On Monday afternoon, the Frost captured their second consecutive PWHL Walter Cup Championship with a 2-1 overtime victory against the Ottawa Charge in Game Four of the Finals.
Not bad for a team that got into the playoffs on a tiebreaker. The Frost finished the regular season tied with the Boston Fleet with 44 points, but Minnesota had 10 regulation victories to Boston’s nine. The Frost and Boston met in last season’s Walter Cup Finals.
All four games between Ottawa and Minnesota were decided in overtime, with the final score ending 2-1 each time. This was due in part to stellar goaltending from both squads. Maddie Roonie finished second amongst goaltenders in the regular season with a 2.07 goals allowed average (GAA) for Minnesota. More importantly Rooney, the goaltender for Team USA at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games that won gold, was 5-0-0 in the playoffs, with a 1.75 GAA. Rooney, 27, had an 8-7-3 record and .907 save percentage in the regular season. Her backup, Nicole Hensley, was 1-1-1 in the postseason, with a 2.43 GAA, and .906 save percentage.
Both Roonie and Hensley were quoted by TSN in the postgame celebration as saying “Death, taxes, and how (head coach) Ken Klee is starting in net.”
Kelly Pannek opened the scoring for Minnesota at 10:10 of the second period, which is the lone time in the Finals that Minnesota scored first. Pannek had four shots, and was 17 of 36 in the faceoff dot. Despite Shiann Darkangelo for Ottawa going 11 for 18 in Game Four, Pannek was dominant on the draw from Game Two on, including an astronomical 34 for 45 in Game Three.
The key for Minnesota was trying to get anything past Ottawa goaltender Gwyneth Philips. The 24-year-old from Athens, Ohio went 4-0-4 in the playoffs for the Charge, posting a league-best 1.23 GAA. Philips also had the only shutout in the playoffs, a 1-0 win against the Montreal Victoire in Game Three of the first round. Philips is a current member of Team USA, where she backstopped a 4-3 overtime gold medal-winning performance against Canada in the finals of the IIHF Women’s World Championship in April.
Even in a losing effort, Philips was awarded the Illana Kloss playoff MVP for her performance. The PWHL awards are scheduled for June 25 at the Hard Rock Arena in Ottawa, and Philips is a finalist for Goaltender of the Year along with Montreal’s Ann-Renee Desbiens, and Boston’s Aerinl Frankel. Philips is also up for Rookie of the Year alongside New York Sirens’ forward Sarah Fillier, and Victoire forward Jennifer Gardiner.
Not too bad for a third round pick.
After Liz Scheppers buried a rebound at 11:59 of overtime, the Frost bench emptied with helmets, gloves, and sticks flying, even if some cages had to be flipped up on those helmets first. For Scheppers it was only her second goal of the playoffs, but mirrored the 2024 Finals, when she scored the Cup-clinching goal as well for the Frost. Despite a lucrative career at Ohio State where she scored 63 goals in five seasons, Scheppers only two goals with the Frost both came this season.
Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield accepted the Walter Cup from PWHL co-founder Kimber Walter, and began skating around the XCel Energy Center in St. Paul. There will not be any jokes made that the Timberwolves and Wild, the arena’s other two tenants have not made it to a championship round in history.
To the 11,024 in attendance, Minnesota showed an unmatched level of class and sportsmanship after Scheppers’ goal. The Charge remained on the ice well after the handshake line, as they had a feeling Philips would win the Kloss Trophy. The Minnesota faithful then did something I have yet to see an opposing fan base do in 47 years, and that is give a significant standing ovation in appreciation to the visiting squad. Speeches from the Jocks in Jills Podcast co-host Tessa Bonhamme, and women’s sports pioneer Billie Jean King were well received by fans and players alike, as the league looks to blossom even further going into year three.
Several players from both teams will not be with their clubs in the fall, as the PWHL Expansion Draft takes place on June 9 to formally welcome Vancouver and Seattle into the league. Minnesota selected Taylor Heise first overall last season, and Heise went on to win the Kloss Award last May. Fillier was selected first overall this year.
Klee, a veteran of 934 NHL games as a player, only knows how to win championships after transitioning to a head coach. As the coach of Team USA, Klee led the Women’s National Team to the gold medal at the 2015 and 2016 IIHF Championships, and has a career 18-3-1-2 record in the Women’s Four Nations Cup. He can add a second Walter Cup to his expanding resume after Memorial Day.
-JC24