For the second year in a row, the Minnesota Frost will be playing in the Walter Cup final.
Just like last year, the Frost squeaked into the playoffs, clinching a spot on the last day of the regular season.
Again, the team was seeded fourth, and again, that didn’t make a difference. This time, it took the Frost only four games to dispatch the Toronto Sceptres, after the Frost won the deciding Game 4 in overtime by a score of 4-3 on Wednesday.
“We were having some turnovers, having some uncharacteristic mistakes,” Minnesota head coach Ken Klee said about his players, who climbed back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits in the game.
“But at the end of the day, we found a way to win. That’s the biggest thing. Playoffs, you’ve got to find different ways to win every night, and big credit to our squad for doing that.”
The Frost, who won the inaugural Walter Cup last season, will take on either the Montreal Victoire or Ottawa Charge in the next round. The Charge leads the best-of-five series 2-1, and has a chance to win at home on Friday evening.
One advantage the Frost may have had over the Sceptres: they’ve been playing desperate hockey since the end of April just to get into the post-season.
The top line of captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, reigning playoff MVP Taylor Heise and Michela Cava led the way in Game 4. The overtime winner was Heise’s first goal of this series, but that doesn’t tell the whole story of just how impactful she’s been.
Heise finished the series with seven points in four games. In the last two games, she won more than 61 per cent of the faceoffs she took.
WATCH | Heise sends Frost back to PWHL finals with OT winner that eliminates Sceptres:
Heise sends Frost back to PWHL Finals with OT winner that eliminates Sceptres
Coyne Schofield also came into Game 4 without a goal, but picked up two in this game. They were both big for her team. The first came just 14 seconds after Toronto took a 2-0 lead, and the second tied the game in the third period and forced overtime.
“It’s a game of inches,” the captain said after the game. “It’s a game of mistakes. I think at times, games aren’t won, they’re lost. It took everybody tonight as it did this entire series, and that’s what it’s going to take moving forward.”
The win means Minnesota gets an extra day or two at home instead of boarding a 7 a.m. flight to Toronto for Game 5. For Coyne Schofield, it means more time with her toddler son, Drew.
Klee suggested that was a driving factor for Coyne Schofield’s performance.
“She’s spent enough time away from Drew lately,” he said. “I think she’s like, ‘I’m not letting it happen. If I can spend two or three more days at home with my kid, I’m doing it.’ She was outstanding tonight.”
The visitors were left to board that plane back to Toronto on Thursday morning with their season over and lots of time to think about what went wrong.
Unlike a high-scoring Game 3, it felt like the Sceptres were always in this one, over three periods of tight-checking hockey and not a single penalty called.
“I’m incredibly proud of the effort, the attitude, the playing within our team structure, the battle level and the compete level that our group showed throughout that game,” head coach Troy Ryan said on Wednesday night.
After goaltender Kristen Campbell allowed seven goals in Game 3, Ryan decided to swap his starter out for Carly “CJ” Jackson. It was the backup goaltender’s second career PWHL start, coming in a must-win, do-or-die scenario.
Jackson made 22 saves on 26 shots, and couldn’t be blamed for Heise’s overtime winner. Heise had time and space, while Jackson was screened by several players.
“I thought CJ really answered the call and gave us an opportunity to win,” Ryan said.
Where does Toronto go from here? Key forwards Hannah Miller, Natalie Spooner and Jesse Compher are all on expiring contracts. Like every other team in the league, Toronto will lose talented players to Seattle and Vancouver in the expansion draft.
Despite opting to start Jackson in Game 4, Ryan reiterated the team’s faith in Campbell.
“Soupy’s a great goaltender that had not a great game at not an ideal time,” Ryan said.
Injuries were a big part of the Sceptres’ season. Beyond Kirk, the Sceptres were without Spooner, Miller and Sarah Nurse at points. Spooner returned from off-season surgery in February but hasn’t quite looked like herself yet.
Defender Renata Fast had a career year, eating key minutes for the Sceptres and quarterbacking the league’s top power play.
It earned her a defender of the year nomination on Wednesday. Fast described the nomination as an honour. But it was cold comfort after her season ended.
“It’s hard to really think about it now,” Fast said. “Just disappointed.”
Like the Frost, the Charge have been in playoff mode dating back to the regular season, as they pushed to get into the postseason.
It’s something head coach Carla MacLeod has brought up to describe her team’s mindset and confidence. It may be the team’s first playoff berth, but the desperation isn’t a new feeling.
They go into Friday’s Game 4 at home with a chance to eliminate the top-seeded Victoire, after rookie goaltender Gwyneth Philips posted a shutout en route to a 1-0 Game 3 victory on Tuesday.
Philips found herself in the starter’s role after Emerance Maschmeyer was hurt in March. If she’s felt pressure, it hasn’t shown.
“Pretty much any shot that goes on net, we know Gwen’s got it,” Ottawa forward Mannon McMahon, who scored the game winner on Tuesday, said about her goaltender. “She’s really special. In the locker room and stuff, she’s the one cracking jokes. She’s the loud one. She’s so calm and I think that wears off on the rest of us.”
On Thursday, Philips was nominated for goaltender of the year alongside Montreal’s Ann-Renée Desbiens and Boston’s Aerin Frankel.
Just as it did in Game 3, the series may come down to a battle between the rookie, Philips, and the veteran, Desbiens, who led the league in save percentage, goals against average and wins in the regular season.
Consider that the Victoire’s Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey have a combined 47 shots on goal over the series and only one goal each to show for it.
“We need to do a better job of taking her eyes away,” Montreal defender Erin Ambrose told reporters after Tuesday’s game.
“She is an elite goaltender. She’s shown that in multiple areas, multiple games both internationally and here. But I also think we have elite goal scorers on this team, and we’ve just got to find a way to get dirty [goals] at times.”
