The Frost have 10 points and a .833 winning percentage through four games this season. Here are five rules from the team’s first home victory – in its second opportunity – of the season:

The Minnesota Frost players celebrate one of their five goals scored against Ottawa on Dec. 19 at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

1. Kelly Pannek scores a pair of goals, just misses the ‘Grace Zumwinkle hat trick.’
Ottawa (1-0-1-3) had a 1-0 lead after scoring about eight minutes into the game. Anna Meixner tipped a Jincy Roese shot while Shiann Darkangelo provided the screen in front of Frost goaltender Maddie Rooney. But about three minutes later, Kelly Pannek tied the game and made sure the Frost never trailed again.

Pannek took the puck behind the Ottawa net, came out front and flicked a backhand shot that fluttered into the net to get the Frost on the board in the game and Pannek into the goal column for the season.

“It found one of the defender’s sticks, and I think ramped up and over,” Pannek said. “I think any time that happens, it’s hard for a goaltender to adjust to it.”

Early in the second period, Pannek doubled the total with a power-play goal. She took a pass from Kendall Coyne Schofield and then skated through neutral ice. She didn’t stop until she popped a laser of a shot past goaltender Gwyneth Philips for the 2-1 lead. Pannek scored four goals all of last season but now has two in the fourth game of 2024-25.

This season, Pannek said she’s trying to put herself in good positions and tried to get better at putting the puck on net.

“I tend to look for a pass first,” Pannek said. “Just trying to get myself in good spots to be a threat at the net.”
Ottawa went with an empty net with about three-and-a-half minutes to play in regulation. A little more than a minute later, Pannek tried to complete the hat trick with a shot the length of the ice, from Minnesota’s goal line. But the puck hit the outside of the post along the ice and slid just wide.

“Yeah, I was going for the Grace Zumwinkle hat trick,” Pannek said. “6-on-5 empty netter.”

Pannek was referring to when Zumwinkle scored all three goals – including an empty-netter – in Minnesota’s opener last season, a 3-0 victory over Montreal. Thursday night, it was Zumwinkle who later sealed the game with an empty-net goal with 1 minute, 41 seconds left in regulation.

“She said she was going to wait for me, but I was not coming anywhere close to catching up with her,” Pannek said. “I’m glad she finished that one.”

Claire Thompson winds up for a shot. She scored a goal and had three assists in the game against Ottawa. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

2. Claire Thompson scores her first PWHL goal and recorded a 4-point night.
Minnesota’s first-round pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft (third overall), defender Claire Thompson, not only scored her first PWHL goal Thursday, but she factored into four of the five Frost tallies. Thompson assisted on Pannek’s first goal and Zumwinkle’s second-period goal before scoring with about five minutes to play in regulation. Taylor Heise fed Thompson the puck off the rush, and Thompson fired a shot from the slot.

She credited the great players around her for the successful night.

“People are making good plays with the puck,” Thompson said. “So, anytime you can look to transition the puck to other people, and there’s good people on the team, good things happen.

“I think we had a lot of great net-front presence on a lot of our goals, and that’s a point of emphasis for our team.”
Thompson also made the feed up to Zumwinkle on the empty-net tally.

3. Minnesota’s power play strikes twice, marking the first time the franchise has scored multiple power-play goals in a regular-season game.
Part of the offense for the Frost – which outshot the Charge 40-24 – was a power play that went 2-for-3. It’s the first time the Frost have scored multiple power-play goals during a regular-season game. They also went 2-for-3 in Game 5 of the playoff series against Toronto, in a 4-1 victory.

Minnesota’s special teams struggled last season, going 5-for-61 (8.2%) in the regular season. It also went 2-for-26 (7.7%) in 10 playoff games, but all was seemingly forgiven when they hoisted the Walter Cup.

Through the first three games, the Frost were 1-for-7 on the power play, increasing those numbers to 3-for-10 (30%) by the end of Thursday’s game. Coach Ken Klee credited assistant coach Chris “Critter” Johnson for taking ownership of the power play and helping it to find some early success.

“Critter’s doing a good job working with them, talking to them, where they’re going to be on the ice, what situations they can be in,” Klee said. “But also, make hockey plays. He’s a big believer.”

Maddie Rooney makes the save of the game, reaching her right pad out to stop a shot from Natalie Snodgrass that would have tied the game 3-3 in the third period. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

4. Despite being outshot by a significant margin all night, Ottawa nearly tied the game 3-3 in the third period.
The Charge kept charging in the third period after being down 3-1 at the second intermission. At 5:28 of the third period, Tereza Vanišová got in alone and went forehand-to-backhand to slip a shot past Rooney and make it a one-goal game.

