The Minnesota Frost offense is ruling the ice, as record-setting scoring has the reigning PWHL champions on the brink of returning to the Walter Cup finals, entering Wednesday's Game 4 on a 2-1 series lead over the Toronto Sceptres in the best-of-five semifinals.
Just two days after No. 4-seed Minnesota leveled the series with a 5-3 Friday win — recording the most combined goals ever scored in a PWHL Playoff game — the Frost found yet another gear, winning the highest scoring game in the second-year league's history in Sunday’s 7-5 Game 3 defeat of No. 2-seed Toronto.
In Sunday's barnburner, 21 players earned points across the two teams, but it was Minnesota who claimed victory, never relinquishing their early lead after netting a trio of goals in the game's first eight minutes.
"Minnesota's a great team," Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan said after the loss. "If you're putting yourself in a situation where you've got to chase them, it's an uphill battle."
"I think it’s a fan's dream and a coach's nightmare, a 7-5 playoff game," said Minnesota boss Ken Klee. "We found a way to win and that's the most important thing."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Minnesota skaters now own the league's 2025 Playoffs stat sheet, with four Frost players topping the points race.
More eyebrow-raising, however, is that the league's postseason offensive leader is a defender, as the Frost's Lee Stecklein has burned up the ice with three goals and three assists in the playoffs so far.
Calling her "outstanding" and "world-class," Klee sang Stecklein's praises while acknowledging that the postseason means Minnesota must "find different ways to score goals and different people have to contribute."
"[Stecklein] knows that, she exemplifies that, and that's why she's one of our leaders and one of our best players."
How to watch Minnesota vs. Toronto in the PWHL Semifinals
The defending champion Frost will hope to secure their spot in the 2025 PWHL Finals while the Sceptres aim to stave off elimination in the pair's next semifinals game on Wednesday.
The puck drops on Game 4 of the best-of-five series at 7 PM ET, with live coverage streaming on the PWHL YouTube channel.
Top-seeded Montréal suffered a surprising loss in their first 2025 PWHL Playoffs game on Thursday, falling 3-2 to postseason debutant No. 3-seed Ottawa.
Despite a tense back-and-forth battle, Ottawa forward Shiann Darkangelo broke through with a third-period game-winning goal, pushing the Charge to an early lead in the best-of-five semifinal series.
The Victoire, who notably used their No. 1-seed advantage to handpick the Charge as their semis opponent, have yet to log a playoff win, adding Thursday's defeat to last season's first-round sweep by Boston.
Even so, Montréal is already viewing the loss as fuel to even the score this weekend.
"We outshot them, we had a lot of great opportunities. We were right there," said Victoire forward Laura Stacey. "If we can put that game together for a whole 60 minutes, it'll look scary I think."
Toronto takes Game 1 from defending champs Minnesota
In the PWHL's other semifinal matchup, No. 2-seed Toronto claimed a one-win advantage over No. 4-seed Minnesota on Wednesday, halting the defending champion Frost's late-season surge with a 3-2 Sceptres victory.
Captain Blayre Turnbull opened scoring in the first period, giving Toronto a lead that they never relinquished, while rookie Julia Gosling netted a second-period brace to secure the Sceptres' win.
Minnesota, acknowledging the tough road they face to return to the championship ice, has already set their eyes on Game 2.
"It's going to be a hard-fought series," said Frost head coach Ken Klee after the Frost's Game 1 loss. "We didn't get one tonight…[so now] we're looking forward to Friday."
How to watch the 2025 PWHL Playoffs this weekend
Toronto and Minnesota are back in action for Game 2 of their series at 7 PM ET on Friday, before traveling to St. Paul for Game 3 at 6 PM ET on Sunday.
Sunday will also see Montréal’s attempt to even their series with Ottawa, with the puck dropping on their Game 2 matchup at 2 PM ET.
All games will stream live on the PWHL YouTube channel.
The 2025 PWHL playoffs are officially set, with the Ottawa Charge and Minnesota Frost punching their postseason tickets in Saturday's final regular-season games to join the first-place Montréal Victoire and second-place Toronto Sceptres in the second-year league's playoff bracket.
While third-place Ottawa secured their postseason spot with a 2-1 overtime victory over Toronto on Saturday, the reigning champion Minnesota Frost staged an improbable late-season surge to claim the fourth and final playoff berth.
Needing two wins in addition to two losses from either the Charge or the Boston Fleet for a chance to defend their 2024 title, Minnesota found another gear in the season's final week.
