The Frost Cleaned Things Up Defensively En Route To Winning Their Second Championship

The Minnesota Frost are back-to-back Walter Cup Champions after a nail-biting 2-1 overtime win against the Ottawa Charge Monday night. The Frost had a home-ice advantage and already had 2 wins going into Game 4. However, it was important for Minnesota to end the series here. A loss would have shifted the momentum in the Charge’s favor, especially since Game 5 would have moved to Ottawa.

As I discussed last week, Minnesota produced many goals in their first series, but often scrambled in their defensive end. The Frost allowed 14 goals in 4 games against the Toronto Sceptres. While Minnesota made up for it by scoring 18 goals in the same amount of time, that strategy didn’t look promising against the Charge. 

The Charge weren’t as productive offensively, but better defensively. They beat the Montréal Victoire over 4 games with just 8 goals. Goaltender Gwyneth Philips finished the playoffs with .952% SV and 1.23 GAA, keeping Ottawa competitive. Philips will routinely make the first, second, and even third save, like she does here:

However, Philips has one fault: allowing rebounds. While no goalie can control every rebound, hers often land directly in front of her, giving the opposing team another opportunity to score. 

The Frost didn’t try to increase their scoring to compensate for poor defense. Instead, they stepped up their defensive game. As shown in the play below, Minnesota back-checked, picked up sticks, and got physical to defend their net.

Ottawa’s Shiann Darkangelo entered the zone with 2 teammates. Still, Mellissa Channell-Watkins stepped up on her while Michela Cava and Sophie Jaques took away her outlet passes, forcing Darkangelo to take a shot from the blue line. 

Minnesota consistently followed through, which is why they only let in 1 goal. Below is their shot chart from Game 4. While the Charge still shot a few from the high-danger zone in front of the net, most came from the tops of the circles or outside of the dots. Note that the Charge is orange.

Compare this with Game 1 in Minnesota’s first series, where the Frost lost 3-2 to Toronto on May 7. The shots cluster in front of the net, the highest danger area. Note that Toronto is blue.

The Frost’s follow-through kept shots to the outside, effectively minimizing high-danger scoring chances. 

Game 4 was a 0-0 stalemate until 10:10 into the second period, when Claire Thompson picked up the puck in the corner and walked it out front. She then hit Kelly Pannek, who was waiting back door, and went top shelf on Philips. 

Ottawa exploited a break in Minnesota’s defense 10:09 into the third period and evened the score. Charge’s Danielle Serdachny drove the puck into the zone and was kept outside by Jaques. However, Serdachny slid the puck out front to Tereza Vanišová, who was completely uncovered and scored.

The final goal was 12:00 into overtime. Katy Knoll battled against Ottawa’s Aneta Tejralová in the corner, knocked it to Klára Hymlárová, who sent it right back. Knoll then sent it out front to Liz Schepers, who batted it at Philips. Philips made the save, but the rebound went straight back out. Schepers shot it again, scoring a goal and winning the game.

Defenseman Lee Stecklein was Minnesota’s unexpected point leader throughout the playoffs, with 4 goals and 4 assists. Jaques and Taylor Heise tied for runner-up, with 7 points each. 

The championship win was hard-fought but unsurprising because the Frost largely didn’t change last season’s roster. 

In the PWHL’s inaugural season, the Frost beat Toronto in the first round and battled through 5 games against the Boston Fleet to bring home the cup. Minnesota did not make many roster changes since last season because the league is so new, and there was no expansion draft. Key players Kendall Coyne Schofield, Heise, Jaques, and Cava returned for a second year. 

However, the Frost added rookies Klára Hymlárová and Knoll. While they only had 2 points each over the season, they were integral to the Walter Cup win with 5 points each. 

One major change was in management. Minnesota unexpectedly removed general manager Natalie Darwitz shortly after their first Walter Cup win and chose Melissa Caruso to replace her in September. Ken Klee remained head coach through both playoff runs. While Dartwitz’s removal was a surprise at the time, Frost has built a cohesive, winning team and is unlikely to change management going into the 2025-26 season. 

Management may be secure, but the roster will change due to the PWHL’s expansion into Seattle and Vancouver. The standard size for each PWHL team is 23 players, with up to 3 in reserve because there are no minor league affiliate teams. Each team will be able to protect 4 players and will have to give up 4 players. 

They will protect an initial 3 players, and get to protect another player once they have relinquished the first 2. The expansion teams will have an exclusive signing window from June 4 to 8, and then there will be a special expansion draft on June 9 for the new teams. Minnesota will have a chance to sign new players during the regular draft on June 24. They can also make trades and sign free agents over the summer. 

Unfortunately for the Frost, this draft process heavily favors the expansion teams. While the league hasn’t announced an official draft pick order, Minnesota will likely be 6-8 in the regular draft.