The Olympic Vibe
It's hard not to talk about the Olympics with Team USA's dominance, so we get into it with an eye toward the PWHL starting back up.
OK, it’s all Olympics today. But the PWHL started up again last night and the Frost play on Sunday. Just two months until playoffs. If you appreciate this content, please upgrade to paid and help support it. Thanks! -Kevin D. Hendricks
Standings: Third place, two points behind Montreal and four points ahead of New York.
1. Game Recaps
While the Frost haven’t played since January 28, the Olympics have been the sole focus for women’s hockey. And with good reason. Team USA, which includes six Frost players—Kendall Coyne Schofield, Lee Stecklein, Kelly Pannek, Grace Zumwinkle, Taylor Heise, and Britta Curl-Salemme—brought home the gold medal in dramatic fashion.
Stomping: First, Team USA cleaned up, going undefeated in seven games, outscoring their opponents 33-2, and outshooting their opponents 292-126. That included an unprecedented 5-0 shutout of Canada in the preliminary round.
Grudge match: But that didn’t make gold easy. Canada came roaring back, outshooting the U.S. in the first period and scoring in the second to put Team USA on their heals for the first time in these Olympic games. It took pulling the goalie in the closing minutes of the third for U.S. to tie it and force overtime. Four minutes into bonus hockey, Heise’s long pass found Megan Keller, who faked out Claire Thompson and put it past Ann-Renee Desbiens for the gold. It’s worth watching (from every angle).
Rivalry: Since women’s hockey became a part of the Winter Olympics in 1998, Canada has cleaned up, winning gold in five of the eight contests. The U.S. have the other three—1998, 2018, and now 2026.
Young blood: The Olympics gave us a glimpse of some impressive U.S. stars on the rise with MVP Caroline Harvey, Laila Edwards, and Abbey Murphy. They’re likely to be top picks in this year’s PWHL draft.
The last Frost games were also solid victories (a 4-1 win over Vancouver and a 6-2 win over New York), so paired with six Frost players on the gold medal team, let’s hope the momentum continues.
2. Olympics Fun
The Frost social media team asked players if hockey weren’t in the Olympics, what else would they compete in. Answers varied, including snowboarding, pickleball, and baking (?!), but the best answer goes to Lee Stecklein with reading:
3. Perspective
Taylor Heise offers some perspective after winning the gold:
"Playing for your country and the pride of the place that you live in is pretty amazing and to wear that USA emblem on your chest every day it’s something that you don’t want to take for granted every day. I think sometimes things can get repetitive. We’ve been here for 22 days and you’ve got to sometimes remember why you do what you do and remember that hockey is a kid’s game and it’s just a fun sport to be a part of, and to represent your country at the highest level there is, it’s pretty unbelievable.”
4. Womens Hockey Not Going Dark
Kendall Coyne Schofield gave an emotional interview after the gold medal win, but pointed out the major difference in women’s hockey this Olympics—the PWHL:
“It’s important to recognize though that this is the first time that women’s hockey won’t go dark, won’t go silent. People won’t be like, ‘Where can I go find all these players I just watched this incredible hockey game.’ They’ll know exactly where to go and we’ll be playing again in a week and a half from now.”
5. Olympic Controversy
Of course most of the focus this week has been on controversy, whether it’s President Donald Trump’s call to the men’s team or the women’s team turning down the State of the Union invite (since they have to get back to work). Heather Rule has the reaction from Frost players:
“I would love to talk more about how our team was, how close we were, how special the group was,” said Kelly Pannek, expressing a preference to focus on celebrating the win and not the distractions they can’t control.
Hilary Knight has maybe the best response:
6. Pick a PWHL Team
With the Olympics done, 365 Hockey Girl recommends PWHL teams to fans looking for some Team USA vibes. While normally not big on the Frost, she does recommend the Frost if you want that high-power offensive. A fun video to share with your friends who enjoyed Olympic hockey but haven’t discovered the PWHL yet.
7. Fan Signs
8. Fan Fare
You can grab this year’s PWHL Black History Month logo, designed by artist Sophia Yeshi, on a jersey (though most sizes are sold out right now, so meh):
Next game: Sunday, March 1 against the Victoire in Montreal.