The Minnesota Frost were in the middle of their three-game road trip when they took on the Ottawa Charge on Tuesday evening, Dec. 2. Both teams and many fans wore pink to support Charge head coach Carla MacLeod as she started treatment for breast cancer and had to miss the game.
The Frost got out to an early three-goal lead in the first and didn’t look back. The second period was scoreless, but the third saw two Frost goals and one Charge goal as the Frost took the 5-1 win. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways for the Frost, starting with their captain leading the way.
Coyne-Schofield Takes Charge
When watching the Frost, it’s hard not to notice Kendall Coyne-Schofield when she’s on the ice. She may be the smallest, but she’s likely the fastest, and she showcased that talent against the Charge. She got her team on the board first with a goal 24 seconds in, and that motivated her team to add two more one right after the other.
Although she may be on the smaller side, she’s not afraid to throw a hit or two, and she used some of that physicality against the Charge. She utilized her speed in the third period to get a breakaway that led to her second goal of the game. The Charge did answer back following that goal, but so did Coyne-Schofield.
The Charge pulled their goaltender as a final effort to get themselves back in the game, and it fell short as Coyne-Schofield knocked in an empty net goal to fully secure the win for her team and to earn her first PWHL hat trick. If she can continue to produce like this, the Frost have that much better of a chance to win more games, and it’s always great to see a captain lead their team in multiple ways.
Hensley Stays Hot
Nicole Hensley was back in the net for the Frost against the Charge, and it was her second consecutive start after earning a shutout win over the Seattle Torrent on Friday, Nov. 28, also on the road. Rather than continuing to rotate, the Frost elected to keep the hot goaltender in the net and see if she could come up with another win. Although she didn’t snatch another shutout, she came close as she allowed just one goal on 36 shots.
Last season, the Frost rotated the goaltenders, and it’s likely they’ll do that again, but it’ll be interesting to see if they play Hensley one more time as they finish out the road trip on Sunday, Dec. 7 against the Boston Fleet or if they’ll give Maddie Rooney another start and a chance to get her first win of the season. Neither choice is wrong, but with so many days between games currently, it isn’t good to have either goaltender sit out for too long.
Hensley has looked more confident in her two starts this season, and she’s only allowed one goal on 65 shots for a save percentage of .985. Even though the Frost did score five goals in their win, she was a critical part because she made some big saves that allowed them to keep that lead. Hopefully, she continues to play this strongly, and Rooney will follow suit.
Frost’s New Players Fitting In
With all that happened in the offseason with the expansion draft and free agency, the Frost had a lot of vacancies to fill, and quite a few new names joined the mix. It was unclear what kind of team would take the ice this season, but they’ve clearly blended well. There are still some mistakes that come with having new players, but overall, they’ve done decently.
It helps that they still have their main scoring group as well as their two goaltenders, who have been with them since day one. However, if these new players didn’t mix in well, they would be having big struggles, as some of these players are already filling key roles like Sidney Morin, Kendall Cooper, and Ava Rinker on defense, plus Abby Hustler as a forward.
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There are many other new players who aren’t standing out quite yet but are doing great behind-the-scenes work that the Frost need to secure wins. The more experience they get under their belts, the better they’ll become; it just takes a little time.
The Frost have one more game on the road before they play back at home in front of their fans. They’ve already won two out of three games, but they’ll have to get past the Boston Fleet if they hope to get a full sweep on the road. Hopefully, they can continue to play stronger, and they’ll have a strong chance to come home with three straight wins.
