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Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
"Roller Coaster Of A Week" For The Minnesota Frost, Expansion Picks Announced Following Walter Cup Win
The back-to-back Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost have yet to see the dust settle on their celebrations following their PWHL title only nine days ago. Now the Frost are prepared to say goodbye to four members of their roster through the expansion process. Tuesday Minnesota announced they were protecting captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, 2023 first overall pick Taylor Heise, and veteran blueliner Lee Stecklein. Advertisement It meant the team was forced to expose a large group of standout players including Claire Thompson, Sophie Jaques, Kelly Pannek, Grace Zumwinkle, Britta Curl-Salemme, and Nicole Hensley. 'It's been a roller coaster of a week for the Frost," said general manager Melissa Caruso. "After winning the Walter Cup we transitioned quickly to exit meetings and a lot of tough conversations regarding the deadline that was looming this morning. At the end of the day, we are fortunate to be in a situation where we have so many impact players on this roster. Unfortunately, we are just not able to protect them all." The expansion draft process will rapidly re-shape the PWHL helping PWHL Vancouver and PWHL Seattle who will begin their roster building process with the exclusive signing window on June 4 compete from day one. Advertisement For Minnesota, it's the end of an era that saw them win two titles. Their roster was initially built by general manager Natalie Darwitz who was fired only a week after winning the inaugural Walter Cup. That process continued this season as Minnesota adding several players through the 2024 PWHL Draft. "Over the last two seasons, a foundation and culture has been established within our organization that we feel these three players, in addition to their skill and ability on the ice, embody, and will continue to uphold as leaders on and off the ice as we move forward into season three," said Caruso. "Additionally, they are all proven winners whose experience will be invaluable as we evolve toward the next phase of the Minnesota Frost." The PWHL's exclusive signing window for Seattle and Vancouver ends June 8 with the expansion draft itself scheduled for June 9. The roster building process will continue June 24 at the PWHL Draft followed by league-wide free agency.
CBC
27-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
With PWHL expansion looming, the defending champion Frost go out on top
Social Sharing For the second year in a row, it was Minnesota Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield hoisting the Walter Cup after her team won the championship. It was the player who played such a key role in the creation of the Professional Women's Hockey League who again led her team to the top of the mountain, through bumps and bruises and overtime galore. Just like last year, the team that squeaked into the playoffs as the final seed at the end of the season ended up on top. "It's hard to win back to back," Coyne Schofield told reporters on Monday after her team's win. "I'm just so proud of this group. When you look at the way we won, it takes everybody." A few things were different this year. For one, the Frost won this championship in front of a home crowd. More than 11,000 fans showed up to the Xcel Energy Center to watch the Frost defeat the Ottawa Charge 2-1 in overtime of Game 4. But the biggest distinction is that this felt like the last dance for a deep Minnesota team. WATCH | Frost captain Coyne Schofield lifts the Walter Cup: Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield hoists PWHL's Walter Cup 19 hours ago Duration 1:21 The second part is a reality every team across the league is facing: change is coming. As the celebrations continue in Minnesota, Frost general manager Melissa Caruso and her staff will need to start to decide who to protect in the upcoming expansion draft, which will help build new teams debuting in Seattle and Vancouver next season. Teams can only protect three players to start, and those protection lists are due next Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET. Once a team loses two players to expansion, a fourth player can be protected. It's a reality that wasn't lost on the Frost's players on Monday night. "This group's so special and it's sad to think that we'll never play together again," said goaltender Maddie Rooney, who is a free agent after this season. How the Frost won Like every other game in the Minnesota-Ottawa series, Game 4 required overtime. After Minnesota forward Kelly Pannek opened the scoring, the Charge's Tereza Vanišová scored her first playoff goal in the third period to tie the game. In overtime, fourth-line centre Liz Schepers was the hero for Minnesota for the second year in a row. Her line with rookies Katy Knoll and Klára Hymlárová was persistent throughout the series, and also earned the game winner in Game 3. Coyne Schofield described that line as Minnesota's best in the series "by far." " It just speaks to there was no role that was too big or too small," she said. It was Minnesota's depth, from the fourth line to the defenders, that ultimately helped them edge out Ottawa. But it was also the belief in the room, the kind of confidence that comes from having done this before, and having played and come out on top of big games. Even when it looked like the Frost might miss the playoffs or when the team dropped the first game of the final series to Ottawa, panic never set in. "The belief in ourselves and each other around the locker room was there all season despite some bumps in the road," said Rooney, who won all five games she started in the 2025 playoffs. "We never had a doubt." 