Montréal hosts Minnesota tonight with berth in the PWHL Walter Cup Finals against Ottawa on the line
Ottawa’s Gwyneth Philips named PWHL Player of the Week presented by SharkNinja
NEW YORK AND TORONTO (May 12, 2026) – The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) Walter Cup Playoffs presented by SharkNinja reach a pinnacle tonight with puck drop in a decisive Game 5 of the semifinal series between the Montréal Victoire and Minnesota Frost at 7 p.m. ET. The winner will take on the Ottawa Charge in the PWHL Walter Cup Finals presented by Scotiabank. Here’s a closer look at all the action as the chase for the Walter Cup continues.
GAME 5 SNAPSHOT
A winner will be decided in Game 5 of a series for just the third time in eight all-time playoff matchups, and nobody has more experience in these moments than Minnesota. The Frost previously punched their ticket to the inaugural season finals with a 4-1 win in Game 5 over Toronto, then hoisted their first of two straight Walter Cups with a 3-0 win in Game 5 over Boston. Both of those wins came on the road, which is exactly where they’ll be tonight against Montréal. In three seasons, the Victoire have never had a series extend beyond four games — until tonight. Despite their 2-4 all-time playoff record at Place Bell, nobody was better on home ice this season with wins in 11 of their 12 games at their primary home venue. Click here for more.
OTTAWA RETURNS TO FINALS
The Charge advanced to the Walter Cup Finals with a 3-1 series win over the Boston Fleet, capped by a thrilling 4-3 double-overtime victory on Sunday to stay a perfect 7-0 in overtime games this season. It was the 14th game decided in overtime and the 22nd one-goal game across 33 playoff contests in league history to date. Not only is it Ottawa’s second straight trip to the finals, but the second straight season they did so with a four-game semifinal series win as the underdog after qualifying for the playoffs on the final day of the season. All seven completed playoff series in PWHL history have been won by the lower seed. Click here, opens in a new tab for all results.
PLAYOFF ATTENDANCE UP 25 PERCENT
Ottawa set a single-game playoff attendance record on Friday with a crowd of 13,112 at Canadian Tire Centre, part of an eight-game playoff total of 63,433 fans, which represents a 25 percent increase in attendance over the first eight games of the 2025 postseason. Attendance in 128 games of the entire 2025-26 season stands at 1,179,930 fans for an average of 9,218 per game.
PWHL WELCOMES DETROIT
Last Wednesday, PWHL Detroit was officially introduced as the league’s ninth team, debuting in the 2026-27 season at Little Caesars Arena. The announcement, which streamed live on the league’s YouTube channel, opens in a new tab, featured representatives of the local girls’ and women’s hockey community, and remarks from PWHL executives Amy Scheer and Jayna Hefford, Ilitch Companies CEO Chris Ilitch, Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield, and Bridget Sponsky of Detroit-based Ally Financial — the Official Bank of PWHL Detroit. Click here for more.
PHILIPS FLUSTERS FLEET
Ottawa’s Gwyneth Philips won both of her starts last week with a 1.70 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage across both games, including a 43-save performance in the series-clinching victory over Boston and has been named the PWHL Player of the Week presented by SharkNinja. The 25-year-old from Athens, OH, is already making a strong case to contend for a second straight Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP honor, with a 1.62 GAA and .951 SV% in a series where the Charge were outshot 142-94 by the Fleet, including double-digit margins in every game. In 32 starts this season, the Olympic gold medalist has a record 14 games with 30 or more saves. Click here, opens in a new tab to see top playoff goaltenders.
CAN CAVA WIN AGAIN?
Michela Cava delivered Ottawa’s overtime heroics on Sunday, scoring her first goal in 21 games as a member of the Charge since joining the team from the Goldeneyes on Jan. 18. The former Frost, and two-time Walter Cup champion, is back in the finals for a third straight season, also chasing a sixth straight professional title after winning in the PHF, ZhHL, and SDHL prior to the launch of the PWHL. Her 16 career playoff points in 22 games rank second behind Taylor Heise’s 17.
KADIROVA LEADS THE CHARGE, ALL PLAYOFF SCORERS
Fanuza Kadirova is the only player with five points through four games of the playoffs, tallying twice with three assists for Ottawa. The first-year Russian forward has scored eight of her 12 total goals this season since the Olympic break, more than any other Charge player, and her 20.8% shooting percentage in the regular season was second to only top scorer Kelly Pannek of the Frost at 27.6%. Heading into tonight’s action, five players have four points: Minnesota’s Sidney Morin (4G) and Pannek (1G, 3A), Montréal’s Laura Stacey (3G, 1A), Ottawa’s Jocelyne Larocque (1G, 3A), and Boston’s Alina Müller (1G, 3A). Click here, opens in a new tab to see top playoff scorers.
SCORIN’ MORIN
Morin has been the breakout star of the postseason, scoring four of the Frost’s nine goals in four games to match her 84-game career regular-season total which included 30 goalless games with her home-state team. She’s already the only defender to score a playoff short-handed goal, just the third defender to record a multi-goal game in the playoffs and has tied the record for most goals by a rearguard in a single postseason — all before the end of the semifinal series. She leads a playoff wave of offense from the defense that has seen 12 goals from the blue line across all eight games, representing 35% of all goals. Defenders scored 82 of the 550 total goals in the regular season, just 15%.
CAPTAIN CLUTCH
Marie-Philip Poulin scored the triple-overtime winner in Game 2 of the series last Tuesday, the last time the Victoire and Frost went head-to-head at Place Bell. The captain is a strong contender to elevate her play with everything on the line tonight, leading the full season series with eight points (4G, 4A) in seven games. Three of her four goals against Minnesota have been overtime winners, the only OT goals of her PWHL career.
FLEET SCORE FASTEST THREE GOALS
Boston scored three goals in a span of 1:33 in the second period on Sunday, the fastest three goals scored by a team in PWHL history, during playoffs or the regular season. The goals by Shay Maloney, Megan Keller and Sophie Shirley represent just the third time in league history a team has tallied three times in under two minutes.
SCEPTRES SUPPORT TEMPO
The WNBA has begun its 30th season and members of the Toronto Sceptres were in the house, opens in a new tab for a historic tip-off as the expansion Toronto Tempo, the league’s first-ever Canadian team, took the court for the first time in regular-season action Friday. Emma Maltais and Daryl Watts had courtside seats among honored guests, opens in a new tab at Coca-Cola Coliseum, and Vancouver’s Sarah Nurse provided some preseason encouragement, opens in a new tab to her cousin, Kia Nurse, who plays for the team.
CZECHIA CALLS ON IDALSKI
Goldeneyes Head Coach Brian Idalski has been named Head Coach of the Czech Women’s National Team, the federation announced Tuesday. The Michigan native has past international experience with China at the 2022 Olympics and coached current Czech stars Tereza Vanišová this season in Vancouver and Frost forward Klára Hymlárová during his tenure at St. Cloud State. In the role, Idalski succeeds Charge Head Coach Carla MacLeod, who led the program to its first bronze medals at Women’s Worlds in 2022 and 2023.
TONIGHT’S GAME
Fans can catch Game 5 between Montréal and Minnesota in Canada exclusively on Prime Video and in the United States through the Scripps Sports Network, on FOX 9+ in Minnesota, and on thepwhl.com and the league’s YouTube channel. Following the game, visit the league’s YouTube channel for live reaction with Jocks in Jills.