The Frost first defeated Ottawa 3-0 last Wednesday before handing a crumbling Fleet side an 8-1 Saturday thrashing, leapfrogging Boston to narrowly advance to the playoffs following an up-and-down regular season.
Minnesota's massive momentum grab directly affected this week's 2025 PWHL semifinals pairings.
As first-place finishers, the Victoire had the opportunity to choose their first-round opponent between the third- and fourth-place finishers — with Montréal opting out of facing the Frost to instead open the playoffs against the Charge.
"This group is hungry, and we're excited for the playoffs," said Victoire captain and the 2024/25 PWHL season's top goal scorer Marie-Philip Poulin. "We're pretty excited to start the playoffs at home, in front of our fans."
Also snagging home-ice advantage is second-place Toronto, who must now overcome Minnesota in their best-of-five semifinal series to earn a spot in the 2025 Walter Cup championship series.
How to watch the 2025 PWHL Playoffs
The puck drops on the 2025 PWHL Playoffs on Wednesday, when No. 2-seed Toronto and No. 4-seed Minnesota will meet on the ice at 7 PM ET.
Top-seeded Montréal's semifinal series against No. 3-seed Ottawa will begin at 7 PM ET on Thursday.
All games will stream live on the PWHL YouTube channel.
The PWHL officially announced Seattle as the league's newest expansion franchise early Wednesday morning, bringing the total number of teams taking the 2025/26 season's ice to eight.
The move comes exactly one week after the second-year league tapped Vancouver as its seventh market, capitalizing on the natural rivalry between the cross-border Pacific Northwest neighbors.
While Seattle's bid was led by Climate Pledge Arena's Oak View Group alongside the NHL's Seattle Kraken, both new teams will fall under the league's single-entity structure, with the Walter Group continuing to operate as the PWHL's sole owner.
Rising hockey fervor set up Seattle for PWHL bid success
The West Coast ice hockey hubs join the league's original six teams, as demand for women’s hockey continues to escalate throughout North America following the PWHL's 2024 launch.
Minnesota, Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, New York, and Montreal have all seen fanbases grow over the PWHL's first two seasons, in which the league tested interest in additional markets via very successful Takeover Tours across North America.
As for the factors that tipped the scales in the Seattle's favor, the PWHL cites both the city's enthusiastic Takeover Tour turnout — 12,608 fans showed up for this year's January 5th matchup — as well as its long history as a hub for pro women's sports.
"We are looking forward to returning the love, energy, and excitement the Seattle sports community shared with us during the PWHL Takeover Tour," said PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer in the league's announcement.
"It's a joy to have PWHL Seattle join the WNBA's Storm and the NWSL's Reign, who are skyscrapers in the city's towering sports landscape."
With two new teams officially on board, the league next plans to release details regarding both an expansion draft and the roles Seattle and Vancouver will play in June 24th's PWHL Draft in the coming weeks.
With the puck dropping on the league's second postseason next week, the PWHL unveiled the Minnesota Frost's 2024 Walter Cup championship rings on Monday.
The reveal came as part of the league's multi-year partnership announcement with Paris Jewellers Canada, a family-owned jewelry brand that the PWHL has tapped to create its championship rings for years to come.
In order to personalize the championship jewelry, the design of the 2024 title-winning rings included input from inaugural victors Minnesota.
Fashioned from sterling silver, the rings feature an image of the Walter Cup. Surrounding the trophy are 74 diamonds, in honor of the goals scored by the team throughout their first season, as well as 18 purple amethyst stones representative of the squad's total 2023/24 wins.
The rings also bear inscriptions of the May 29th, 2024, championship game date and 3-0 winning score, the Frost's "Win One Game" motto, and each athlete's name and jersey number.
The champs received their rings in a private celebration on Sunday.
"This group will always carry the honor of being the first team in PWHL history to win the Walter Cup," said Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield. "Now, we will forever have these special championship rings that encapsulate the journey to the top."
With the 2024/25 PWHL regular season closing on May 3rd, the Frost are locked in a battle with the Boston Fleet and Ottawa Charge for the two remaining playoff spots.
For a shot at defending their 2024 title, Minnesota must win their final two games by defeating both Ottawa and Boston this week.
As PWHL action returned to the ice following the IIHF World Championship international break, the Toronto Sceptres booked their 2024/25 postseason berth this weekend, leaving just two spots left in this year's Walter Cup Playoffs.