'Unreal' goaltending performance Like Minnesota, Ottawa entered the stretch run of the regular season in a fight to make the playoffs. Things looked bleak in March when starting goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer was placed on long-term injured reserve. Enter Gwyneth Philips, the rookie goaltender who stepped into the starting role with ease. "She was unreal," Minnesota head coach Ken Klee said. "I thought in three out of the four games, if she doesn't play the way she played, then I don't think we go to overtime in any of them, to be honest with you." Philips finished her first playoff run with a 1.23 goals against average over more than 635 minutes of play. The performance earned her the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP award, even though her team didn't win the championship. The crowd in Minnesota chanted and cheered for Philips as she skated over to receive the award. WATCH | Charge goaltender Philips claims Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP award: Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips claims Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP award 18 hours ago Duration 1:08 Philips told reporters after the game that she didn't hear the chants. The trophy she really wanted was the Walter Cup. "Right now, the individual award is superseded by the team loss," the goaltender said. "We were so close and we really wanted that. My accomplishments are attributed to the players in front of me. Maybe tomorrow it'll be nicer. But I really wanted that win." Beyond Philips, Ottawa found a top defence pairing of Ashton Bell and Jocelyne Larocque that could do a bit of everything, and a tough-to-play against top line of Gabbie Hughes, Emily Clark and Mannon McMahon. Ultimately, the team couldn't score more than Minnesota, falling one goal short three games in a row. If there's one area of missed opportunity, it's likely on the power play. Ottawa scored just once on 19 advantages throughout the postseason. Sitting between two devastated players after the game, Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod said she was proud of her players for giving it all they had. "The space was so limited in this series for both teams that everybody was doing their darnedest to try to score a goal and negate a goal," she said. "This isn't on one player's shoulders or one moment's shoulders. This was actually just the reflection of two great teams playing incredibly good hockey." The PWHL expansion draft: Explained 5 days ago Duration 0:55 CBC Sports' Karissa Donkin runs through the rules of the PWHL's expansion draft, explaining how new clubs in Seattle and Vancouver will fill their roster. Like Minnesota, tough decisions are coming in Ottawa. It's unlikely the team will be able to protect both Philips and Maschmeyer. Protecting one goaltender also means just two spots left for the likes of captain Brianne Jenner, Clark, Larocque, Bell and last year's second-overall pick, Danielle Serdachny. The last few minutes in the dressing room with this team, knowing they won't be back in full together again, was the hardest part, Jenner said. "This was a special group. We went through a lot this season. Showed a lot of resiliency." Change on the horizon While every team has tough decisions to make, some of the hardest ones might be coming in Minnesota. Protecting star forward Taylor Heise, who was last year's playoff MVP, would mean exposing one of the team's three foundational signings: Coyne Schofield, Pannek or Lee Stecklein. On the blue line, likely only one of Stecklein, Sophie Jaques Claire Thompson can make the initial protection list. Stecklein is a big part of the team's identity and leadership, and is one of the best defensive defenders in the world. Jaques and Thompson, meanwhile, boast offensive ability and hockey IQ, and both earned nominations for defender of the year. Klee has been able to cycle between Rooney and Nicole Hensley throughout the last two seasons, opting to go with whoever has the hot hand. That may be a thing of the past. Rooney is a free agent, while Hensley could be a target for an expansion team, should she not be protected. With a roster reset on the way, and the league growing to eight teams from six, winning the Walter Cup is only going to become harder to do. Minnesota is the only team that gets to properly celebrate the end of the original six era, with one last championship together.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The PWHL just crowned a champion, but the league's next step will be ‘heartbreaking' for many
