Boston Pride sign Elizabeth Parker

The Boston Pride signed free agent forward Elizabeth Parker, sister to Mary Parker, earlier today. Elizabeth is the second forward the Pride have signed in the last two days. Boston agreed to terms with free agent forward Heather Schwarz yesterday.

Parker played her college hockey at Harvard University, overlapping with her sister Mary’s career for two seasons. Elizabeth shares her younger sister’s size (both are listed at 5-foot-9), but is better known for her defensive game. She had 31 points in 125 career games with the Crimson. Mary, better known for her puck skills and finishing ability, had 136 points in 140 career games at Harvard.

“I’m very excited to play with Mary,” Elizabeth shared in the NWHL’s press release. “We always played on the same teams growing up, so playing at the next level will be extra special. It's definitely going to be a very fun experience.”

Elizabeth has experience playing both forward and defense, but in the NWHL’s press release she was identified as a forward. The Pride already have one player comfortable playing both positions in Meagan Mangene.

Parker makes the Pride a deeper, bigger team. And with big forwards like Hilary Knight and Meghan Duggan out of the mix, that could prove valuable. So too could the chemistry between the Parker sisters.

NWHL teams embracing local talent is resulting in a lot of ready-made chemistry. The Parker sisters just the most recent example.

— Mike Murphy (@DigDeepBSB) September 6, 2017

In addition to the Parker sisters the Pride also have ties to all three Laing sisters (two of which played college hockey at Harvard). Denna Laing was a practice player for the Pride during the league’s inaugural season before her hockey career was cut short by spinal cord injury. And this summer Boston signed rookie goaltender Brianna Laing and drafted Lexie Laing in the third round of the 2017 Draft.

Parker marks the 13th forward to sign with the Pride, which surpasses the 12 forwards signed by the Buffalo Beauts. The Pride now have 22 players under contract for the 2017-18 season.