About 30 seconds later, Ottawa nearly tied it. Natalie Snodgrass, an Eastview grad, also was one-on-one with Rooney. But the goaltender reached her right pad out just enough to make the sprawling save. So instead of a tie game, the Frost maintained the lead and outscored Ottawa 2-0 the rest of the game.

“Massive save by a really good goalie,” said Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod. “So good on her. She fought to get her toe on it and managed to do so.

“I don’t think I was worried that that was going to sway us to the direction that it did. You would’ve thought, ‘well man, we just about scored two goals in a minute, let’s keep going here.’ Just didn’t have the pushback that we needed. We just didn’t have our game.”

5. Sophie Jaques was injured after an illegal hit.
About halfway through the third period on a Frost penalty kill, Sophie Jaques took a hip check behind the Minnesota net from Maple Grove native Mannon McMahon. Jaques went down to the ice and appeared to be in pain. She was helped off the ice by the training staff.

Officials reviewed the play for a major penalty but called a minor penalty for illegal body checking.

Klee did not have an update on her condition postgame, other than to say she’d been taken to the hospital.

“So, we’ll see how she’s doing,” Klee said. “She’ll be obviously evaluated tonight and tomorrow. And we’ll see where she’s at.”

The post Rink Rule: Charge vs. Frost appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

In the CCHA, which used to be the WCHA for both men and women, it couldn’t be more competitive. Bemidji State leads with 37 points on an 11-7-2 record; St. Thomas and Bowling Green are tied with 35 points and identical 11-8-1 records. Minnesota State Mankato also has 35 points and an 11-7-2 record. 

This weekend, things could get straightened out a bit — or even more tangled — in the CCHA when Bemidji State faces two games at St. Thomas, while Lake Superior State invades Mankato, Michigan Tech is at Bowling Green and Northern Michigan at Ferris State.

In the Big Ten, Minnesota stumbled at Notre Dame, but came back from a 6-1 embarrassment to gain a 3-2 overtime victory in the rematch when Jaxon Nelson scored late to tie it, and Jimmy Snuggerud scored at 1:18 of overtime to win it.

Nevertheless, Minnesota’s stretch of 9-1-1 was broken, as was the Gophers hope to vault up into the top spot in the conference. At 12-6-4, the third-place Gophers have 37 points to stay ahead of Notre Dame, but they still trail first-place Michigan State (46 points, 14-4-2 record) and second-place Wisconsin (13-6-1, 39 points). The Gophers are idle this weekend, while last-place Ohio State heads for Michigan State after ruining Wisconsin’s title hopes with 3-2 overtime and 3-1 victories for the Buckeyes last weekend.

The NCHC, meanwhile, which had some struggles early, has now settled into its usual position as the nation’s best conference. The top five teams could legitimately feel as though they could win any other conference in the country. Those top five are North Dakota, St. Cloud State, Colorado College, Denver and Western Michigan, and they are all bunched within eight points.

Rough weekend for UMD vs. Denver
Minnesota Duluth isn’t among the NCHC title-chasers this season, but if they can pull all their loose ends together for the final six regular-season games, the Bulldogs may well decide who wins it. The Bulldogs languish in seventh place after being swept 5-4 in overtime and 5-2 by Denver last weekend at AMSOIL Arena. While Denver looked like the best team any hockey fans in Duluth have seen this year, they trail the leaders: North Dakota (11-6-1, 37 points), St. Cloud State (10-4-4, 36 points) and surprising Colorado College (12-6, 33 points). Denver is 11-6-1 with 31 points.

UMD, having lost twice to powerful Denver, now finishes the regular season at North Dakota this weekend, at Colorado College and back home against St. Cloud State. How’s that for a playoff tuneup?

Last Friday night’s game might have been the most entertaining and exciting games of the season for the Bulldogs who, if they didn’t have their torturous loose ends together, they pulled them together in that wild finish with two goals after pulling goaltender Zach Stejskal to tie the game 4-4 — only to fall on a goal by Aidan Thompson at 1:46 of the 3-on-3 overtime.

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, all within about four minutes of elapsed time.

The loose ends came back to haunt UMD Saturday night, after another similar rally seemed to lift the Bulldogs from a horrible three-goal opening deficit fashioned in a shaky first seven minutes, to self-destructing when two of their promising scorers — Ben Steeves and Anthony Menghini — wound up sharing penalty box time for misconduct penalties through the final minutes to eliminate any chance of continuing the rally.