The PWHL just crowned a champion, but the league's next step will be 'heartbreaking' for many ST. PAUL, Minn. — For a second consecutive season, Kendall Coyne Schofield and the Minnesota Frost hoisted the Walter Cup as champions of the Professional Women's Hockey League. Prosecco was sprayed in the locker room, Kelly Pannek had her goggles on (again), and friends and family celebrated on the ice after the championship was won at the Xcel Energy Center. Advertisement But now, change is coming for the Frost, and the rest of the league's original six franchises, as PWHL expansion is fast approaching and teams as we know them will look much different in 2025-26. 'I mean, it is exciting news, but it's also a bit heartbreaking,' said Minnesota defender Claire Thompson. 'The group that we had is so special, and we just knew that this will be our last time together.' The PWHL will soon welcome two new franchises in Vancouver and Seattle. Each of the league's existing teams will lose four players from their 2024-25 roster through the player dispersion process, which includes an expansion draft and an exclusive signing window designed to ensure the PWHL's newest teams will be able to compete on Day 1. Advertisement 'The priority is always about competitive balance,' said executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford. 'When you look at our league, over 50 percent of the games have been decided by one goal or in a shootout. That is something that is rare in professional sports, and it's something that we're committed to protecting through this expansion process.' Next week, each team will submit a list of three players protected from the draft. A pre-draft signing window — from June 4 to 8 — will open for both expansion teams to sign up to five players, either free agents or players under contract who were left unprotected. Once teams lose two players, either through the signing window or the draft, which will be held June 9, general managers will be permitted to protect one additional player, increasing their protected list to four. Even with that extra slot, star players will be on the move in just a few short weeks, not just role players, as we've historically seen in professional sports expansion. When the NHL expanded to Seattle in 2021, teams could protect seven forwards, three defenders and one goalie, or eight skaters and one goaltender, which left the Kraken with a team that has only made the playoffs once in four seasons. That likely won't be the case in the PWHL. As Montreal Victoire general manager Danièle Sauvageau said: 'It's a great buffet that those expansion teams have.' Advertisement The PWHL's expansion in just two years speaks to the league's early success and rapid growth. In Year 1, millions of viewers tuned in for games, attendance records were repeatedly set and broken, and demand for tickets in some markets was so high that teams had to move into bigger venues. The league's sophomore season saw even more growth in the business, according to executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer. Ticket sales and average attendance increased 33 percent, she said. Merchandise sales doubled, and the number of league partners was up 50 percent. The PWHL Takeover Tour — a nine-city barnstorming series around North America — was heralded as a success with crowds as large as 19,038 in Vancouver. While most players would agree that the idea of expansion is exciting and signals success for the league, it's been a bittersweet end to the 2024-25 season, knowing that teams will be almost unrecognizable next season. 'When the rules and things came out, you definitely could see it hurt people,' said Minnesota forward Taylor Heise. 'When you see you're going to be able to keep three people and maybe a fourth. … There's 25 people on a team, like there's a lot of people that could be gone or missing next year. Advertisement 'It's a really hard thing to deal with.' For teams that didn't just go out on top with a Walter Cup, it's even harder. Ottawa Charge captain Brianne Jenner said the toughest part about losing Game 4 on Monday night was that the team had its final few minutes in the dressing room thrust upon them. Montreal defender Erin Ambrose shared a similar thought after the Victoire lost in the semifinals. 'The hardest thing is knowing this group will never be back together,' Ambrose said. 'I'm anxious that I might not be in Montreal, I might not be part of the Victoire.' Ambrose, last year's Defender of the Year, is one of the many elite players who could be on the move with Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Ann-Renée Desbiens the betting favorites to be protected by Montreal on the June 3 deadline. Advertisement 'It's an unfortunate situation because I'd love to stay here,' she said. 'But it's out of my control.' Much like the league's first-ever trade, the expansion draft represents a new reality for professional women's hockey players. In previous women's hockey leagues, players were drafted, signed, and traded to the markets they had chosen. That is no longer the case. 'It's part of (being in) a professional league,' said Ambrose. 'It's a great opportunity for those two teams to have success. The worst thing for our league would be having two teams out there that didn't have success or weren't even competitive. … Unfortunately, it's going to come at a price to the teams that are already in existence.' The league has tried to give players some control through the signing window, which permits players who are under contract but left unprotected to sign with an expansion franchise. Ambrose, for example, could sign with Vancouver during that five-day window rather than risk being selected by Seattle (or vice versa). Additionally, only players who are under contract or team control next season can be taken in the draft, meaning players who have 'earned' their free agency will get to explore that however they may choose. Advertisement 'We pride ourselves on trying to make decisions that are good for players,' said Hefford. 