Sunday, March 16, 2025 | 7:30 p.m. ET | Little Caesars Arena (Detroit)
WATCH LIVE: MSG2, FanDuel Sports Network Extra, TSN 4, TSN.ca, TSN App, PWHL YouTube & thepwhl.com (U.S. / International)
Clay Matvick (Play-by-Play), Alexis Pearson (Analyst), Natalie Kerwin (Reporter)
MINNESOTA FROST
7-5-4-8 | 35 PTS | 4TH PLACE
Top Scorer: Kendall Coyne Schofield–24 GP, 10-11-21 PTS
Last Game: 3-2 L at OTT on Mar. 11
NEW YORK SIRENS
4-4-4-10 | 24 PTS | 6TH PLACE
Top Scorer: Sarah Fillier – 22 GP, 9-14-23 PTS
Last Game: 3-2 OTW vs. MTL on Mar. 12
2024-25 SEASON SERIES: NEW YORK LEADS 8-4 IN POINTS (MINNESOTA WON 9-6 IN 2024)
Dec. 1 at MIN: 4-3 NY (OT) | Dec. 22 at NY: 4-3 MIN (SO) | Jan. 4 at MIN: 5-0 NY | Jan. 15 at NY: 3-2 NY (SO) | Apr. 26 at MIN
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Last season on this day, Mar. 16, 2024, the PWHL debuted at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena as part of the league’s first Takeover Weekend. New York’s Taylor Girard competed as a member of Boston in a 2-1 shootout victory over Ottawa, and Sirens rookie Elle Hartje attended the game as a fan. The game set a U.S. attendance record for a professional women’s hockey game with a crowd of 13,736. The record was broken this season on Jan. 12 during the Takeover Tour in Denver with a crowd of 14,018.
Four players in today’s game are Michigan natives, including Minnesota’s Mellissa Channell-Watkins (Plymouth) who played with the Little Caesars organization before moving to the Toronto area. She also served as a coach in the Little Caesars program after graduating from Wisconsin. Hartje (Detroit) also played for Little Caesars and Belle Tire before attending Yale, Girard (Macomb) played for the Honeybaked program before attending Lindenwood and Quinnipiac, and Abby Roque (Sault Ste. Marie) played her NCAA career with the Badgers. It’s also a local game for Sirens assistant coaches Josh Sciba (Westland) and Lauren Williams (Windsor, ON).
Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield is connected to Detroit via her husband Michael Schofield, who played College Football at the University of Michigan and spent his final season of his nine-year NFL career with the Detroit Lions.
The Frost lost to the Charge, 3-2, in Ottawa on Tuesday. Minnesota has now scored two or fewer goals in four of their last five games, with the lone exception coming in the form of a 5-0 win in Raleigh on Mar. 7. Seven of the Frost’s eight regulation losses this season have come when scoring two or fewer goals (1-2-3-7).
Taylor Heise had a goal (her sixth of the season) and an assist (her 13th of the season) on Tuesday, but it was her first game with one of each in six multi-point performances this season. Including the playoffs, Heise had four games last season with at least one goal and one assist.
Frost rookies Britta Curl-Salemme (3A) and Brooke McQuigge (2G, 1A) both carry three-game point streaks into tonight’s action.
Minnesota’s win in Raleigh was their second Takeover Tour victory of the season following a 4-2 win over Montréal in Denver. The Frost are looking to become the only team with three such victories in 2025. New York lost their first Takeover Tour game in Buffalo, 3-2 in a shootout to Boston on Feb. 23.
New York has had the edge in this matchup this season, going 1-2-1-0 in the four meetings and scoring at least three goals in every game. The Sirens have at least two regulation losses against each of the other four PWHL teams and have scored three or more goals in just five of their other 18 games.
The Sirens snapped their PWHL-record nine-game winless streak (0-0-3-6) with a 3-2 overtime win at home against Montréal on Wednesday, their first win since Jan. 27. The Sirens have earned at least one point in every game in which they’ve scored at least three goals (4-3-2-0).
Sarah Fillier scored a goal for the fourth consecutive game, tying Montréal’s Laura Stacey for the longest goal streak this season, and her 23 points this season are tied with Toronto’s Hannah Miller for second in the league (Boston’s Hilary Knight, 24). Fillier is now also on a five-game point streak and had a six-game point streak earlier this season (Jan. 12 – Feb. 2). She’s the only player with multiple five-game point streaks this season.
Roque is currently riding a four-game point streak (2G, 3A) and has already set a new career-high for points in a season with 14 (5G, 9A) through 22 games.
These have been the two least-penalized teams in the league, with the Frost averaging 5:23 of PIM per game and the Sirens averaging 6:22 (every other team is over seven minutes). Neither team has had more than six PIM in any of the four games between them this season, and 18 of the 22 combined goals in those games have been scored at even strength.
Back on Feb. 17, 2019, Little Caesars Arena hosted the third game of the inaugural Rivalry Series. Minnesota’s Coyne Schofield, Lee Stecklein, and New York’s Alex Carpenter represented the United States in a 2-0 loss to Canada. Coyne Schofield (4G, 1A) and Carpenter (4G, 2A) lead their respective teams in head-to-head scoring through four games of the season series.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“Everyone is excited to be here in Hockeytown and we’ve been looking forward to this game. Detroit has great fans, a great building, and a great hockey community. We need to keep getting points by playing a solid 60 minutes. New York is a talented team, and we know it will be a very competitive game.” - Frost Head Coach Ken Klee.
“As a little kid going to Joe Louis Arena and then growing up and watching the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena, it never seemed like a feasible dream to imagine myself playing on that stage. I never imagined that this is where my career could take me. We’re coming off a huge OT win and we recognize the importance of using that momentum. Our team has been playing great hockey for a while now and we like our matchup against Minnesota – we're confident that if we show up and play Sirens hockey, we will be in a good spot.” - Sirens forward Elle Hartje.
SUNDAY’S GAME: The PWHL Takeover Tour™ Detroit Presented by Ally is the eighth of nine stops on the tour. Little Caesars Arena is one of 14 NHL venues and 24 venues overall to host a PWHL game all-time. Tour attendance has totaled 100,735 through seven games. Ally has partnered with the PWHL for tonight’s game with a rally towel giveaway, a lucky row contest, dance cam and ‘AthleticALLY Shootout’ during intermission, among their activations. During the pre-game, the PWHL will honor the life of 12-year-old Natalia Moore, a local hockey player and proud member of the Fox Motors Hockey Club who passed away earlier this year. Players will wear helmet decals in her memory, celebrating her love for the game. In support of this moment, the league will also share mental health resources. Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin will be in attendance and has a special role to start the game. The PWHL has partnered with local nonprofits Detroit PAL, SAY Detroit, Special Olympics, Clark Park Coalition, Boys and Girls Club and Black Girl Hockey Club for tonight’s game. The initiative aims to promote gender equity and empower the next generation of leaders by offering access to live women's sports experiences. By partnering with organizations focused on youth development, the PWHL aims to inspire confidence, break barriers, and encourage girls to see themselves in sports, whether as players or leaders. It’s a near-home game for three of tonight’s on-ice officials from southwestern Ontario, including referee Chad Ingalls (Woodstock), and linespersons Ali Beres (Brant) and Luke Pye (Belle River).