We’re at the halfway point of the season for the Minnesota Frost and it’s fair to say the season is going rather well for the reigning Walter Cup champions. They sit second place in the league with 25 points while boasting a top two offence. Head Coach Ken Klee has the team focused and continuing to play their best hockey continuing their high level of play from the playoffs. Every team playing at the level of the Frost need their stars to lead them and in the case of the Frost they’re getting it. Claire Thompson has 14 points in 15 games despite not having played a game in the 2023/24 season. Taylor Heise is at a point per game with 14 points in 14 games and living up to the billing of being the first overall pick from the 2023 PWHL draft. Hockey is a team sport, though, and you don’t get to be second in the league without some unsung heroes making big contributions while the stars are on the bench.
These unsung heroes include Sophie Jaques. With Claire Thompson showing the world why she was picked third overall in 2024 and being injured for five games, Jaques has gone under the radar in terms of her importance to the Frost’s blueline. She’s 10th in the PWHL in average time on ice with 22:13 a game which combined with Thompson’s 22:48 means that the Frost, for over 40 minutes, have two of the best, most productive blueliners in the league on the ice being dangerous. It’s no wonder the Frost have such high offensive numbers. And talking about productivity Jaques sits third among PWHL blueliners in points per 60 (2.17) only behind teammate Claire Thompson and New York Siren Ella Shelton. What’s most impressive is that at even strength Jaques has a 0.70 even strength points per game which is third only behind fellow Frost Kendall Coyne Schofield and potential league MVP Sarah Fillier. Even strength production is very important in the PWHL as power plays will always fluctuate between hot and cold but the best players stay consistent at even strength.
Last but not least, an area in which Jaques impacts a lot that goes under the radar is her effect on shot generation. Jaques has 8.97 shots on goal per 60 minutes of play (SOG/60) which ranks 16th in the PWHL among all players and first among blueliners by a country kilometer. The next highest blueliner is Ronja Savolainen at 6.84 SOG/60, who sits at 38th in the PWHL. Jaques’ shot generation is also seen in the Frost’s shots for percentage (SF%) numbers. When Jaques was out of the line-up for five games, the Frost had a 45% SF%, which is lower than any team currently has. With Jaques in the line-up, the Frost have a 54.5% SF%, which is a swing of nearly 10%. This means a lot more time in the opposing team’s zone keeping them away from your zone while pushing for scoring chances.
I debated as to whether or not this person was another unsung hero for the Minnesota Frost, and since Team USA isn’t taking her to the Rivalry Series, I’m going to say that Maddie Rooney counts. The Minnesota Frost sit second in the PWHL in points, which is why I’m sure some would be surprised to see their team save percentage (0.901) actually sits fifth in the PWHL, only ahead of the Toronto Sceptres (0.898). Having a 10.1% team shot percentage certainly helps to alleviate the save percentage being so low but to be in second place is still surprising. What the team save percentage doesn’t show is that Maddie Rooney is carrying the goaltending load for Minnesota this season. She’s not going to be earning many Goalie of the Year nominations, but she’s been a bigger part of the Frost being in second than I think most realize.
On the surface Rooney’s numbers look fine. Nothing spectacular but she’s getting the job done in nine starts with a stat line of: 0.919 save percentage (SV%), 0.667 quality start percentage (QS%), 2.293 goals saved above average (GSAA), and 0.308 GSAA/30. Among the goalies with five or more starts Rooney ranks fifth in all those categories. When you put it that way it doesn’t sound overly impressive. However, on the same team, Hensley in five starts has: 0.882 SV%, 0.400 QS%, -3.264 GSAA, and a -0.7999 GSAA/30. Among these stats Hensley finds herself either seventh out of eight goalies or eighth of eight goalies. Hensley is better than her numbers suggest as the Minnesota Frost have been struggling with some big defensive gaffes. However one goalie is stopping quite a few pucks and one isn’t. As good as Minnesota has been about outscoring their problems it’s a lot easier to score four goals every so often rather than it being a need nearly every game. Rooney has been doing a very good job at ensuring Minnesota rarely needs more than three goals, which is what they need.
When you look at the top two teams in the league, Montreal and Minnesota, what do they have over the other four teams in the PWHL? Their top lines are scoring and so is every line after them. And on a team like the Frost that is filled with star talent such as Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, Britta Curl, and Kendall Coyne Schofield on forward, the pressure is lessened on the rest of the team to produce. Thisis why when other players do produce, it’s the difference between sitting comfortably in the top two while the other four teams are in a fight to the death. One of those difference makers is Kelly Pannek. She’s the second line center of the Frost and has been handling that position extremely well. As mentioned above the Frost have a plethora of forwards and those forwards are going to take up the best minutes on the power play leaving everyone else with the hard minutes of trying to score even strength.
Pannek has been on of the top producers in the PWHL at even strength. She sits tied for seventh at even strength primary points with five. She’s not racking up goals as she only has one even strength goal and two goals in total on the season. Pannek isn’t much of a shooter as seen by her 4.91 SOG/60 and her 8.7% shots percentage, so it’s not as though she’s on a hot streak with an unsustainable SH%. Instead she’s setting up players and has four primary assists at even strength which is tied for second most in the PWHL. In fact, she only has two points which are not at even strength and both were earned on the power play. Pannek is being charged with adding in depth scoring while also shutting down opposing teams’ top six players. To finalize this case of Kelly Pannek being one of the unsung heroes of the Minnesota Frost, she’s a monster on face-offs. She’s taken the third most face-offs (264) in the PWHL and has won the most face-offs (157) for the third best face-off win percentage of 59.5%. You know when you’re putting her out on the ice she’s going to start you off with possession more often than not.