'They have to be good for the league and the business, but then also think about the players' interests.' For general managers, the expansion draft will upend the rosters they've constructed from Day 1, with unenviable decisions to be made in the coming days. In Boston, will Danielle Marmer protect captain Hilary Knight and leave first-round pick Hannah Bilka exposed? (Assuming goalie Aerin Frankel and defender Megan Keller are locks.) Or will she risk losing a future Hockey Hall of Fame forward in favor of keeping a younger player? The Frost, with three No. 1 caliber defenders and the top offense in the league, are primed to lose difference-makers no matter who they protect. 'There are going to be four big vacancies wherever they come on our roster,' Frost general manager Melissa Caruso told . 'But I think we have to think about the bigger picture and how great it is that the league is expanding.' Advertisement Ottawa general manager Mike Hirshfeld is also taking the looming changes in stride. 'I think we're all a little sad,' he said. 'But, more fans are gonna get to see women's hockey. There's 46 new jobs on the way because of it. What a great moment that we are growing and that we are successful.' This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Minnesota Wild, NHL, Sports Business, Women's Hockey 2025 The Athletic Media Company
New York Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
The PWHL just crowned a champion, but the league's next step will be ‘heartbreaking' for many
ST. PAUL, Minn. — For a second consecutive season, Kendall Coyne Schofield and the Minnesota Frost hoisted the Walter Cup as champions of the Professional Women's Hockey League. Prosecco was sprayed in the locker room, Kelly Pannek had her goggles on (again), and friends and family celebrated on the ice after the championship was won at the Xcel Energy Center. Advertisement But now, change is coming for the Frost, and the rest of the league's original six franchises, as PWHL expansion is fast approaching and teams as we know them will look much different in 2025-26. 'I mean, it is exciting news, but it's also a bit heartbreaking,' said Minnesota defender Claire Thompson. 'The group that we had is so special, and we just knew that this will be our last time together.' WINNESOTA — x – Minnesota Frost (@PWHL_Minnesota) May 27, 2025 The PWHL will soon welcome two new franchises in Vancouver and Seattle. Each of the league's existing teams will lose four players from their 2024-25 roster through the player dispersion process, which includes an expansion draft and an exclusive signing window designed to ensure the PWHL's newest teams will be able to compete on Day 1. 'The priority is always about competitive balance,' said executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford. 'When you look at our league, over 50 percent of the games have been decided by one goal or in a shootout. That is something that is rare in professional sports, and it's something that we're committed to protecting through this expansion process.' Next week, each team will submit a list of three players protected from the draft. A pre-draft signing window — from June 4 to 8 — will open for both expansion teams to sign up to five players, either free agents or players under contract who were left unprotected. Once teams lose two players, either through the signing window or the draft, which will be held June 9, general managers will be permitted to protect one additional player, increasing their protected list to four. Even with that extra slot, star players will be on the move in just a few short weeks, not just role players, as we've historically seen in professional sports expansion. When the NHL expanded to Seattle in 2021, teams could protect seven forwards, three defenders and one goalie, or eight skaters and one goaltender, which left the Kraken with a team that has only made the playoffs once in four seasons. Advertisement That likely won't be the case in the PWHL. As Montreal Victoire general manager Danièle Sauvageau said: 'It's a great buffet that those expansion teams have.' The PWHL's expansion in just two years speaks to the league's early success and rapid growth. In Year 1, millions of viewers tuned in for games, attendance records were repeatedly set and broken, and demand for tickets in some markets was so high that teams had to move into bigger venues. The league's sophomore season saw even more growth in the business, according to executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer. Ticket sales and average attendance increased 33 percent, she said. Merchandise sales doubled, and the number of league partners was up 50 percent. The PWHL Takeover Tour — a nine-city barnstorming series around North America — was heralded as a success with crowds as large as 19,038 in Vancouver. While most players would agree that the idea of expansion is exciting and signals success for the league, it's been a bittersweet end to the 2024-25 season, knowing that teams will be almost unrecognizable next season. 'When the rules and things came out, you definitely could see it hurt people,' said Minnesota forward Taylor Heise. 'When you see you're going to be able to keep three people and maybe a fourth. … There's 25 people on a team, like there's a lot of people that could be gone or missing next year. 