The Minnesota Frost are back-to-back PWHL champions, taking down the Ottawa Charge 2-1 in Game 4 of the league's best-of-five Finals to lift the Walter Cup for the second time on Monday.
All bouts in the 2025 PWHL Finals were overtime affairs that finished in 2-1 results, with No. 3-seed Ottawa claiming Game 1 before the No. 4-seed Frost swept the next three games to claim the 2024/25 league title.
Monday's deciding matchup saw forward Kelly Pannek give Minnesota their first lead of the entire series by striking first in the second period before Ottawa forward Tereza Vanišová equalized in the third to force overtime.
Following 12 extra minutes of play, Frost forward Liz Schepers netted the game-winner — doing so for the second year in a row — to secure the Walter Cup in front of a Minnesota home crowd of 11,024 fans.
"I'll win anywhere. It's always fun — but to get to do it at home is extra special," said Frost defenseman Lee Stecklein following the Memorial Day victory.
Frost's Stecklein, Charge's Philips top PWHL Playoffs stat sheet
Stecklein finished the postseason as the league's scoring leader, notching four goals and four assists to finish atop the Frost-laden skaters' table with eight points — narrowly surpassing the seven points posted by teammates Sophie Jaques (two goals, five assists) and Taylor Heise (one goal, six assists).
On the other hand, Ottawa goaltender Gwyneth Philips led all net-minders on the PWHL's postseason stat sheet while playing the most minutes between the pipes in league history.
The rookie's failure to drop a single game in regulation throughout the Charge's eight playoff matchups helped earn her the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP Award, despite Monday's series loss.
Notably, Minnesota's second straight PWHL championship belies the Frost's underdog status.
After needing another team's downfall to even squeak into the playoffs, doing to on the last day of the regular season, Minnesota got hot at just the right time to retain their singular hold on the second-year league's title.
"It's the belief we have in the room," Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said after the win. "It's hard to put into words. I think when you look at the way we won, it takes everybody."
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.
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.
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.
The PWHL is racking up milestones, with the second-year pro women's hockey league officially passing the one-million-fan mark on Sunday.
The record-clinching game came during the league's penultimate 2025 Takeover Tour matchup, after 14,288 fans turned up to Detroit's Little Caesars Arena to see the New York Sirens take down the Minnesota Frost 4-1 on Sunday.
To honor the milestone, players tossed signed special "PWHL One Million Fans" pucks to fans during a commemorative timeout during the game's first period.
After averaging around 5,500 fans per game last season, the league has seen a 7,000 attendance average so far this season, resulting in the current all-time official tally of 1,001,648 fans.
Across its 70 completed second-season games, the PWHL has already racked up 518,118 attendees, surpassing the league's total attendance of 483,530 fans from all 85 games last season — inclusive of the PWHL's first-ever playoffs.
"This is truly a 'pinch me' moment," said PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer. "The overwhelming support from fans, the energy in the arenas, and the league’s rapid growth all highlight how much people are connecting with the PWHL."
"Today is a moment we’ll always remember, and we’re grateful to the fans of Detroit for celebrating it with us in such a big way."
Detroit makes a case for PWHL expansion team
Sunday's special out-of-market matchup also set a new US attendance record for pro women's ice hockey, further boosting the city's case to claim a PWHL expansion team.
“It's another extremely big win for the sport globally,” Frost forward Kendall Coyne Schofield told reporters after Sunday’s game. "It’s important to tip our hockey helmet to Detroit."
Detroit's new US record comes one year to the day after the Michigan metropolis set the then-national attendance record at the league's first-ever Takeover Weekend, when 13,736 fans watched Boston defeat Ottawa 2-1 on March 16th, 2024.
With the PWHL eyeing expansion, announcing last November that it intends to increase from its current six-team roster to eight teams by the time the puck drops on the 2025/26 season, the enthusiasm of Detroit hockey fans could put the city at the top of the league's potential market list.
"To see the league grow so rapidly is a reflection of the dedication of our players, who demonstrate their world-class talent every day, as well as the countless individuals behind the scenes who work relentlessly to ensure the league's success," said PWHL EVP of hockey operations Jayna Hefford.
