3 Takeaways From the Frost’s 3-1 Win in Game 4 against the Victoire

The Minnesota Frost hosted the Montréal Victoire for Game 4 on Friday evening, May 8, in a must-win game for the Frost as the Victoire held a 2-1 series lead. It was the second half of a back-to-back, and they had the same lineup as the night prior, which included Maddie Rooney in the net. 

The game started out with a lot of speed and intensity, as expected, but not a lot of goals. They were scoreless through the first and second, but then in the third the Victoire took the lead. The Frost dug deep and forced their way into the game with three straight goals to take the win 3-1. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with the Frost’s first hero. 

Frost’s Morin Does It Again

Sidney Morin had already been having a stellar postseason, but she continued it in Game 4. Her team was getting a lot of chances throughout the night, but it was her shot through traffic that got her team on the board and tied the game 1-1, and that goal really flipped the energy back in the Frost’s direction after the Victoire had scored first. 

She wasn’t done either; her team had a renewed momentum, and she scored her second of the game just under three minutes later on the power play. That goal gave her team the lead and continued the boost in energy. Although they did get one more goal in the final minutes, Morin’s second goal of the night was the game-winner. 

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve been watching our team play against them (Victoire), right? This was Game 4, so I kind of knew that I had an extra second with the puck in these games, and I’ve kind of just built on that as the series has gone on, and just playing with a little bit of confidence with the puck and having the will to want it and be the one to do it, and I think that makes a huge difference. So, I think our team really came out to play today, we weren’t scared, we knew that we were going to put our best foot forward, and we were going to come out with a win,” said Morin to the media in her postgame press conference when asked about her goals. 

“I mean, it’s just that time of year, and she’s obviously stepping up; it’s great. I mean, last year we had ‘Playoff Lee’, was a huge difference maker, and this year it’s ‘Playoff Sid’, so it’s pretty cool to watch her having fun out there shooting pucks, and it’s going in,” said head coach Ken Klee to the media in his postgame press conference when asked about Morin’s production. 

Frost’s Rooney Continues Strong Play

Maddie Rooney has been a force in the net all postseason, and she continues to get better every game. Although in Game 1 she did allow four goals against, in the last three games she’s only allowed four goals. She did have a few scary moments, but she recovered quickly and didn’t make the same mistake again. She was also rewarded for her strong play, not only with the win but also credited with the secondary assist on Kelly Pannek’s empty net goal at the end of the game that sealed the win 3-1. 

“Yeah as a goalie for me it’s just having like a next shot mentality and staying in the present, goals are going to go in, that’s hockey but it’s how I respond to that and obviously we had a loss in the triple overtime and yesterday and it’s how you respond to that and not thinking too far ahead and not thinking about the past, not thinking about the goals that go in, just next shot mentality and building confidence off that,” Rooney said to the media in her postgame press conference about how she’s been successful in the postseason. 

“Hydration, hanging out, watching Parks and Rec(reation) on the couch all day. We’re professionals, we know what we need to do for our bodies, so yeah, just hydration, good nutrition,” said Rooney when asked about how she recovers from these games. 

Frost’s Power Play Success

After the past couple of games of struggling on the power play, the Frost finally found a way through, and it was off the stick of their scoring defender, Morin. She took her time with the puck, skated in a bit, looked around for the lane, and took the shot through traffic again.

The Frost’s power play came up big when they needed it the most, and they’ll need that again if they hope to win Game 5. They figured out what works and what doesn’t as the Victoire are a strong penalty killing team, the best in the league during the regular season, while the Frost were the best power play during the regular season. Hopefully, their power play is just getting started. 

“Yeah it was good, I mean, capitalizing at opportune times, obviously we’re playing hard and our power play’s working it’s just hadn’t found a way to get in the last couple games but we were the number one power play in the league all year so I think it’s just staying with the process, shooting pucks, getting traffic, all those things and we get rewarded,” said Klee to the media when asked about the power play after the game.

“Yeah, well, we’ve been there, we’ve won there. So just having that confidence from Game 1 and knowing that we can get it done in that arena, despite they have good energy, good fans, but we know we can get it done,” said Rooney to the media when asked about going back to Montréal for Game 5. 

The Frost staved off elimination and will head on the road for Game 5, which will take place Monday evening, May 11. They’ve continued to come up big in games they’ve had to, and hopefully they can do so again to move themselves to the Walter Cup Final.