It was, in a word, embarrassing. That, after an embarrassing start of three goals on five shots that caused coach Scott Sandelin to pull Stejskal and send in Matthew Thiessen.

“And you know what the most embarrassing thing was?” Sandelin said, challenging three media types who showed up after the game. “That stuff at the end. Having two guys sitting there for mouthing off. It’s frustrating, and I get it, but I’m sorry, if they don’t learn it’s not going to bode well for us. You don’t disrespect the team.”

And with that, Sandelin stalked away from the podium. Press conference over.

That Saturday night, UMD’s fire was extinguished early when Zeev Buium scored on the first shot of the first shift, at 0:31, and Connor Caponi shoveled in a backhander at 5:25. Jared Wright got loose on the right boards and flew in to score short-side on his breakaway for a 3-0 lead at 6:39. Shots were 5-5, but the score was 3-0 Denver, and the crowd was silent. Thiessen was sent in to tend goal, and he was sharp immediately, and made saves on all eight shots the rest of the first period.

Denver took a 5-2 lead in the third period, and the air went out of the balloon. At 9:57 of the third period, it got worse. That’s when Menghini, who has scored seven goals as a freshman, was called for checking from behind. Menghini said something to the ref, and was given a 10-minute misconduct, too. Sandelin sent Steeves over to serve the minor, and it ended just as a whistle blew. Steeves skated out and, as he passed the ref, he made a comment. Bang! He also was awarded a 10-minute misconduct, with eight minutes to go.

Losing the chance to make one last bid to win was too much for Sandelin, and while he has defended his players all season, he blew up this time, although UMD’s dressing room full of players might have been a better audience than the three-person media contingent that showed up after the game.

UMD women’s hockey close to home-ice advantage
Meanwhile, on the women’s front, UMD had a more beneficial answer to the women’s WCHA run to the playoffs. Needing three points to clinch home ice for the first round, the Bulldogs edged St. Cloud State 1-0 on Clara Van Wieren’s goal at 4:33 of the third period, and goalie Hailey MacLeod held on for the victory by that score. Playing as afternoon preliminaries to the UMD men, the Bulldogs played another amazing battle with St. Cloud on Saturday, this time going 0-0 through all three periods and overtime, and sending the game to a shootout to be decided.

Goalies Jojo Chobak of the Huskies and freshman Eve Gascon of UMD were brilliant throughout, but when the shootout started, everybody scored! Hanna Baskin scored for UMD; Emma Gentry scored for the Huskies. Van Wieren scored for UMD; Laura Zimmermann matched it for St. Cloud. Then Olivia Wallin skated in but was stopped by Chobak, putting all the pressure on Finnish freshman Sofianna Sundelin, who scored on Gascon and gave the extra point to the Huskies.

In what might be a brilliant political PR performance, UMD’s MacLeod was named goaltender of the week by the WCHA for her first-game performance, overlooking Chobak’s two-game performance, stopping 28 of 29 shots in the first game and all 39 shots the Bulldogs pelted her with in the second, for a weekend tally of 57 saves on 58 shots.

UMD coach Maura Crowell admitted she was pleasantly surprised that her sophomore goalie got the award, but added Chobak’s cumulative two-game performance deserved something.

UMD senior center Mannon McMahon was cited for playing in her 164th and 165th consecutive games over an illustrious five-season career, and she admitted stopping the game to acknowledge her achievement was “a special moment.”

More importantly, the Bulldogs will play at Minnesota this weekend, after which UMD and St. Cloud will reconvene at AMSOIL Arena next weekend for the first round of the best-of-three WCHA playoffs. And the Huskies, after very impressive performances in both games of last weekend’s series, will not be bothered by not having home ice.

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The Huskies were in far better spirits when they returned home Sunday, after they blew a 4-2 lead in the third period to force overtime, then nipped the Pioneers 2-1 in a shootout to come away with a victory, even though the rules note the game is counted as a tie in the standings. 

The game-one loss shows the disparity between national ratings and league standings, because St. Cloud State went into the series ranked No. 14 but led the NCHC with a 7-0-1 record. While Denver ranked No. 6 in the country. So, the Huskies flew home with a 7-1-2 league record, still good for first place. While Denver moved to 5-3-1, and the capacity for splitting NCHC series still alive and well.

