Minnesota Frost 2025-26 Season Preview

The Minnesota Frost are back-to-back Walter Cup champions and the only champions in PWHL history. That’s an absurd statement when you take into account the competitive balance in the PWHL and the fact that Minnesota entered both playoff runs in the fourth and final playoff spot.

This is a team that clearly possesses the ability to play its best hockey when it matters most. “We obviously played well at the right time. Winning championships at the end of the day is about peaking at the right time, having lots of contributors … and good goaltending,” head coach Ken Klee told us in a recent interview. “For us, it was more about getting into the playoffs and putting ourselves in a good spot where we were playing well.”

Some of the questions pundits have to ask when considering year three in the PWHL are: How will the league change now that there are eight teams? How much did the expansion process shake up the league? Will there be a new champion this season?

If the Frost have their way, the answer to the last question will be an emphatic no.

Coaching/Leadership: A strong group gets stronger

The Frost protected captain Kendall Coyne Schofield and alternate Lee Stecklein during the expansion process, ensuring they would be with the team this season. Alternate Kelly Pannek, another one of the team’s inaugural season foundational signings, slipped through the expansion draft and rounds out the leadership core.

Klee will also reprise his role behind the bench for a third season, while General Manager Melissa Caruso is back for her second season. You can’t argue with the results in Minnesota, so of course, there is no real incentive to change the combination of Klee and the leadership group that has anchored the Frost throughout the past two seasons.

The Frost also made one exciting addition to their coaching staff, hiring decorated USA Hockey legend and newly annointed Hockey Hall of Famer Brianna Decker to join the brain trust.

An evolving veteran core

The Frost’s overall roster depth is such that even after losing some great players in the offseason the team is still bringing back nine back-to-back champs, including the C- and A-wearers listed above along with excellent forwards (and Minnesota natives!) Claire Butorac, former first overall pick and inaugural Playoff MVP Taylor Heise and 2024 Rookie of the Year Grace Zumwinkle.

Powered by a successful entry draft in 2024, the Frost also boast dynamic second-year forwards like the recently re-signed Britta Curl-Salemme, who scored two big goals in Game 2 of the PWHL Finals, Katy Knoll, who scored the triple-overtime winner in Game 3, and Dominique Petrie, who opened her PWHL career with goals in three straight games and finished her rookie campaign with better than a half-a-point-per-game average.

The Frost led all teams in PWHL scoring by defenders in 2024-25 but enter Season 3 without two of those top offensive catalysts in Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques, gone to Vancouver via the expansion process. During the offseason, they added veteran defender Sidney Morin, yet another native Minnesotan, who scored three goals and added five assists for eight points in 30 games last season as a member of the Boston Fleet. Before joining the PWHL, Morin played over 100 games in the SDHL, where she was twice named Defender of the Year.

Rookie to watch: Kendall Cooper

Selected with the sixth pick in the 2025 PWHL Draft, Cooper is a solid defender capable of playing a 200-foot game.

“She’s very cerebral, a very smart hockey player, skates well, shoots well … she does everything really well and is a complete hockey player,” said Klee. “We’re excited to get her and some of our other players.”

Last season, Cooper captained Quinnipiac University’s women’s hockey team, scoring seven goals and 26 points in 37 games, finishing third in scoring on the team.

She has extensive leadership experience, having also captained Canada’s U-18 women’s team during the 2019-20 season, the very same year she was the captain of the Stoney Creek Sabres in Ontario’s provincial league. The Frost have every reason to expect Cooper to contribute from the jump, even as she grows her game and adapts to the professional scene.

Between the pipes: Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley

Minnesota boasts a true 1A/1B situation between the pipes. Rooney and Hensley have shared the crease fairly evenly over the past two seasons, with Rooney starting just four more games than Hensley in that time. During the offseason, the Frost inked a three-year contract extension with Rooney that will keep her in Minnesota for the foreseeable future.

The tandem gives Klee a ton of flexibility when it comes to goaltender deployment while also safeguarding the team in the event of injury.

“In my mind, they’re the best goaltending group in the league,” said Klee. “They bounce back and forth on who’s taking more of the load based on how they’re playing … They really support each other, which is a great thing.”

Season Outlook

As remarkable as it is to say given the offseason turnover, the Frost still have the elements in place to enjoy another solid season. The combination of experienced leaders and strong goaltending should allow Minnesota to be in the mix for another playoff spot and then, as the first two seasons proved, anything can happen.

As analyst Tessa Bonhomme alluded to in a recent episode of Jocks in Jills, one key to success will be jelling quickly as a team since there are now two more teams and still only four playoff spots.

For Klee, another key to success is better consistency. “Last year, we let a few games slip away where we weren’t as consistent as we had been, and obviously every point matters.”

With back-to-back Walter Cups, the standard in Minnesota is incredibly high. Fans and the organization alike will be expecting another strong year from the Frost. We will see whether they will have an opportunity to go for the three-peat.