Regular Season Summary
For the third consecutive year, the Minnesota Frost are headed to the playoffs. The 2025-2026 PWHL regular season was the best in team history for the Frost. Minnesota finished the regular season with 50 points and a .556 points percentage, both franchise bests. The Frost finished in third place in the PWHL, their best regular-season finish.
The Frost were in second place with 28 points through 15 games at the Olympic break. Minnesota ripped off five wins in a row in March, but injuries slowed Minnesota’s momentum in the second half of the season. A couple of losses in key games against Montréal and Boston saw Minnesota come up short of home ice in the playoffs.
Offense drove the Frost’s success all season. The Frost scored a record-breaking 91 goals, 13 more than second-place Montréal. Frost players led the league in several offensive categories, including goals, assists, points, and power play goals. Kelly Pannek, Taylor Heise, and Britta Curl-Salemme finished as the top three scorers in the PWHL this season. Minnesota had five players (Pannek, Heise, Curl-Salemme, Kendall Coyne-Schofield, and Grace Zumwinkle) in the top ten in scoring, and they were the only team to boast five players who scored 20 or more points.
The Frost enter the playoffs on a four-game losing streak, but they’ve been shuffling their lineup around since locking in the third seed with three games to go. Despite the losses, head coach Ken Klee likes the way his team played to finish out the season.
“I mean, we played really well the last couple of games,” Klee told reporters at practice on Tuesday. “A couple of weird goals [against] for us, but it’s okay. I like the way we’re playing right now. It’s not always just about wins and losses, especially when you know you’re locked in. We’re trying some different things. We’re trying some different people in positions they haven’t played, just in case we do need them. But, you know, we certainly are still working on our game, and we know we’re excited about that.”
Past Playoff Performances
The Minnesota Frost are back-to-back Walter Cup champions. Both times, Minnesota entered the playoffs as the fourth seed and upset their way to a title. In 2024, the Frost upset number one seed Toronto in the semi-finals, before besting Boston in five games to win the inaugural Walter Cup.
Last season, Minnesota finished the regular season in fourth place, just barely squeaking into the playoffs. Once again, Minnesota defeated the Toronto Sceptres in the semi-finals before taking down the Ottawa Charge in the final in four games.
Players to watch
Kelly Pannek
Pannek’s season has been nothing short of spectacular. Pannek led the PWHL in points (33) and goals (16), and she became the first PWHL player to break the 30-point barrier in a season. Coming into the season, Pannek had scored 27 points in 54 PWHL games.
Pannek is also Minnesota’s best in the faceoff circle; she’s taken a team-high 575 draws this season and won a team high 59.3% of them. Pannek has been the most consistent scorer all season for the Frost, and they will need her to continue to put the puck in the net in the playoffs.
Taylor Heise
Pannek may have been Minnesota’s most consistent scorer this season, but Taylor Heise might be their most important offensive player. This season, Heise has set career highs in goals, assists, points, plus-minus, and shots per game. After a slow start, Heise has been on a tear; she’s scored 13 goals and 28 points in her last 24 games. She finished the regular season with a plus-minus of +18, second best in the league.
Kendall Cooper
Rookie Kendall Cooper stepped into the Frost defense core and quickly became one of Minnesota’s most trusted defenders. She was second among Frost defenders in average time on ice, behind only Lee Stecklein. Cooper finished the season with 19 points, which was tied for the most by a rookie defender. Her 17 assists were the second most in the league, and the most among all PWHL defenders.
Keys to Winning
Goaltending
Goaltending will be the biggest key for the Minnesota Frost in these playoffs. This season, Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley have been solid. The pair combined for a .913 save percentage, which was sixth-best in the PWHL. Maddie Rooney made 16 starts and posted a .921 save percentage. Rooney’s .921 save percentage is fourth best among playoff goalies. Nicole Hensley had a .908 save percentage in 13 starts.
In the past two Walter Cup title runs, Rooney and Hensley have been able to step up their game in the playoffs. Rooney was better down the stretch in the regular season, and I’d expect her to get the nod in game one. The Frost will need one of their goaltenders to once again find another level in the playoffs.
Special Teams
Special teams were a bit of a mixed bag for the Frost in the regular season. Minnesota had the best power play in the PWHL at 23%. Unfortunately for the Frost, they also had the league’s worst penalty kill at 78.3%. A 78.3% penalty kill won’t cut it in the playoffs, especially against Montreal, who had the league’s second-best power play at 19.3%.
“I feel like sometimes it’s a little bit of a balance or just a little bit of maybe focus or just being on the same page and dialing it in,” Kelly Pannek told reporters at practice on Tuesday regarding improving the penalty kill in the playoffs. “That’s something that’s nice about playing a series. Now you focus on one team, you’re able to really kind of hone in.”
One silver lining for Minnesota: they were the least penalized team in the regular season. Staying out of the box against Montréal will be imperative.
Semi-final matchup
Semifinal Schedule
- Game 1 @ MTL- Saturday, May 2, 2 p.m. ET, Place Bell, Laval
- Game 2 @ MTL- Tuesday, May 5, 7 p.m. ET, Place Bell, Laval
- Game 3 vs MTL- date/time TBA, Grand Casino Arena, St. Paul, MN
- Game 4 vs MTL- date/time TBA, Grand Casino Arena, St. Paul, MN
- Game 5 @ MTL- date, time TBA, Place Bell, Laval
Montréal won all four matchups between the two teams in the regular season. If the Frost are going to pull off another playoff upset, they’re going to need to find a way to score more goals. Montreal outscored Minnesota 12-3 in four games this season, 8-2 at five-on-five, according to Hockeyskytte. To score more goals, the Frost know they will need to get more shots on Victoire goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens.
“We’ve got to get pucks on her,” head coach Ken Klee told reporters on Tuesday. “Make her make stops. I think sometimes she’s such a big goalie, people look for perfect plays rather than just shooting pucks.”
It’s a matchup of the league’s best regular-season offense vs. the league’s best regular-season defense; the team that’s best able to replicate their regular-season strengths will win the series.