St. Cloud State’s schedule doesn’t ease up at all, as the Huskies welcome North Dakota, which risked its 5-4 NCHC standing and No. 4 ranking in last weekend’s split against Omaha in Grand Forks.

More evidence of NCHC parity was obvious in last weekend’s visit by Colorado College to AMSOIL Arena to face UMD in a series that could have elevated one ahead of the other in the middle of the NCHC pack. Instead, the two teams split, and it couldn’t have been more equitable. UMD captured a 3-2 overtime victory Friday night, when Ben Steeves scored his 15th goal for the winner 1:06 into overtime. In the next game, Colorado College CC got the tying goal from Nicklas Andrews with 0:00.2 showing on the clock near the end of the second period. Noah Laba scored the winner for Colorado at 1:39 of overtime. The games also featured goaltending duels between UMD senior Zach Stejskal and CC sophomore Kaidan Mbereko.

Colorado College arrived in Duluth holding fifth place in the NCHC as a reward for coach Kris Mayotte’s rebuilding plan, while the Bulldogs were sixth. Friday night’s victory boosted the Bulldogs into a three-way tie for fifth with Colorado and Omaha.

The rest of the NCHC follows the rules of parity too, as Western Michigan split with Miami, and Omaha surprised North Dakota for a split.

Ohio State still dominates WCHA
Both UMD-CC games were part of a celebratory weekend in Duluth, with Friday’s dedicated to Make-A-Wish Foundation. Saturday night, both the UMD women’s and men’s games were part of the ceremonial tribute to Sophie’s Choice, a mental health foundation originated by UMD’s women’s star, Gabbie Hughes, who is now playing for PWHL Ottawa.

The UMD women made the best of the circumstances, playing Bemidji State through a tough first game Friday afternoon resulting in a 2-0 victory. 

The next night, it rained goals for UMD as the Bulldogs smothered Bemidji State 7-0. Reece Hunt, who transferred to UMD from Bemidji State for her final season, scored at 8:50 and 10:30 of the first period, then completed her hat trick at 8:50 off the second period to make it a 3-0 lead. Grace Sadura, Mannon McMahon and Danielle Burgen added second-period goals before Danielle Brunette added one more at 4:41 of the third period to complete the rout.

With a 10-6 record, UMD rises to fourth in the WCHA, behind Ohio State, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and leading St. Cloud State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Bemidi State and St. Thomas. A full WCHA slate is coming up this weekend, with UMD at Ohio State, Wisconsin at Mankato, Minnesota at Bemidji State and St. Thomas at St. Cloud State.

Last weekend’s series between WCHA leader Ohio State and the rebuilt Minnesota Golden Gophers was supposed to be some sort of showdown in Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. But Ohio State settled that issue with a 7-0 rout of the Gophers, followed up by a 6-1 hammering by the Buckeyes.

The high-flying Buckeyes are now 15-1 atop the WCHA, with Wisconsin second at 12-4, Minnesota third at 10-5-1, and UMD fourth at 10-6. St. Cloud State is hot on their heels at 9-6-1 in fifth place.

The post No Sweeps Allowed in Rugged NCHC appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

But the women’s representatives from Minnesota deserve to be recognized for their prominence, too. A look at the week before Christmas national rankings show that five of the top eight teams are from the WCHA, starting at the top:

1. Ohio State, 14-2
2. Minnesota, 13-2
3. Wisconsin 13-3
6. UMD, 10-5-1
8. St. Cloud State, 12-5

The 1-2-3 punch at the top had to survive the sort of upsets that never used to happen in the WCHA.

St. Cloud State, clearly the surprise of women’s college hockey this season, invaded Columbus and, after falling behind 1-0 in the first period, scored twice in the second period. Finnish import goaltender Sanni Ahola stifled the Buckeyes the rest of the way for a shocking 2-1 upset. Ohio Sate had lost only one game all season, and while everyone anticipated a tough game, nobody expected a Huskies win.

St. Cloud’s Addi Scribner said that after that upset, an Ohio State fan came up to her and said: “Your goalie is unreal. She’s a Cyborg!”

The Buckeyes came back in the second game and broke a 1-1 tie with four straight goals in the second period to gain a 6-2 victory and a split. While being upset by St. Cloud could have cost Ohio State the No. 1 ranking, it didn’t. That’s because No. 2 Wisconsin suffered a similar weekend, against Duluth.

UMD went to Wisconsin and lost 3-0, solidifying the Badgers position on Saturday. However, the Bulldogs battled the Badgers through two scoreless periods in their Sunday afternoon rematch, and were determined to make their effort stand up in the third. UMD won that second game 3-2 for the split. 

