The Minnesota Frost were back home after almost three weeks when they hosted the Seattle Torrent on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 11. The Frost were dealt a bit of a blow in the injury department as they were without Dominique Petrie, who was injured in their previous game last Sunday, Jan. 4, against the Montréal Victoire and Lee Stecklein as well.
Maddie Rooney was back in the net for the Frost, and the game started in their favor as well. They jumped to a lead late in the first but added to it early in the second. The Torrent tried to climb back in late in the middle period and the third as well, but couldn’t, and the Frost took the win 6-2. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with the scoring.
Frost’s Scoring Spree
The Frost found their scoring in front of their home fans as both Katy Knoll and Grace Zumwinkle had a pair of goals, and they both came close to hat-tricks. Plus, Taylor Heise and Abby Hustler each had a goal as well. Knoll got the scoring going on the power play, and was followed by Zumwinkle’s back-to-back goals, which gave the Frost a strong lead.
Zumwinkle’s first goal showed persistence as she took the initial backhand shot but kept poking at it until it slid in. Her second goal was more in her regular style as she had a strong shot from the top of the circles. While their goaltender was strong in net, their consistent scoring helped them get in the win column.
“Yeah I think as a line we had a lot of great chances, and I think having a good game, that’s what you gotta focus on is chances and hopefully you’re able to execute on a few of those and I think tonight we saw that with all of the lines especially with Katy (Knoll) getting two goals as well and I think it’s a slippery slope to just focus on goals and points and that kind of stuff but I think tonight we just focused on getting some grade A chances and it paid off for us in the end,” said Zumwinkle when asked about her scoring.
Frost Power Play Success
The Frost’s power play is still second in the league, and they saw some success against the Torrent. Although they had four power plays and just scored on one, it was that one that got the scoring going for the Frost. Knoll tallied the goal, and although it was late in the first, the building really came to life after that goal.
It was great that they got the power play goal right away, and luckily, they didn’t need the others, as their even-strength scoring was strong. They are one of the best teams in the league on the power play, with six power play goals in 32 chances. Hopefully, they can continue to have success, as there will be games where their 5-on-5 scoring could use some assistance.
“Yeah, obviously love playing at home with the energy, so fun to play in front of and like coach said changed the lines up a little bit but the way that the staff kind of preaches it, is like you should be ready to kind of play with anyone and that’s kind of how our systems go and really fun day playing with Klára (Hymlárová) and Denny (Křížová) and I thought we did really well and had some good chances that we didn’t capitalize on and then also had some chances we did capitalize on, so super fun day playing with them and obviously really fun when all the lines are clicking…,” said Knoll about her two-goal performance.
Frost’s Rooney Strong in Net
Maddie Rooney has had an up-and-down season so far, but against the Torrent, she looked solid from her first save of the game to the last. She was ready with her quick glove, and she didn’t shy away when they got in her crease. She even showed her aggressive side, as she threw her shoulder out to protect when she covered the puck to make sure it couldn’t be moved.
While the concept of goaltending is easy, stop the puck, it is far from easy to do so, and Rooney made it look easy. She was focused and was clearly on her game, and the fans noticed as well, with all the “Rooooo” chants that could be heard every time she made a strong save. Even when she let one in late in the second period and one in the third, she kept composed and continued to make the saves.
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“She’s (Hensley) close, I think she was real close and we just kind of talked to the staff and said okay until she’s 100 percent it doesn’t make sense, Maddie (Rooney) played really well the other day in Montréal and to be honest we just haven’t been giving her a lot of goal support, so today it was great to see our players step up and put up a good number for her so that she could just play and not be stressed in a one-goal game the entire time,” said head coach Ken Klee about the goaltending tandem and continued, “Yeah, no she played great, yeah she made big saves when we needed her to make them and I think that’s what we expect out of all of our goalies,”
The Frost will have a few days to rest up before they head back on the road to face the New York Sirens in New York. They have everything going for them right now in solid goaltending, strong scoring, and their power play has stepped up. Hopefully, they can continue that streak when they head on the road and get another win.
