ST. PAUL — The lower bowl of Xcel Energy Center was a sea of purple and white for the third home game in the Minnesota Frost season on Saturday afternoon. A season-high 8,726 fans attended the game hoping to see the Frost (3-1-1-1) get a fifth consecutive victory but instead saw the home team skate to a one-goal defeat, losing 3-2 to the Montreal Victoire (2-2-0-1).
Here are five rules from the Frost’s first regulation loss of the season:
1. Saturday included homecomings and Hill-Murray/Wisconsin reunions for some of the Montreal players.
There were no graphics or lengthy video tributes, but the Frost welcomed back two former players during the game’s first TV timeout Saturday with an announcement in the arena. Montreal forwards Abby Boreen and Clair DeGeorge each had a chance to wave to the crowd via the videoboard and receive a nice round of cheers. Both were part of the Walter Cup Champion Minnesota team last season.
Boreen, a Wisconsin native who played with Hill-Murray and the Gophers, was a reserve with Minnesota who contributed four goals and five points in nine regular-season games before needing to enter the PWHL Draft in June; Montreal selected her in the third round (17th overall). Boreen came into the game as Montreal’s leading scorer with two goals and four points this season, also fresh off being named the PWHL Second Star of the Week on Dec. 23.
She said she’s had a fun season with her new team.
“Moving to a whole new city, meeting literally everyone from scratch,” Boreen said. “I’ve had a blast, honestly. So, I’m really happy to be here.”
Well, Boreen had at least one familiar face on her new team. She and defender Mariah Keopple, another Wisconsin native and a Hill-Murray teammate, have known each other for about a decade. Saturday’s game was a homecoming for Keopple, too, who had about 60 family members at the game.
“They were scattered all around the rink,” Keopple said. “It was incredible to do it in front of them and also fellow Wisconsin people on my team.
2. Three players scored their first goals of the season.
Of the five goals in Saturday’s game, three marked the first of the season for each player. Keopple scored her first goal to tie the game 1-1 in the first period when her point shot made it through traffic. Then Victoire center Alexandra Labelle gave her team the lead with 37.8 seconds left in the opening period as she whacked away at her own rebound in front of the net. Labelle had only one goal in 24 games last season with New York.
Early in the second period, Frost rookie Brooke McQuigge (a fourth-round draft pick) tied the game at two for her first professional goal. The Frost crashed the net creating a flurry of chances before the fourth-line winger McQuigge cashed in. Liz Schepers and Claire Butorac assisted on the play.
“I think my line fed off each other’s energy and we just forechecked well there,” McQuigge said. “Each of us had a swing at the puck. So, it could’ve been either one of my linemates’ goals. Just happy to get the first one.
3. Minnesota makes the right call on a challenge for goaltender interference.
About halfway through the second period, Montreal appeared to take a two-goal lead when winger Laura Stacey crashed the net as Keopple took a shot from far out that ended up in the net. The official on the ice signaled a good goal. But the Frost challenged the play as Stacey skated through the crease and appeared to get tangled with goaltender Maddie Rooney.
Following the video review, the officials, in consultation with the PWHL Central Situation Room, reversed the call to keep it a one-goal game. They determined goaltender interference indeed occurred on the play.
Though challenges aren’t ever easy, it was the right call this time around, said Frost coach Ken Klee.
“The replays are kind of slow for us to get on the bench,” Klee said. “I was watching on the jumbotron like everybody else.”
Klee added that he’s instructed his goaltenders to let him know if they were interfered with on a play, which also helps make his calls easier. Kendall Coyne Schofield was on the ice for the play and noted that Rooney spoke up right away about being interfered with on the play.
“I try to have them take a little bit of ownership of it, too,” Klee said. “Because they’re around the net, and they see what’s happening.
Britta Curl-Salemme celebrates scoring her third goal of the season to give the Frost a 1-0 lead in Saturday’s game against Montreal. (Photo courtesy of PWHL)
4. Britta Curl-Salemme, Claire Thompson and Taylor Heise keep adding to their point totals.
The Frost had a slow start, captain Coyne Schofield acknowledged postgame. But they still got on the board first for the fifth time in six games this season. About nine minutes into the game, a bouncing puck found its way into the net for a 1-0 Frost lead. Defender Claire Thompson’s shot bounced in front of the net and off of Britta Curl-Salemme for her third goal of the season.
She’s the eighth player in the league to reach three goals this season. She has four points in six games.
With the primary assist on the goal, Thompson leads the league in assists with seven and points with eight. She’ll carry a four-game point streak into the team’s next game on Jan. 2 against Boston.
Taylor Heise also earned an assist on the play, tying her for second in PWHL scoring with seven points (one goal, six assists). She has a point in five consecutive games
5. The Frost lost for the first time in regulation but remained in first place in the PWHL standings.
The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for the Frost, but they’re still atop the PWHL standings with 12 points. Montreal has won three in a row and moved into second place with 10 points.
The Frost were the last team to lose a game in regulation. Montreal’s game-winning goal came only a few minutes after McQuigge tied the game in the second period. Veteran forward Marie-Philip Poulin finished off an odd-man rush to score her second goal of the season after a late pass in deep from Stacey.
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