A victory by the Badgers would have elevated them back to the No. 1 ranking.

The upsets weren’t over when the weekend ended, though, because the Gophers had a one-game matchup Tuesday against St. Cloud State. Peyton Hemp gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead but Scribner tied the game in the second period. The game went to overtime and a shootout. Allie Franco’s shootout goal gave the Gophers, who came in on an eight-game winning streak, the extra WCHA point. 

But it seems there are no such things as upsets anymore in the WCHA. At least going into a frantic pre-holiday-break weekend that features Wisconsin at Minnesota, and UMD at St. Cloud State, with Bemidji State at St. Thomas for good measure among Minnesota’s teams.

Minnesota teams have always dominated with NCAA championships
For statistical evidence, it’s not as though the Minnesota teams and the West are just emerging on top. Go back to the year 2000-01, which was the first year the NCAA conducted a national tournament for women’s teams. In the first 13 years it was held, Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota virtually owned the championship.

UMD won the first three NCAA titles, with spectacular players such as Jenny Schmidgall, Maria Rooth and Caroline Ouellette leading the way. Under Shannon Miller’s coaching, UMD won five championships in all, with the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2010 trophies still filling the school’s trophy case. Minnesota won championships in 2004, 2005, 2012 and 2013 — meaning that the Bulldogs and Gophers won nine of the first 13 NCAA women’s championships.

The other four titles were won by the emerging power at Wisconsin, meaning that those three WCHA teams won all of the first 13 women’s national championships. The Badgers won in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011, and their 2007 team went 36-1-4 to eclipse the 31-3-2 of UMD in 2003 and the 36-2-2 by the Gophers in 2005.

But in 2013, the Golden Gophers had a load of talent throughout their lineup and set the record for all time with a splendid 41-0-0 championship season.

It was the following year, in 2013-14, that Clarkson broke through and claimed the first NCAA title for women for the East, and Clarkson also won championships in 2017 and 2018. And that’s it. Only three times did a non-WCHA team win the title, and all three times it was Clarkson.

All NCAA tournaments took a year off during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When they resumed, Mark Johnson led his Badgers back for their sixth championship, with Ohio State emerging to capture the 2022 title. Last spring, Wisconsin was a surprise winner of its seventh title, and the same WCHA teams seem clustered for another run this season.

St. Cloud State women marking their mark
But maybe there will be an additional team in the mix, after St. Cloud State pulled off the seemingly impossible task of upsetting Ohio State on the road and coming home to tie the Gophers. That takes care of the top two-ranked teams, and now they get to take on old rival UMD, which upset No. 3 Wisconsin.

The games at St. Cloud State’s Herb Brooks National Hockey Center are expected to be tight, low-scoring battles, because both teams have two outstanding goaltenders. UMD has record-setting Hailey MacLeod, who is setting records for goals-against and save percentage, alongside freshman Eve Gascon, from Montreal.

St. Cloud State has an interesting duo, with Ahola capturing the spotlight in net. She’s paired with Jojo Chobak, who spent a season at UMD before transferring to St. Cloud State because she had grown weary of backing up Swedish Olympic star Emma Soderberg, who decided to stay another year.

Both teams depend on depth, getting scoring from their three top lines, and four for St. Cloud State. Both play tough defensive hockey but with defensemen who can readily move up into the play to help the rush or fire lasers from the points.

“We hung our hats on being a tough defensive team last year,” said St. Cloud State coach Brian Idalski. “We haven’t changed that and still want to play tough defense, but we’ve added some new players and I think we’re capable of scoring more goals this year.

“Especially coming off two tough games at Ohio State, then tying the Gophers on Tuesday. We’re getting contributions from all four lines, and we’re approaching this weekend like we’re preparing for the playoffs.”

From Duluth’s end of the transition from last weekend’s upset to this weekend’s rivalry series, the sound was similar. Center Mannon McMahon praised third-line center Jenna Lawry, who was cool and poised as she scored the game-winner at Madison.

“It was super cool to see how Jenna and her line have stepped up, and now they’re being rewarded,” McMahon said. “A lot of us were disappointed at losing 3-0 in Saturday’s game, but we were confident enough to not let that happen again on Sunday.

“Our response from the first game to the second was what I was most proud of. Now we have to carry that through to St. Cloud. It’s going to be tough. They just don’t quit, and they love to battle.”

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