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Icy Hot
The Minnesota Frost have won four of their last five games and lead the semifinal playoff series 2-1.
ST. PAUL — In the span of two weeks, the Minnesota Frost went from being on the outside of the PWHL playoff picture to one win away from a return to the Walter Cup Finals.
After dropping Game 1 in the PWHL semifinals to the Toronto Sceptres 3-2, the Frost won Games 2 and 3 behind a barrage of goal scoring, winning 5-3 and then 7-5 in front of an announced crowd of 3,917 fans Sunday evening at Xcel Energy Center.
That Game 3 final score is more common to see in a tennis set rather than a typical low-scoring playoff hockey game.
“I think it’s a fan’s dream and a coach’s nightmare, a 7-5 playoff game,” said Frost coach Ken Klee. “But you know what? We found a way to win, and that’s the most important thing.”
Frost coach Ken Klee said he hadn’t “really been apart of a game like that before,” of Sunday’s Game 3 with a 7-5 final score, in favor of Minnesota. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)
Indeed, the victory puts the Frost in a good position, up 2-1 in the best-of-five series. The teams will meet for Game 4 at 6 p.m. Wednesday in St. Paul, with the Frost having an opportunity to close out the series by upsetting Toronto for a second consecutive year.
The Frost, which struggled to score goals at times down the stretch, have pumped in 25 goals over their last five games since they were shut out 2-0 by last-place New York in the Frost’s last regular-season home game on April 27. That offensive production has helped Minnesota win four of their last five games, including two must-wins on the road to help make the playoffs, followed by back-to-back wins against Toronto, the second-place team in the six-team PWHL standings.
Highest-scoring PWHL game ever
Their latest offensive outburst turned into a race to the finish as Toronto and Minnesota were part of the highest-scoring game in PWHL history in Game 3. Minnesota got out to a quick 3-0 lead by the 7:48 mark of the first period, before Toronto even had a shot on goal, causing Toronto coach Troy Ryan to call timeout and settle things down.
Frost fourth-line center Liz Schepers got in alone with goaltender Kristen Campbell and didn’t miss, scoring just 2 minutes, 33 seconds into the game. Schepers had just two goals in 27 games in the regular season, but she was also a catalyst for Minnesota’s playoff run last year, scoring a goal and four assists in 10 playoff games. “Playoff Liz,” as teammate Michela Cava called her.
Frost forward Liz Schepers skates in alone toward the Toronto goal before scoring the first goal of the game in Sunday’s first period of Game 3. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)
Klee praised Schepers’ great habits, adding that she does a lot of things well but “doesn’t always get rewarded for it.”
“I think any time you get to the postseason, you want to turn it up a notch,” Schepers said. “Our whole team has done a really great job of that. Obviously, we came in, it felt like our playoffs started with three games left in the regular season, and we continually got better and dialed it up a little bit more.
“So, it’s great to contribute, and it takes everybody to win at this time of year. Happy to be a part of that.”
After Schepers got the scoring started Sunday, rookie Brooke McQuigge scored the first of her two goals for a 2-0 lead, and then the Frost’s hottest-scoring player lately, defender Lee Stecklein, scored her third goal of the playoffs for her sixth goal in her last five PWHL games. Stecklein scored her three regular-season goals in the last two games of the season.
Depth shows on the scoresheet
Though the Frost led the entire game, Toronto kept pace and got within a goal twice, trailing 3-2 and 5-4. But then Cava, who’s won four consecutive hockey championships in four different leagues, scored back-to-back goals two minutes apart in the third period to help put the lead out of reach. The Sceptres gave Cava plenty of space to walk through the slot and fire a backhander into the net, while her second tally was a power-play goal on the backdoor on a feed from Stecklein.
The Frost went 2-for-4 on the power play Sunday and scored seven goals on 24 shots. Toronto scored its five goals on 23 shots against goalie Maddie Rooney. Not a lot of shots on net, but still a high-scoring game.
“Some broken plays,” Ryan said. “A lot of people directed pucks to the net and getting sticks on them. I think on both sides, I think both goaltenders would probably like a couple of them back.”
Brooke McQuigge fought through Toronto players in front to score one of her two goals in Game 3. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)
A total of 21 players had points in the game, with 11 registering multi-point efforts. Defender Sophie Jaques had a goal and assist for the second consecutive game, while blue-liner Mellissa Channell-Watkins had two assists. Kendall Coyne Schofield had a game-high 5 shots on goal along with two assists. Taylor Heise had three assists, including a great drop-pass to Stecklein on her goal. For the Sceptres, Blayre Turnbull, Kali Flanagan and Daryl Watts each had a goal and an assist.
“I think obviously it was a good offensive game for both teams,” Cava said. “I think it’s just about cleaning up little things.
“We all know that five goals against is not the way we wanted the game to go. I think we’ll really clean that up and just continue to score goals.”
Floodgates open for Frost, on similar path to last year
Ever since getting shut out a couple of weeks ago, scoring goals hasn’t been a problem for Minnesota. First, it was a 3-0 victory in Ottawa. Then, the Frost showed up for its highest-scoring game of the season, netting eight goals in Boston for a 8-1 win that helped secure the final playoff spot.
They’ve gotten scoring from multiple forward lines and defensive pairings. It’s that depth that is one of their strengths, Klee said.
“We try to rely on it when we need to,” Klee said. “We’re trying to be the best team. We’re not trying to be the best player or individual. It’s something we kind of preach from day one. And we know it worked for us last year, so we’re trying as best as we can to keep it going.”
Michela Cava scored the last two Frost goals of the game, which turned out to be the game-winners. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)
The Frost have followed a similar path to last year’s run to the postseason and playoff series, even though the team acknowledges this is not the way they’d like to draw it up. In 2024, Minnesota lost its final five regulation-season games, got help to make the playoffs as the 4-seed, then were shut out twice in Toronto before getting a reverse sweep. Then they beat Boston in five games to win the Walter Cup.
This season, the Frost returned from the international break in late April needing points and wins to make the playoffs. Goal scoring was tougher to come by. But they’ve come up clutch when it matters most. Minnesota has a belief and confidence within its locker room, no matter how difficult the road to victory may seem. That’s a theme carried over from last season.
“I just think the experience we have in this room from last year, from previous teams we’re all coming from, we’ve had a lot of success and fortunate to lean on that,” Schepers said. “Our leaders do a great job of keeping everybody focused on the main thing, which is playing our brand of hockey. Because we see the success that we have when we do that.”
Added Cava: “We play and we don’t quit. We knew during the season that we were really fast and a really skilled team. Obviously, we lost that a few times throughout the year. But going into the playoffs and those last two games, we knew that we had another level. And you could really see everybody just embrace that and just play with the physicality that other teams don’t want to play with.”
Lee Stecklein (left) and Taylor Heise (middle) skate back toward the Frost bench to celebrate Stecklein’s goal which made it a 3-0 game early in the first period on Sunday. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)
Turning to Game 4, Klee said he expects Toronto’s best game as the Sceptres try to keep their season alive. Minnesota will attempt to end a playoff series before reaching the winner-take-all Game 5. But even when their backs are against the wall, the Frost find a way. Going back to last season’s playoffs, Minnesota is 6-0 in must-win, elimination games.
It’ll be about keeping the spirits high on the bench, Cava said, with Schepers adding that it’s also important to not get too high with the highs or too low with the lows.
“This league is too good,” Schepers said. “All the teams are too tight to think you’re in the clear in any way. So, keeping our foot on the gas for sure going into this elimination game, we know it’s going to be the toughest one.”
