🏒😤 Puck around and find out!

🍪 IMPORTANT: There are still spots left for Flour Bakery’s annual holiday cookie swap! The plan: Bake your fave cookies, eat everyone else’s, and dress in your holiday best. Bonus: THE Joanne Chang will be there to answer your burning baking Qs. Grab tickets here!

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

The puck’s about to drop … again. The Boston Fleet, your favorite women’s hockey team, are kicking off their third season on Nov. 23 against the Montréal Victoire at 1 p.m.

Here’s what to know:

🏒 Quick lore drop: Despite consistently solid play, the Fleet’s first two seasons ended in heartbreak. They were just one game from winning it all in the PWHL’s inaugural season and from making the playoffs last year. Even worse? Both times, it was at the hands (gloves?) of the Minnesota Frost. 

🫨 This offseason = a MAJOR shakeup. On the head coaching front, OUT: Courtney Kessel. IN: Kris Sparre. But that’s small potatoes compared with the team’s WILD move to leave captain and MVP candidate Hilary Knight available in the league’s June expansion draft (basically trading her away). Instead, they opted to lock down Aerin Frankel, Megan Keller, and Alina Müller, surrounding them with new talent like No. 2 draft pick Haley Winn and TikTok icon Zoe Boyd.

🏆 This season’s goal: Playoffs or bust. Though the Fleet have plenty of star-caliber talent (especially in goalie Frankel), there are some questions about their depth after losing tons of vets in free agency. So their success will likely depend on who can step up. Translation: The ceiling is high, and the floor is low.

👀 Win or lose, you can watch it all in Boston! After selling out BU’s Agganis Arena twice last season, the team is running it back FOUR times this year: Dec. 3 vs. Vancouver, Dec. 7 vs. Minnesota, Jan. 7 vs. Seattle, and March 17 vs. Toronto. Personally, we’re eyeing the Jan. 7 game to see Knight’s revenge tour. Grab tickets here!

🎟️ B-Side Members get discounted tickets. Because we love ya! Members get 15-20% off home games all season long, including games at Agganis. Become a member here to claim your perk ;)

📲 Wanna hop on the PWHL bandwagon? The PWHL has its own beginner’s guide to women’s hockey, AND the Jocks in Jills podcast, which breaks down the action every week. And if you wanna catch a game IRL, keep your eyes peeled for watch parties at Drawdown Brewing in JP (including the season opener!) and Watch With Us Boston.

🥳 An extra special B-Side b-day shoutout is in order … Everyone give a big virtual birthday hug to B-Side’s newsletter writer, Gia Orsino!!! You read her words, you love her takes, and your inbox just wouldn’t sparkle the same without her! Gia, we hope your special day is filled with barrel jeans, a Zo Greek cup of soup, and a new pair of Reformation ballet flats. We love ya!

🏡 Mayor Michelle Wu seems suss of the rent control ballot Q proposal. An effort to put it back on the ballot in 2026 is gaining serious momentum after collecting over 124,000 (!) signatures to advance to the next stage. And while it’s no secret Wu is a rent control stan, she thinks this particular measure may be too much of a one-size-fits-all solution. If passed, annual rent hikes for most units would be tied to cost-of-living increases with a hard 5% cap statewide. Her preference? Repeal the rent control ban and let municipalities make their own rules.

😎 How do you fix Boston’s budget problem? Swag. City Hall officials are going full influencer and exploring the possibility of ~official city of Boston merch~ with tees, hats, and totes. Some mockups are actually kind of cute ... Beyond letting local government nerds rep their city, supporters think merch revenue + logo licensing fees could = a pad for the city’s coffers during a crunchy budget season. But cool merch doesn’t guarantee a cash cow, as other cities that tried this trick have seen a range of results, from millions to just breaking even.

🤖 You can make your own book at The Harvard COOP … using AI. The campus store is collabing with Storyfave, a platform from Harvard alums that generates illustrated books in just minutes, including children’s books, memory books, etc. They claim AI is not an author, but rather, “a guide to help people capture and shape” their stories — though it technically writes the story for you, so ... You can craft a free draft of your own story at the in-store installation, take home a digital copy for $15, or order a hardcover starting at $35.

🎤 Live from Bow Market, this is Night Cap Radio. New late-night third space alert! Somerville’s Night Cap Radio, a pop-up podcast studio-slash-community-gathering-space, is opening for biz Nov. 22. Night Cap got its start as a late-night listening lounge in downtown Boston last year, but is coming back to Bow Market as a pop-up “radio station,” starring live podcast tapings, storytelling events, meet-ups, and music performances a la NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. You can check out the event listings here. Bonus: Most events are free!

🌲 Ring in the holiday season. We can’t believe we’re saying this, but Quincy Market’s tree-lighting ceremony is Nov. 22 … Ah! Expect festive treats, live performances, and good holiday vibes. 

🍩 Don’t forget your free doughnut! Union Square Donuts and Boston Legacy FC are celebrating the NWSL Championship on Nov. 22 with free doughnuts while supplies last. Here’s how to get yours. 

🛍️ Try on a different tax bracket. The Seaport sales are keeping us FED with this For Love & Lemons sample sale through Nov. 23. 

🍎 Bite into the ultimate apple festival. Cider! Apple pie demos! Community cheer! They’re all on the menu at First Street Market’s "Apple-y Ever After" event on Nov. 22

🏓 Dink without paying a dime. PickleBOS’s new home on Dot Ave. is welcoming the community for a FREE open play on Nov. 22. There will be clinics! Dinking! And … Brick Street Bagels!!!

🦃 Pre-game your turkey trot with … a turkey trot. Castle Island’s Turkey Trot 5K is back on Nov. 22. Your ticket includes a beer and a donation to Good Sports to help kids get in the game this season.

🔎 Treasure hunt for your holiday gifts. The Brighton Bazaar returns with its Trove: Treasures & Trinkets Galore pop-up on Nov. 23. Think: Jewelry, gems, baubles, and more from over 50 vendors. 

🍨 Scream for (cheap) ice cream. Gracie’s is going all out for its 11th b-day with pay-what-you-want ice cream cups and Pop-Tart ice cream sandwiches on Nov. 23 (100% of sales will go to charity). The catch: You must pay in cash!

BREAKING: We *think* war is coming to New England. Our proof? This parking lot of Dunkin’-clad cars.

A woman unexpectedly stumbled upon this uniform fleet of Dunkin’-mobiles earlier this week, suspecting an imminent battle was nigh. “We shouldn’t be worried about the drones,” she said. Aptly following up with, “there is somethin’ else a-brewin’.” 

The comment section was equally committed to the bit, with one person reminding us “there’s a PLANE too” (remember this?), and Dunkin’s brand account adding, “the avengers have assembled.” 

So is the battle of Starbucks in our future? Probably not. But let’s be real: In a match up between a Dunkin’ and this piddly bear Starbucks cup, we know who’s winning.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🪖 Thanks for reading! We don’t care what anyone else thinks: That was Massachusetts’ National Guard. 

😛 The results are in: Over 50% of B-Siders agree with the Michelin Guide’s picks for Boston, with Sarma’s absence leaving one reader quite hopeful: “I guess it makes it easier for me to get a res at Sarma 🤪.” Keep dreaming, babe!

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].