2025 PWHL Finals Recap
Six periods of overtime. Four straight games with overtime. But, in the end, the Minnesota Frost were the ones who survived the grueling series to lift the Walter Cup as back-to-back PWHL Champions. Let’s break down what happened in the series.
Game One
The Ottawa Charge came out swinging and took the lead after winning 2-1 in overtime. It took more than half of regulation for the scoring to begin, but it happened mere seconds after Ottawa killed a penalty. Just as Minnesota’s power play ended, Charge forward Shiann Darkangelo gained possession of the puck off a rebound by goaltender Gwyneth Philips. She couldn’t stay on her feet, though. As she fell, she shot the puck towards the boards where Jocelyne Larocque picked it up, passed it to Tereza Vanišová, who then as she was skating towards the net passed it behind herself to Rebecca Leslie who wasted no time shooting, and the puck hit the bar and went into the goal.
The second goal of the game happened just over five minutes into the third period. Minnesota’s Mellissa Channell had possession and she made a pass, but it seems to have been broken up (hard to tell thanks to the camera) and went along the backboards. Goaltender Philips went out to get the puck and it quickly proved to be a bad move. Minnesota’s Liz Schepers rushed up, providing pressure against Philips, who quickly passed the puck to the boards, right to Minnesota’s Katelyn Knoll, who made a very quick pass to Klára Hymlárová who scored on the empty net.
The final goal happened shortly into overtime. Dominique Petrie was along the boards, got pressured by Aneta Tejralová, and quickly dumped the puck behind her, seemingly assuming Knoll would be there to collect the puck. She wasn’t. Instead, Ottawa’s Emily Clark was. She quickly collected the puck and took down the ice, shot, and scored. Game over.
Game Two
For a second straight game, the final score was 2-1. Unlike the previous game, it would be in the Frost’s favor. That said, it looked as if it was going to be a 1-0 Charge win. Ottawa was dominating the game but Minnesota goaltender Maddie Rooney was a brick wall. Unfortunately for her, the brick wall got a crack in it with just 2:35 to go in regulation. Minnesota defender Maggie Flaherty lost possession of the puck behind the net to Ottawa’s Rebecca Leslie who skated out to the boards in front of the net and gave the puck to Jocelyne Larocque. From there, Larocque skated to the front of the net, around the goaltender, and put it past Rooney rather easily.
Unfortunately for Ottawa, they would not win 1-0. With just 15 seconds left in regulation, Britta Curl-Salemme in a battle right in front of the net, was able to lift the puck just over Philips’ goalie pads. Tie game. That would not be Curl-Salemme’s only goal of the night. She also scored the game-winner in overtime. There was only 3:37 left in the period when she shot the puck as she was getting shoved onto the ice by an Ottawa player.
Game Three
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a PWHL Finals game in 2025 ends in a 2-1 score. Once again, it would be the Frost coming out on top. Like the previous games, it went to overtime. Unlike the previous ones, there were three overtime periods. Gwyneth Philips once again was outstanding for the Charge, making 45 saves on 47 shots. Five players (Stecklein, Jaques, Thompson, Bell, and Larocque) played over 40 minutes.
Anyway, in this game, once again, Ottawa struck first. Emily Clark scored 11:38 into regulation after picking up a rebound and managing to get a shot off where no one was standing in front of the net. Minnesota wouldn’t respond until early in the second period when Lee Stecklein would take a shot from the blue line that would go in past Philips. In the third overtime, with just 10:03 left to go in the period, Katy Knoll got a rebound off a shot from Hymlárová and back-handed it past Philips.
Game Four
Game four, would, of course, go to overtime. Also like the other games, it would end in a 2-1 win, and for the third time in a row, it would be the Frost winning. This clinched the Frost their second straight PWHL Championship. For the second straight year, it was Liz Schepers who scored the championship-clinching goal. Unlike the previous year, the recipient of the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP Award went to a player on the losing team. This time it went to Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips after having a 1.23 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage for the entirety of the playoffs.
Before the celebrations, though, the scoring began just seconds after the halfway mark of regulation. Frost defender Claire Thompson took a puck that was lying alongside the boards and skated in front of the net, drawing the Charge players towards her and leaving Kelly Pannek wide-open on the other side. Thompson passed to the wide-open Pannek who wasted no time putting the puck into the net to give the Frost the lead. Almost exactly twenty minutes later, the Charge responded. Serdachny was skating behind the net with the puck and noticed Vanišová was in front of the net with no defenders around her. She made the pass and Vanišová wasted no time getting the puck past Minnesota goaltender Maddie Rooney. In overtime, as stated, it was Liz Schepers who scored. You can’t actually see her shoot the puck on the broadcast, unfortunately, too many players are crowding her when she does. But, somehow, she got the shot off with three Charge players fighting her for the puck.
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