Despite Toronto's 3-0 Saturday loss to the Boston Fleet, New York's 2-0 win over Minnesota on Sunday gave the second-place Sceptres enough of a point differential over the fifth-place Frost to solidify their postseason position.
Meanwhile, Saturday's games saw the Sirens suffer playoff elimination for the second straight year, with New York immediately banking Sunday's victory points toward securing yet another overall No. 1 pick in June's 2025 PWHL Draft under the league's Gold Plan.
Three teams hunt two remaining spots in 2024/25 PWHL Playoffs
With this weekend's results, the Sceptres join the league-leading Montréal Victoire in clinching a 2024/25 postseason berth, leaving three teams — the Fleet, the Frost, and the Ottawa Charge — battling for the final two spots.
Minnesota's Sunday loss, however, has the reigning PWHL champions on the brink of elimination.
With both Boston and Ottawa holding a significant points advantage over the Frost, Minnesota needs to win both of the final regular-season games and have either the Fleet or the Charge lose their two last matchups to squeeze above the PWHL table's cutoff line.
Following the close of the regular season on May 3rd, the 2024/25 PWHL Playoffs — featuring a semifinals round before the Walter Cup final — will begin the week of May 5th.
The PWHL is officially expanding, with the second-year pro women's hockey league awarding Vancouver its seventh franchise on Wednesday.
The league's first-ever expansion squad faces a short run-up, joining the current six-team roster when the puck drops on the 2025/26 PWHL season.
"To be able to grow this fast is just a testament to the great sport, our great athletes, and how people feel about the work that we’re doing and what our players are putting out on the ice," said PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer.
Vancouver fanbase bolstered city's PWHL bid
Commenting on the eight-month expansion evaluation process, Scheer called Vancouver's bid "unbelievably robust," and noted that the city's "engaged, vibrant, fun" fanbase and its "remarkable commitment to growing the game of hockey" helped earn the Canadian community a team.
That commitment was on display at the PWHL's recent 2025 Takeover Tour, which drew major crowds as the league tested expansion prospects in non-market cities across North America.
Vancouver stood out, notching the the fourth-largest crowd in PWHL history when 19,038 fans showed up on January 8th — and claiming the highest social media engagement across all nine Tour stops.
That fan enthusiasm helped push Vancouver across the PWHL's expansion line, with the new team already making league history.
Besides marking the league's first-ever footprint on the the West Coast, Vancouver will become the first PWHL team to serve as the primary tenant in its home venue at the Pacific Coliseum.
The 17,713-seat arena and its adjacent PNE Agrodome — PWHL Vancouver's main training facility — will undergo extensive upgrades for the incoming franchise.
"The expansion brings greater visibility to the West Coast, expands out geographic footprint, and, most importantly, grows the game," said PWHL EVP of hockey operations Jayna Hefford.
League eyes next steps for expansion team
While the PWHL still has over 20 proposals from markets requesting a team — and rumors swirling that Seattle could join Vancouver as a 2025/26 season expansion contingent — the league is currently making more concrete plans for its official seventh squad.
"With this team comes more opportunities for the best women's hockey players in the world to continue competing in one league," remarked Hefford. "The talent pool has never been deeper, and with a strong 2025 draft class ahead, we're pleased that even more women are going to be able to play at the professional level."
Details for an upcoming expansion draft to begin stocking Vancouver's roster will be announced shortly, and the team will also take part in the 2025 PWHL Draft on June 24th.
"The PWHL is setting a new standard for women's hockey. The game has never been faster, more physical, or more skilled," Hefford added. "We're so excited for this city to experience the parity and the competitiveness that our league has every single game."
The PWHL dropped its 2025 Draft details on Tuesday, with the league’s third-annual entry draft set to take over Ottawa, Canada — home of the Charge — on June 24th.
Eligible NCAA standouts and other pro hockey prospects have until May 8th to declare for selection, following the PWHL’s May 3rd regular-season finale.
Notably, the second-year league follows the Gold Plan when it comes to determining draft order. Under this system, teams eliminated from the playoffs have an incentive to continue hunting wins, as franchises who amass more points post-elimination secure higher draft picks.
The New York Sirens and 2024 champions Minnesota Frost currently sit below the postseason cutoff line, meaning both teams could snag the most draft capital when the league returns from international break later this month.
NCAA stars likely to top 2025 PWHL Draft selections
Last year, the New York Sirens selected Princeton star Sarah Fillier as the overall No. 1 pick, with the rookie forward having an immediate impact in her debut pro season.
