Highlights and Press Conferences available on Minnesota and Ottawa YouTube channels
ST. PAUL, MN (March 18, 2026) – The Minnesota Frost exploded for four goals in the first period and never looked back, skating to a 5-0 victory over the Ottawa Charge on Wednesday night to move into a tie for first place in the PWHL standings. The first meeting between the teams at Grand Casino Arena since Game 4 of the 2025 PWHL Walter Cup Finals saw 12 different Frost skaters find the scoresheet, led by a two-goal performance from Kelly Pannek, a goal and an assist from Grace Zumwinkle, and a 15-save shutout by Maddie Rooney in her eighth win of the campaign. Top scorer Taylor Heise, who celebrated her 26th birthday yesterday, continued her hot hand with a goal on the Frost’s first shot on Gwyneth Philips from a wide angle just 27 seconds into action. The Playoff MVP stopped just five of her eight shots against and was pulled after Zumwinkle and Pannek tallied 11 seconds apart at 14:39 and 14:50 to make it 3-0. The Frost scored on their next shot at 16:15 off the stick of Kaitlyn O’Donohoe, her first in the PWHL, past Kendra Woodland who stepped into the Charge crease for the first time in her PWHL career. The rookie goalkeeper finished her debut with 14 saves on 16 shots in 45:10, with Pannek rounding out the scoring at 15:46 of the middle frame. The Frost are the first PWHL team to reach 10 regulation wins this season, matching their 2024-25 total, and move up to 39 points alongside Boston. They will take their four-game winning streak on the road to Vancouver on Saturday, while the fifth-place Charge will look to rebound when they take on the Victoire in the DoorDash PWHL Takeover Tour on Sunday at Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre.
QUOTES
Minnesota Head Coach Ken Klee on Maddie Rooney's first shutout of the season: “She's been rock solid for us. Like I said early on, even when she wasn't rewarded and getting wins, she was still playing well. We just weren't supporting her very well, so I think since maybe our second or third start, we've been trying to give her a lot better run support, which I know gives her a lot of confidence in the net knowing she can make saves when she needs to.”
Frost alternate captain Kelly Pannek on 12 players getting points and the importance of overall depth: “I think that's the way that this team has been built for the last few years and this year's no different. And it really is fun for everyone when people are involved in it. Any line is trusted to score and expected to score. [Coach Klee] preaches a lot that if you're playing the right way, it doesn't matter who you're playing. I think you're seeing some good chemistry developing but also knowing some players might be hot one night, but a different night it's going to be someone else. I think it's just a lot of people having a lot of fun showing up to the rink, and you're seeing that on the ice.”
Ottawa Head Coach Carla MacLeod on the early goal cushion taken by the Frost: “I really liked our start. I think they had a couple of fortunate ones early on, which happens. No big deal. I thought our group had the start we wanted after coming off our last game. We had our feet moving a lot better. The puck was moving, so there were a lot of positives there. Sometimes this game is just a goofy game. You can have a good start and suddenly, you look at the scoreboard and you're like, oh, darn. But in the same breath, obviously Gwyneth (Philips) wants that first goal back. It's an unfortunate one. She's an elite goalie, so we were trying to rally for her. She saved us in a lot of games this season. In general, I didn't think our first period was tilted as much as the scoreboard indicated.”
Charge forward Michela Cava on coming back to Minnesota for the first time after winning the Walter Cup last season: “It's obviously a little bittersweet feeling, just coming back and getting to see everybody yesterday, and then getting a nice welcome back at the rink, and just getting to see everybody in the stands. It's a fun rink to play in. I have nothing but good memories here, so can't say anything bad about that, but it would have been nice to come out with the win today.”
NOTABLES
Minnesota’s four straight wins is a season-high and gives them points in 10 of their last 11 games (6-2-2-1). They have also won four straight games at Grand Casino Arena, a first since March of the inaugural season.
The Frost win the four-game regular-season series over the Charge 7-5 in points, outscoring them 14-9.
The five-goal margin of victory tonight is tied for the largest of the 2025-26 season, matching Vancouver’s 5-0 win over Toronto on Jan. 22.
Minnesota became just the second team in PWHL history to score four goals in the first period following Montréal on Feb. 15, 2025, in a 6-2 win over New York.
The Frost have scored five or more goals in six of their 20 games this season, including four of their eight games at Grand Casino Arena. They entered the game with a league-high goals per game average of 3.11, with the Charge ranked second with an average of 2.55.
The goal at 27 seconds was the second quickest of the PWHL season behind Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield’s goal 24 seconds after puck drop on Dec. 2 in Ottawa. The Frost tied a PWHL record with two goals in 11 seconds, matching the mark set by the Goldeneyes in the second period of their game on Jan. 22.
