Sirens Blare in Second, Third Periods; Torrent Subdued by New York in Dallas Neutral-Site Game
DALLAS, Texas — The Seattle Torrent went up against the New York Sirens for the second time in Seattle’s inaugural season, this time played at a neutral site in Dallas as one of sixteen events in the PWHL’s Takeover Tour. It may have been Seattle’s first ever game played as part of a Takeover Tour, but it wasn’t the city’s first rodeo with the burgeoning PWHL tradition, as a Montreal-Boston match played in the Emerald City during the 2024-25 iteration of the Takeover Tour was one of the key spurs in the Torrent’s inception.
Both squads had already met on Dec. 3 in Seattle for a game that turned into the Torrent’s first ever regular season victory and began a run of three wins in four games for Seattle as they improved their record to 3-0-1-2 (wins, overtime wins, overtime, losses, and losses—the PWHL uses a system giving three points to wins in regulation, two points to overtime wins, and one point to overtime losses). The Sirens, meanwhile, stood at 2-0-0-5 coming into the game.
But despite an early blow from Seattle, New York—led by a hat trick from forward Casey O’Brien—got the last blow in Dallas, and Seattle took a hard loss.
The Sirens were subdued in the first period, but warning lights still appeared in the shot totals.
The Torrent made their presence known early in Dallas. With around five and a half minutes elapsed and a spell of 4-on-4 play in its waning seconds, Seattle forward Danielle Serdachny raced the puck from end to end down the rink and fired a screamer past Sirens goaltender Kayle Osborne. It was Serdachny’s first goal of the season, and it featured an unlikely assist credited to goaltender Hannah Murphy, who dropped the puck off for Serdachny near Seattle’s goal. O’Brien knotted the game up with 1:37 left in the first, but Seattle shot right back as forwards Natalie Snodgrass and Mikyla Grant-Mentis broke away with just over 30 seconds left and created a 2-on-1 chance that ended in Grant-Mentis blasting the puck into the net.
Although the Torrent had the goal advantage after 20 minutes, there was still a worrying shot disadvantage (21-11 for New York) created by a mountain of time spent defending the house in the later stretch of the period. Although the Torrent won more face-offs, though the Sirens exceeded them in hits, indicating that they were going to be more physical than they had been in these team’s first meeting back in Seattle.
O’Brien’s Sirens start going off in the second period as Seattle loses its lead once more.
Seattle struggled quite a bit in the second, failing to score a goal the entire period, but the action was somewhat muted near the nets. O’Brien, however, took advantage of a power play frenzy with 6:59 left in the second to sneak her second goal past Murphy, tying the game up 2-2.
Both teams had the same amount of shots (11) in the second half, but this time, luck was not on Seattle’s side. Although the Torrent continued their dominance when it came to faceoffs (with a 25-16 lead in that category after two periods), the Sirens built on their lead in hits, racking up seven to Seattle’s two and once again playing an aggressive brand of hockey.
The Sirens continue to go off in the third period, and O’Brien seals New York’s revenge with a hat trick.
The third period didn’t get much better for the Torrent, as they allowed a couple more goals and ultimately fell to the Sirens 4-3. Despite the final outcome, Seattle found themselves with yet another lead not long after play resumed. Coming out of the locker rooms with more aggressive play than they had in the previous third of the game, the Torrent found themselves working behind New York’s net with less than two minutes elapsed. Sensing an opportunity, Grant-Mentis fired the puck back to fellow forward Lexie Adzija, who in turn slapped it into the net to give Seattle a 3-2 lead.
Just about eight minutes later, however, that lead evaporated away, as Sirens forward Maddi Wheeler got off a close-range shot with 10:27 remaining in the third. Each team tried to put it away before any possible overtime, but a Serdachny penalty with less than five minutes left gave New York a power play they wouldn’t pass up. A mad dash for the puck developed with around three and a half minutes remaining, and as Torrent and Sirens alike tried to get a stick on it, O’Brien went for the kill—and knocked in her third goal of the game. The score held until the end: 4-3, New York.
Standing out from the game as a whole was the fact that the Sirens managed to get 41 shots off during the whole game against Seattle and 21 in the first period. Although Murphy and the defense successfully fended off a lot of the close pressure in the initial 20 minutes—with O’Brien’s first goal coming on a breakaway—it still signaled that the Sirens were able to put Seattle on the back foot. Indeed, O’Brien’s game-sealing goal came in such a frenzy, with a quick shot going past Murphy.
Still, two of O’Brien’s goals came on Sirens power plays, and although New York hasn’t taken advantage of power plays as much as most of the league in the 2025-26 season, the penalties still came back to haunt Seattle.