Fillier currently ranks second in individual points scored on the 2024/25 PWHL stat sheet, trailing only US hockey legend and Boston Fleet captain Hilary Knight.
As for who will join Fillier and Minnesota Frost forward Taylor Heise — the inaugural 2023 PWHL Draft No. 1 pick — atop this year's draft, two NCAA standouts are likely contenders.
Should she declare, University of Minnesota forward Abbey Murphy is the projected 2025 No. 1 pick.
However, Murphy could return to the Golden Gophers for a final NCAA season following her international duty with the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship semifinals-bound Team USA.
Should Murphy defer her pro debut, 2024/25 NCAA MVP Casey O'Brien is the likely top selectee, having already declared for the draft.
The Wisconsin captain wrapped up her NCAA campaign as this season's leading scorer, claiming 88 points on 26 goals and 62 assists en route to this year’s national championship — the third NCAA title of her college career.
The 2025 PWHL Takeover Tour was a smash hit, with the second-year league’s nine-game out-of-market series drawing record-breaking crowds across North America.
Built as both a marketing push and a way to size up cities for future expansion, the Takeover Tour has given hockey fans access to the PWHL from Seattle to Québec City.
"The PWHL Takeover Tour has been one of the most rewarding initiatives since our inception — for our fans, our athletes, and our staff," said PWHL EVP of hockey operations Jayna Hefford.
Record-setting crowds packed PWHL Tour stops
According to a Friday press release, a total of 123,601 fans visited the Tour, setting a new US attendance record for professional women’s hockey with 14,018 cheering in Denver on January 12th — a mark that fell just over two months later when 14,288 fans filled Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on March 16th.
More than half the games rank in the PWHL’s Top-10 most attended matchups, with the Takeover Tour's January 8th Vancouver stop registering fourth on the list with its 19,038-strong sellout crowd.
Even more, the league estimates that 80% of the Tour's attendees witnessed their first-ever PWHL game, making the series a rousing success in expanding the league's reach and growing the game beyond its six home markets.
"Across the nine stops, we connected with new fans, grew the game, and gave audiences the opportunity to experience the unparalleled excitement of a PWHL game live," said PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer.
"This Tour created core memories for our fans and players and its success is a true testament to the passion and support we’re seeing across North America."
Already looking deep into the future, the Tour also gave 945 hockey-playing girls access to clinics and meetings with PWHL stars — a move that Hefford hopes inspires the young athletes to aim for pro careers of their own, now that the league has paved the path into "an achievable goal."
The New York Sirens made PWHL history this weekend, as forward Abby Roque — who grew up in Michigan — scored the second-year league’s first-ever Michigan goal against the Ottawa Charge on Saturday.
With Ottawa leading 3-1 in the game's third period, Roque skated behind the Charge’s net, snapping the puck under the crossbar to register her sixth goal of the season.
A very rare trick shot, "The Michigan" entered the sport's lingo in the 1990s, after University of Michigan men's hockey winger Mike Legg successfully replicated minor-leaguer Bill Armstrong’s lacrosse-style "high wrap" goal during a 1996 NCAA Tournament game against Minnesota.
Requiring deft mechanics, the shooter lifts the puck with their stick, slotting it into the top near corner of the net behind an unsuspecting goalkeeper.
"There was a lot around the net and I just I knew I had time behind the net to pick it up, [so] I thought I may as well," said Roque after her performance. "It’s something that has become a joke and we say every day when I come to the rink: 'Michigan today.'"
"The opportunity presented itself, so I had to try."
Roque joins short list of "Michigan" goalscorers
Roque — Team USA's first-ever Indigenous hockey player — now inks her name onto a short list of athletes who have scored a Michigan goal.
The first successful major pro league attempt came in the NHL, when Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov converted the trick shot against the Calgary Flames in October 2019.
On the women's side, PWHL history-maker Roque is just the third athlete to claim Michigan goal success.
Slovakia's teen star Nela Lopušanová paved the way, flicking in the first-ever women's Michigan shot during the 2023 U18 IIHF World Championships at just 14 years old.
Leading the charge Stateside is Brown University forward Margot Norehad. As a freshman for the Bears, Norehad netted a Michigan during a February 2024 NCAA game against Quinnipiac.
While Roque's shot wasn't enough to secure a Sirens win on Saturday, she did manage to her individual 16-point season total with style.