Ottawa’s 15 shots on goal were the lowest registered by the team in a game this season, following two previous games with 17 shots on goal, including Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win in Vancouver.
Kelly Pannek became the second player in the PWHL to reach the 20-point plateau and fourth to double digits in goals with her second multi-goal effort of the season in her 20th game (11G, 9A). Eight of her 20 points (3G, 5A) have come in four games against Ottawa, while her overall point streak is up to four games (3G, 2A). The Frost alternate captain is within striking distance of 50 career points, now with 47 (18G, 29A) in 74 games.
Grace Zumwinkle has consecutive multi-point performances for the first time in her PWHL career with her goal and assist following Sunday’s two goal output. She extended her point streak to a season-high of four games (3G, 3A) and is up to 15 points (9G, 6A) in 20 games, tied for ninth overall and four points shy of the 19 that earned her Rookie of the Year honors in the inaugural season.
Taylor Heise has goals in four straight games, tied for the longest goal streak of the 2025-26 season and one shy of the PWHL record of five. The league’s top scorer is now up to 22 points (7G, 15A) in 20 games, tying her career high (8G, 14A) in 29 games last season.
Kaitlyn O’Donohoe scored her first career goal in her 16th career game in two seasons with the Frost. The Myrtle Beach, SC, native began the season on the team’s Reserve Player list and has appeared in seven games since Jan. 11.
Maddie Rooney earned her first shutout of the season in her sixth straight win for the Frost dating back to Jan. 11. She became the sixth goaltender in PWHL history to record 20 career wins, achieving the feat in her 40th career appearance and three days after teammate Nicole Hensley met the mark. Her five career shutouts are tied for second all-time.
Denisa Křížová and Lee Stecklein both picked up assists on the game’s opening goal and have two points in their last four games since the Olympics. The Czech forward is up to four points (1G, 3A) in 20 games while the American defender has five helpers in 18 appearances.
Madison Bizal has assists in consecutive games after being held off the scoresheet in her first nine games with the Frost. The defender’s only other two PWHL points were assists in consecutive games for Montréal in February 2024.
Abby Hustler is the sixth rookie to reach double digits in points this season, notching her seventh assist and 10th point since being selected by the Frost in the second round of the 2025 PWHL Draft.
Claire Butorac has two assists in her last three games after a career-high 13-game pointless drought. She’s one of four Frost skaters thus far who have appeared in 20 games in each of the team’s first three seasons, along with Křížová, Pannek and Zumwinkle.
Mae Batherson climbed into third in scoring among defenders with her ninth assist and 11th point of her sophomore season. This was her first point in five games post-Olympics, snapping a four-game drought that was tied for a season-high along with her first four games of the campaign.
Britta Curl-Salemme became the third Frost and PWHL player to 20 points on the season while extending her point streak to four (1G, 3A). Her 12th helper tonight puts her into a tie for second in the category and doubles her assist total from her 28-game rookie campaign.
Klára Hymlárová became the 12th Frost skater to reach five points this season with a secondary helper on the fifth goal. The Czech forward has two points (1G, 1A) in her last three games.
Ottawa rookies Rory Guilday (Chanhassen) and Peyton Hemp (Andover) played their first pro games in their home state of Minnesota, with the latter leading her team in shots on goal tonight with three.
Gwyneth Philips became just the second goaltender this season to start 19 games but was pulled for just the second time in her PWHL career and first time since her fourth start back on Jan. 29, 2025.
Kendra Woodland played her first game since Feb. 13, 2024, when she starred between the pipes for the University of New Brunswick. The 2023 U SPORTS Player of the Year earned her first professional contract this season as a Charge training camp invite and became the second goaltender in PWHL history with U SPORTS experience to appear in a game following Lindsey Post (University of Alberta) with New York in the league’s inaugural season.
Peyton Anderson missed the first game of her rookie season, serving the one-game suspension assessed for an illegal body check in Sunday’s action.
THREE STARS
1. Kelly Pannek (MIN) 2G
2. Grace Zumwinkle (MIN) 1G, 1A
3. Maddie Rooney (MIN) 15/15 SV
STANDINGS
Minnesota: 39 PTS (10-3-3-4) – 1st Place (Tied)
Ottawa: 28 PTS (5-6-1-9) – 5th Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Minnesota: Saturday, Mar. 21 at Vancouver at 2 p.m. CT / 12 p.m. PT
Ottawa: Sunday, Mar. 22 vs. Montréal (in Winnipeg) at 6 p.m. CT / 7 p.m. ET