hockey fans joined as one to support their gritty new team. As that moment in May proved, in Boston, you have each other’s backs, you lift each other up, you’re never alone, and you’re all in it together. Always.

That became clear again earlier today when the PWHL launched the team’s new name and identity: Introducing the Boston Fleet. 

The name is a clear reflection of the team’s character. “When you think back to the definition of a fleet—every part moving in the same direction and working together and aligned on the goal—that’s something this team figured out,” says Jayna Hefford, the PWHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee. “That can’t happen if you aren’t unified.” 

What’s true of the team is true of the city it represents. “A fleet stands for strength in numbers,” says Amy Scheer, the PWHL Senior Vice President of Business Operations. “That’s what Boston sports fans represent. They turn out, show up, and support their teams.”

Those fiercely loyal fans helped Boston earn its sports town legacy (and never wavered through an epic sports curse). It’s as if togetherness and teamwork are in the water here and date back to the city’s maritime roots the name honors: From the impenetrable wooden hull of ‘Old Ironsides’ to the Charlestown Navy Yard’s storied history of building to the commercial fishing crews sailing from towns along Cape Ann and the lobstermen working the waters off Scituate. Now, the team that channeled Boston’s character on the ice has a bold new name that embodies it. “The heart of our efforts was to capture the mighty force of Boston: the collective strength and resilience of this city,” says Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the VP of Brand and Marketing, who oversaw the league’s naming process. “Boston has a formidable legacy of coming together as one that we had to tap into. The name had to reflect this resolve in an emotionally resonant way.” 

After playing the inaugural season without traditional team names, the PWHL heard its fans’ requests loud and clear and committed to having each squad’s identity ready for season two. Faced with completing a process that often takes two years in under a year, the league joined forces with Flower Shop, the New York-based creative agency recently named Small Agency Newcomer of the Year by Ad Age. “We had a deadline, but we took the time, care, and craft to get this right,” says Flower Shop’s co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Alastair Merry. “In a city this sports mad, you can’t fake it. We knew fans’ expectations for the team’s identity are as high as for the team’s play.” 

The team plunged into research, working in lockstep with the PWHL crew to draw on player and fan interviews, soaking up the on-ice energy at games and drawing on the spirit of Boston fandom in the stands to unpack inspiration for naming ideas. Analyzing team names in every sport and every level of competition was part of the process – it was important to have a name that captured the essence of Boston but in a truly unique way.  When the team began brainstorming, their ideas had to clear some hurdles. In addition to the connection to the city and its roots, the name had to be distinctive, easy to grasp, timeless, and strong enough to inspire. A list of possibilities was produced and then pared down as legal and copyright conflicts claimed names throughout a rigorous clearance process. As intellectual property clearances were underway, the group waited with bated breath until, fortunately, The Fleet sailed through.

Even the best team name is sunk if it can’t come to life visually—emblazoned on hats and jerseys, animated on jumbotrons and screens of all sizes, blown up on center ice and billboards. At first, the design team followed a well-traveled route, trying to fashion a logo out of a B. They changed course slightly by turning the process on its side: One designer envisioned the letter B as a ship’s anchor resting horizontally. “From there, our challenge was making this symbol of unmovable strength feel active,” explains Merry, who oversaw the design process. They got the desired effect by tilting the graphic to evoke forward motion. Finally, they added tiny rolling waves inside the figure, reinforcing the maritime connection and sense of movement. Applying a similar angled approach to energize the Fleet wordmark, the designers opted for a show of strength in the typeface—a bold sans-serif font and heavy, condensed characters. The color palette is built around a rugged primary color: an oceanic green—this is Boston, after all—that resembles deep cyan, complemented by a seafoam green for the white-capped waves.

The overall look is arresting. “The design is just a piece of brilliant simplicity making these two images into one thing,” Scheer says. Best of all, the visuals tell the same story as the Fleet name. “Unity, togetherness and many working as one,” says Bhatt-Shah. “These are all proud qualities Boston fans can see – and identify with.”

Danielle Marmer, the team’s General Manager, believes the new name is a reflection of  both the city’s rich history as well as the unchartered waters the team navigated during its inaugural season. “The journey from near the bottom of the standings, to clinching a playoff spot, and then fighting our way into the championship series is a testament to our players’ resilience and perseverance,” she says. “Like the great fleets of Boston’s past, they proved that with grit and collective effort, even the toughest obstacles can be overcome, and the greatest victories can be achieved.”

When Scheer revealed the Fleet name and visual identity on Good Morning America earlier today alongside Hilary Knight, the Captain at the Fleet’s helm, it represented a big boost for a Boston squad that harbors championship ambitions for its second season. “They are the city’s only female professional sports team right now, yet they already have all these fans,” says Hefford. “Now they have this to rally around.”

That’s the goal of this name and powerful identity: to bring Boston closer together around this team and bring the team closer together as the Fleet.

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