"The passion and support from our fans has been incredible, and this is only the beginning."
The PWHL Player Safety Committee issued fines to two star players on Tuesday, after reviewing penalties that occurred during Saturday’s matchup between the Montréal Victoire and the New York Sirens.
Victoire forward Marie-Philip Poulin was charged a $500 fine for roughing in the second period. The Committee found that she "exhibited no attempt at playing the puck as she hit her opponent in retaliatory fashion."
Forward Dara Greig also caught a fine for a second-period penalty. There, the PWHL issued a $250 penalty charge for boarding after determining that Greig's check came "from behind and caused her opponent to impact the boards dangerously."
The league-leading Victoire went on to beat the Sirens 6-2.
Poulin pays back-to-back PWHL fines
This week’s ruling marked Greig’s first-ever PWHL fine. However, Victoire captain Poulin has now tallied two, with her first coming less than two weeks ago. That was when she incurred a $250 fine after a major penalty for charging during Montréal's 2-1 win over the Sirens on February 2nd.
In that incident, Poulin avoided an immediate "game misconduct" determination by on-ice referees. As outlined by PWHL rules, it was ruled that the charge did not cause injury to the head or face of her opponent.
Unlike Poulin's first fine, both her second and Greig's initial offense came from incidents that constituted minor penalties during competition.
PWHL monitors player safety in growing pro women's league
Operating under a new set of rules governing both gameplay and disciplinary action, the second-year women’s pro ice hockey league is still navigating how to handle penalties and when to impose fines.
Charting the league's disciplinary course is especially complex in a sport where body checking and other forms of physicality are hallmarks of the game.
When those tactics are deployed strategically, they can intensify the PWHL's already tough competition. However, that's only as long as the league's safety guardrails are clear enough to ensure player protection.
Behind a string of stellar performances, PWHL standouts Marie-Philip Poulin (Montréal), Corinne Schroeder (New York), and Sidney Morin (Boston) emerged as Monday's Stars of the Week.
After scoring two goals — including the superhero-style game-winner — in Wednesday's sold-out Takeover Tour win, Victoire captain Poulin registered an assist in front a record-breaking Denver crowd on Sunday to claim a three-point week.
Saturday belonged to Fleet defender Morin, who recorded a career-high five shots and notched both goals in Boston's 2-1 overtime win over Ottawa, doubling her single-goal scoring record last season.
The puck stops with Sirens goalie Corinne Schroeder
Sirens goaltender Schroeder made PWHL history on Sunday, becoming the first-ever goalie to record back-to-back regular-season shutouts.
New York's 1-0 victory over Toronto also made a mark, becoming the PWHL's first-ever scoreless game in regulation before New York's Jessie Eldridge found the back of the net in overtime.
Schroeder, who tops the league in average goals against (1.86) while sharing the lead in wins (5) and save percentage (0.935), hasn't conceded a goal in over 156 minutes of play.
"I think Schroeder has been our number one goalie for a long time," said Sirens coach Greg Fargo after the game. "She's been demonstrating the level of her play since day one, but there's a calmness to her game and a competitiveness that we really like right now."
How to watch PWHL games this week
While teams jockey for points one-third of the way through the PWHL's second season, individual athletes are separating themselves from the pack by tearing up the stat sheet.
The PWHL's stars are back on the ice in midweek action. First, the Toronto Sceptres visit the Ottawa Charge on Tuesday at 7 PM ET.
Then, Schroeder will try to add a third shutout to her record-setting goaltending streak when the New York Sirens host the league-leading Minnesota Frost at 7 PM ET on Wednesday.
Both games will stream live on YouTube.
On today's episode of The Late Sub, host Claire Watkins takes a break from the soccer beat to catch up on other women's sports action, starting with the state of NCAA basketball, which has already seen big upsets this season, before moving onto look at some recent upheaval in the WNBA.
Later, Watkins chats about PWHL stars and how conference dominance is shaping the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament.
The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.
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