Frost’s Sophie Jaques Stands Out in Win Over Victoire

The Minnesota Frost and Montréal Victoire faced off in Denver, Colorado, at Ball Arena on Sunday, Jan. 12, as part of the PWHL’s Takeover Tour in front of a crowd of 14,018, a new United States PWHL record. The Frost had Sophie Jaques back from injury but were still without Grace Zumwinkle and Dominque Petrie. Although Nicole Hensley was backing up on the bench, she was still recovering from her lower-body injury. The Victoire did not report any injuries before the game but lost Laura Stacey to injury later. 

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Maddie Rooney was in the net for the Frost, and Elaine Chuli was in for the Victoire. The Victoire started early, but the game remained close, as it almost always does between these two teams. It was tied or within one goal until the very end, with the Frost picking up the 4-2 win.

Game Recap

The Victoire got things underway early in the first with a goal by Catherine Dubois, with Dara Greig assisting her in making it 1-0. The Frost fought back and answered with a goal of their own by Britta Curl-Salemme, who took the shot off a faceoff won by Taylor Heise to make it 1-1. The scoring ended there, and they went into intermission tied. 

The second period was quiet despite many power plays until the halfway point when the Frost’s Sophie Jaques found the back of the net in her first game back from injury. She knocked in a rebound on the power play from Denisa Křížová who got the first assist, and Lee Stecklein tallied the second assist for their team to take the 2-1 lead. 

The lead only lasted a few minutes as the Victoire answered on their power play with a deflection off of a Frost player’s skate. The goal went unassisted to Jennifer Gardiner, who tied the game at two with a power play goal for each team back-to-back. These two teams ended the second period tied again, at two a piece. 

The Frost scored the first goal of the third period near the halfway point as Maggie Flaherty scored her first goal of the season to give her team a 3-2 lead, unassisted. They weren’t finished, however, as Michela Cava scored an incredible backhand goal to take a two-goal lead with under two minutes to go, and Jaques assisted her to make it 4-2, and that was how it ended.

The Frost will remain on the road as they head east to face the New York Sirens on Wednesday evening, Jan. 15. The Victoire will be off most of the week before they host this same Frost team on Friday, Jan. 17.