'It's a really hard thing to deal with.' For teams that didn't just go out on top with a Walter Cup, it's even harder. Ottawa Charge captain Brianne Jenner said the toughest part about losing Game 4 on Monday night was that the team had its final few minutes in the dressing room thrust upon them. Montreal defender Erin Ambrose shared a similar thought after the Victoire lost in the semifinals. Advertisement 'The hardest thing is knowing this group will never be back together,' Ambrose said. 'I'm anxious that I might not be in Montreal, I might not be part of the Victoire.' Ambrose, last year's Defender of the Year, is one of the many elite players who could be on the move with Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Ann-Renée Desbiens the betting favorites to be protected by Montreal on the June 3 deadline. 'It's an unfortunate situation because I'd love to stay here,' she said. 'But it's out of my control.' Much like the league's first-ever trade, the expansion draft represents a new reality for professional women's hockey players. In previous women's hockey leagues, players were drafted, signed, and traded to the markets they had chosen. That is no longer the case. 'It's part of (being in) a professional league,' said Ambrose. 'It's a great opportunity for those two teams to have success. The worst thing for our league would be having two teams out there that didn't have success or weren't even competitive. … Unfortunately, it's going to come at a price to the teams that are already in existence.' The league has tried to give players some control through the signing window, which permits players who are under contract but left unprotected to sign with an expansion franchise. Ambrose, for example, could sign with Vancouver during that five-day window rather than risk being selected by Seattle (or vice versa). Additionally, only players who are under contract or team control next season can be taken in the draft, meaning players who have 'earned' their free agency will get to explore that however they may choose. 'We pride ourselves on trying to make decisions that are good for players,' said Hefford. 'They have to be good for the league and the business, but then also think about the players' interests.' Advertisement For general managers, the expansion draft will upend the rosters they've constructed from Day 1, with unenviable decisions to be made in the coming days. In Boston, will Danielle Marmer protect captain Hilary Knight and leave first-round pick Hannah Bilka exposed? (Assuming goalie Aerin Frankel and defender Megan Keller are locks.) Or will she risk losing a future Hockey Hall of Fame forward in favor of keeping a younger player? The Frost, with three No. 1 caliber defenders and the top offense in the league, are primed to lose difference-makers no matter who they protect. 'There are going to be four big vacancies wherever they come on our roster,' Frost general manager Melissa Caruso told The Athletic. 'But I think we have to think about the bigger picture and how great it is that the league is expanding.' Ottawa general manager Mike Hirshfeld is also taking the looming changes in stride. 'I think we're all a little sad,' he said. 'But, more fans are gonna get to see women's hockey. There's 46 new jobs on the way because of it. What a great moment that we are growing and that we are successful.'
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Back to back: Frost beat Charge in overtime to successfully defend Walter Cup crown
The Minnesota Frost are PWHL champions once again. Liz Schepers scored at 12:00 in overtime of Game 4 to give Minnesota a decisive 2-1 win over the Ottawa Charge on Monday, and a second Walter Cup in as many years. The Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP award was given to Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips. Each game in the best-of-five series went to at least one overtime and finished 2-1, with Game 3 going to triple overtime, the longest game in PWHL Finals history. WATCH | Schepers' goal helps Frost beat Charge, win 2nd straight Walter Cup: The teams played 81 minutes, eight seconds of extra time in the series. The fourth game came exactly a year after Minnesota fell to Boston 1-0 in a Game 4 double overtime before going on the road to win the inaugural Walter Cup. Katy Knoll went along the wall and fed Schepers in front of the net. Goaltender Gwyneth Philips parried the first shot but Schepers poked home the rebound to clinch back-to-back Walter Cup titles for the Frost. Maddie Rooney had 33 saves for Minnesota. WATCH | Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield lifts the Walter Cup: Midway through the second period Claire Thompson pinched in from the left point and fed Kelly Pannek alone on the right side of the net. Pannek beat Philips high for her second playoff goal. The goal marked the first time in the finals the Charge trailed in regulation. The Charge trailed until the middle of the third period when Tereza Vanisova was left alone in front of the net and Danielle Serdachny fed her from below the end line. It was the first point of the post-season for Vanisova, who led Ottawa with 15 goals. Philips had 36 saves. The rookie had 148 saves in overtime in the postseason. Ottawa's Aneta Tejralova, on a rush, hit the left post with a shot about five minutes into overtime and the Frost's Taylor Heise hit the right post about four minutes later. 11,024 fans were in attendance at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., to witness Game 4.
