PWHL Finals preview: Ottawa Charge looking to become 1st Canadian PWHL champions
Charge take on reigning Walter Cup champion Frost beginning Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET
The Ottawa Charge have the opportunity to become the first Canadian PWHL team to lift the Walter Cup.
But first, they have to get past the defending champion Minnesota Frost, a team with offence up and down the lineup and scoring threats littering the blue line.
It all starts Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. ET, when the Charge and the boisterous fans inside TD Place host the Frost for Game 1 of the Walter Cup final.
"We know that we're going to have to bring our best," Charge captain Brianne Jenner told reporters over the weekend. "We had to do that in the Montreal series. I think we competed, shift in and shift out, for that entire series. That's really what it's going to take."
Both teams qualified for the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, finishing with the same number of points in the standings.
And both knocked off higher-seeded opponents to get here. The Frost took down the Toronto Sceptres for the second year in a row, scoring 18 goals over four games.
The Charge, meanwhile, eliminated the Montreal Victoire team that picked Ottawa as its opponent. Chants of "You picked us!" came from the more than 8,000 Ottawa fans who watched their team seal Montreal's fate with a 2-1 win on Friday.
WATCH | Charge advance to PWHL finals with Game 4 win over the Victoire:
While the Minnesota-Toronto series was a high-scoring affair, every single Ottawa-Montreal game was decided by only one goal.
"At this point in the season, both Minnesota and ourselves are just going to lean into what we know is our style of play and what's been working for us," Charge head coach Carla MacLeod said. "There's no doubt it's going to be a hard-fought battle, and whether it's a high-scoring game or a low-scoring game, the competitiveness is so great."
Composure in the crease
Ottawa's MVP throughout the Montreal series was rookie goaltender Gwyneth Philips.
Montreal's top scorers, Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey, put a combined 55 shots on net throughout the series, and each had only one goal to show for it.
Philips boasts a league-leading 1.14 goals against average and only six goals allowed over four games against Montreal.
"We made a really good push until the end," Cheverie said on Friday night. "We just couldn't seem to find a way to get that little black rubber thing across the line. Just couldn't score."
Since taking over for an injured Emerance Maschmeyer in March, Philips' confidence and steadiness has propelled her team.
When she's at her best, she's tracking every puck and not giving up on rebounds until there's a whistle, MacLeod said.
"She just loves saving the puck," the coach said. "She's athletic. She enjoys the job that she's got, and obviously she brings a skillset to it and a mindset to it that's complimentary."
Helping her has been a smothering line of Gabbie Hughes, Emily Clark and Mannon McMahon, and a top defensive pairing of Ashton Bell and veteran Jocelyne Larocque.
Both Clark and McMahon also scored key goals for Ottawa in the Montreal series. McMahon had the lone goal in a 1-0 Game 3 victory, and Clark had the game winner in the deciding Game 4.
MacLeod acknowledged that top line's role against Montreal, but attributed the series win to her whole team having strong defensive details.
Back in March, the Charge gave up six unanswered goals to the New York Sirens. A playoff spot wasn't guaranteed. It was a gut check. But the Charge didn't let that topple their season. They came back stronger, and now they're playing their best hockey when it matters most.
"There's a mentality in our group that we just stay the course," MacLeod said. "Our bench doesn't waver in moments in the game."
Experience leading the way for Frost
At the end of the season, the Frost were in danger of missing the playoffs and the chance to defend their Walter Cup title.
But an experienced locker room, filled with players who gutted out a five-game win over Boston in the finals last year, never doubted their ability to get back here.
"It's a testament to our leadership, first and foremost," Minnesota head coach Ken Klee said. "They've been in these high-pressure situations. They've been in NCAA finals, Olympic finals, world championship finals. I think it really starts with them, and then it goes through our next whole group of players who are buying in."
That leadership begins with captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, who scored two goals en route to her team's Game 4 win over the Sceptres. Coyne Schofield led the Frost in regular-season scoring with 24 points in 30 games.
Klee described her as the team's MVP throughout this season.
"She brought her speed and competitiveness, which basically raises the whole group around her," Klee said.
"When other players on our team see how hard she works day in and day out, the extra things she does to keep herself in shape and keep herself on it, her attention to details, her wanting to watch film, wanting to get better, that's the person you want as your captain and that's why she is our captain."
It continues with the always-steady Kelly Pannek and top defender Stecklein, who has found a scoring touch over the last month.
There's defender of the year nominee Sophie Jaques, who has put up six points in four games. There's rookie Brooke McQuigge, who's settle into a top-six role, and reliable playoff-performer Michela Cava, who has won championships in four different leagues now.
And of course, there's reigning playoff MVP Taylor Heise, who seems to find a new gear at this time of year. She leads all skaters with seven points in four playoff games, including one goal: the overtime winner that put a dagger in Toronto's season in Game 4.
Minnesota also has two reliable goaltenders to cycle between, as Klee did during last year's playoff run. Both Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley started games against Montreal, and Klee suggested he would continue to use both of them in the next round.
Both Ottawa and Minnesota had to play desperate just to get into the playoffs. If Minnesota has an edge, it's that they know they can keep it up over two rounds, having done exactly that a year ago.
"A series is hard to be in," said Coyne Schofield, who has now played and won three PWHL playoff series.
"It's learning quickly, whether it's something good, something bad ... and turning the next page and recognizing that the most important shift is the next shift right in front of you."
PWHL final schedule:
- Tuesday, May 20: Game 1 in Ottawa, 7 p.m. ET
- Thursday, May 22: Game 2 in Ottawa, 7 p.m. ET
- Saturday, May 24: Game 3 in Minnesota, 5 p.m. ET
- Monday, May 26: Game 4 in Minnesota, 5 p.m. ET *if necessary
- Wednesday, May 28: Game 5 in Ottawa, 7 p.m. ET *if necessary
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