The Minnesota Frost hosted the Montréal Victoire for their final regular-season meetup on Wednesday, March 26. Both teams were looking to end three-game losing streaks and get some crucial points towards the postseason. Maddie Rooney was back in net for the Frost while Elaine Chuli was in for the Victoire.
The Victoire started out with the early lead, and although the Frost tried to climb back in, they couldn’t get it done, and they fell 4-1. In this article, we’ll look at what happened, starting with their overall effort.
Frost Kept Pushing
Despite getting down early, the Frost kept their heads up and continued to push as they had all game. They didn’t start the game playing badly, they just didn’t have the same bounces as the Victoire. However, as they kept forcing their way to the net, their chances came along with that, and eventually they were rewarded.
Kelly Pannek scored the lone goal after she crashed the net and refused to give up until it went in. It was the only goal the Frost had, but because of it, they were able to stay close until the last few minutes.
““It’s tough, it’s tough, we’re trying to score more than one that’s for sure. These guys were playing their hearts out and trying to get pucks to the net. We have to find a way, just find a way to get it done. You look at their (Victoire) goals, around the net, I guess the second period one was a forecheck goal, off a won faceoff by us that they whacked the stick and kind of battled and got one and then the same thing with their third one. Poulin shot, rebound, she battled her way to the net and she made a good play. We just gotta have more of that…” said head coach Ken Klee about how tough it’s been with so little scoring.
Frost Need More From Everyone
While it was great that the Frost scored a goal from deep in their lineup, they need more from their top players. They had a lot of chances, but they need to find ways to convert them. If the top line can’t get things going, they need others to step up like Pannek did. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who scores the goals as long as they’re scoring.
“When you battle injury, that’s the first time I’ve been out for a significant period of time and I think it’s more of a mental hurdle than it is necessarily a physical one and I think myself coming back it’s obviously the pressure that you want to score and you want to contribute and help your team win but I think at the end of the day it’s just focusing on what makes you successful and what makes me successful and it’s making the right play even if that doesn’t mean getting rewarded with a goal or an assist. It’s focusing on that and not necessarily what you see on the boxscore,” said Grace Zumwinkle about the pressure to score.
Frost Need to Adjust
It can’t be argued that Frost didn’t shoot enough, but their timing could be better. They outshot the Victoire 20-17, but they often waited too long to get their shots off. They need to produce more one-timers and catch both the opponents’ defense and goaltenders off guard. They give their opposition too much time to prepare and block the shot when they try to make the perfect play.
Outside of their offensive efforts, the Frost need to be more aggressive at pushing players away from the front of the net. A couple of the goals were because players were left in front of the net, which needs to be addressed. Players shouldn’t be able to stand alone in front of the net ready to take a shot. The defender has to be there, pushing the player out or at least getting in their passing lane.
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“We’re not hoping, our plan is not to hope that we’re going to be better, our plan is we’re going to be better. So, hope doesn’t ever come in to our equation, we work hard, we always preach it doesn’t matter what the lines are, what the pairs are, everyone knows the game we want to play and the style we need to play so we just need to make sure that we’re doing that and when we do that, we limit their chances and hopefully we generate more for ourselves, but that’s what we’re looking to do so we’re going to keep our foot on the gas and we know we need to get points,” said Klee about making any changes to the lineup in hopes it’ll work.
Frost Stay Home
The Frost will remain home for one more game before they take nearly a month off for the Women’s World Championship held in České Budĕjovice, Czechia. Their next game will be on Sunday, Mar. 30 when they host the Toronto Sceptres. Their spot in the postseason is starting to look a little worrisome and hopefully they can come out with a big win to keep that spot intact.
