Be the Change
A turnaround win, love for mom, more Olympic nuggets, goalie insights, props to coach, the story of a rookie, and more.
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Standings: Third place, five points behind Montreal and three points ahead of New York.
1. Game Recaps
Sunday, March 8 against the Toronto Sceptres.
3-2 OT win
Goals: Denisa Křížová started it off with her first goal of the season. A Taylor Heise slap shot tied the game in the third period, forcing overtime. Then Kelly Pannek scored 17 seconds into an overtime power play.
Rebound: A big turn around from last week’s shutout. “I don’t think any of our coaches or players were happy with how we played last weekend,” said Coach Ken Klee.
Player of the week: Having a hand in all three goals earned Heise player of the week honors.
Debut: The Frost was two for three on power plays, giving them the best percentage in the league. What’s working on the power play? “We’ve changed different things,” Heise said. “I think it keeps it fresh though, like new looks. I love to be creative and I love to have some time and space.”
2. Love for Mom
On International Women’s Day, the Frost asked the players who the most influential women in their life is. No surprise, but mom is the #1 answer:
3. Oh Captain My Captain
Speaking of mom, how about Kendall Coyne Schofield? She appears on the Never Offside podcast to talk Olympics, with plenty of stories about her son, Drew. The best moment: Coyne Schofield keeps her Olympic gold medal in a sock.
Puck kid: Coyne Schofield talks about Drew stealing the spotlight in Milan, as well as how she convinced Drew to come on the ice for the post-game celebration by calling over Kelly Pannek.
Relationship dynamic with husband Michael: “For both of us we said being with each other is the greatest team we've ever been on.”
Creating the PWHL: Coyne Schofield talks about the previous iteration of the PWHL where she made $7,500 per year as the highest paid player on her team. “It was seeing these young girls come up to me saying things ‘I want to be like you. I want to do what you do.’ And I’m like no you don’t. I couldn’t accept that and I couldn’t accept the reality that we were living and instead of just accepting it, it was how are we going to change this? If we’re not going to change it, we can’t keep waiting for somebody else to change it. We need to be the change.”
The growth of women’s hockey: “All the kids are going to graduate from college this year, and they’re going to not miss a beat. They’re going to go right into the PWHL. They’re going to make a living. They’re going to have benefits. They’re going to have a housing stipend. They’re going to have meals. They’re going to have ice. They’re going to have coaches. They’re going to have trainers, doctors, massage therapists, strength coaches, all of these things that—at least for my eight years out of college between graduating and the PWHL starting—were lacking. I think for so many people, they’ve said, ‘Wow, the product is amazing.’ It is so fun to watch. It’s so good. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s that good. And we’ve had our hands tied behind our back for forever, and we’re still that good.’”
4. Goalie Talk
Frost goalies Maddie Rooney, Nicole Hensley, and Marlène Boissonnault sit down with former Wild goalie Marc‑André Fleury and talk shop:
Hensley on picking Fleury’s #29: “I love how much fun you bring to the game. And how laid back you are. It’s just a good reminder for me that the game is supposed to be fun.”
Rooney on pressure: “It’s what we signed up for, the pressure. Goalies are a little weird. I get nervous before every game, I think that’s very normal. It’s how you can channel that energy. For me it’s staying in the present.”
Boissonnault on incredible saves: “You make these saves that I think almost shock yourself, in the best way possible because you don’t want to admit that you shocked yourself, because you’re obviously the one doing the save, but the nice thing is when you see the play develop quickly enough and you know you can mess around, and can anticipate where the puck is going to go is where you can mess around and throw a glove.”
5. Coach
Multiple Frost players serve as coaches for local teams. Written Rule of Sports covered Claire Butorac with Andover and Kelly Pannek with Benilde-St. Margaret’s. Denisa Křížová is also an assistant coach for Hamline University and Madison Bizal helped the Breck Mustangs win a state championship.
Butorac on giving back: “It’s really nice to be able to help them as they, whatever part of their process they’re in, whether it’s a freshman asking for playing advice or a senior wanting to know recruiting and stuff like that. It’s nice to be able to utilize all my years of playing.”
Coach Kevin Gray on Pannek checking in before the championship game: “She said, ‘Come on, let’s get it done.’ I said, you know, you’re in the Olympics, and you’re still worrying about us a little bit?”
6. PWHL Zine
365 Hockey Girl made a zine to explain the PWHL to newbies and handed it out at Seattle Torrent games. Hmm… we need a Frost zine.
7. Home for a Takeover
On Sunday, the Frost head to Denver for their last Takeover Tour game of the season. It’ll be a homecoming for goalie Nicole Hensley and rookie Peyton Anderson. The local Arvadan, Colorado newspaper talked with Anderson about her experience in the PWHL:
Getting into hockey: “I was in dance growing up with my sisters—and I was a total tomboy when I was a kid,” Anderson said. “I just remember begging my mom, like, ‘Please get me out of this. I need to play something else.’”
Going undrafted but getting a camp invite: “I had the nerves and the butterflies a little bit,” Anderson said. “But I had some coaches this summer and some of the guys I got to play against trained me hard, so I felt really confident going into camp… It was a little scary on what I was going to expect, but I felt pretty confident in my game.”
Playing in the PWHL: “It's been amazing,” Anderson said. “Dream come true. You don't realize how blessed you are playing pro hockey. … It's just cool to be a part of the growing of the game. Like I said, I'm just blessed to be a part of it, and to be able to work every day to inspire young girls to push towards this in their future.”
8. Fan Signs
![Sign: "Go Frost! Win tonight, [Gold medal] next."](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n5tw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe7d41a6e-7727-4202-aa6d-4b205ffb15ec_1080x1350.jpeg "Sign: \"Go Frost! Win tonight, [Gold medal] next.\"")
9. Fan Fare
Check out the new goalie mask design for Maddie Rooney:
Next game: Tonight! Friday, March 13 against Seattle in St. Paul.