3 days after Minnesota pre-maturely celebrated what they thought was the Walter Cup winning goal in double overtime, the team was able to celebrate in earnest after downing Boston 3-0 to capture the league’s first championship.
With goals from Liz Schepers, Michela Cava, and Kendall Coyne Schofield, Minnesota ran away with Wednesday night’s series deciding game, as they outshot Boston 44-17 in a decidedly one sided affair. Nicole Hensley turned away all 17 shots she faced en route to the shutout, as Boston had no answers for a Minnesota side that wouldn’t be denied.
“It’s a great feeling obviously,” Schepers said. “Syd was really patient with the puck, it found its way in off my stick or my skate, I don’t even know what happened, but I’m happy it did.”
The win serves as sweet justice for Minnesota who thought they had captured the first Walter Cup in league history on home ice after Sophie Jacques scored in double overtime. However, after review, it was ruled that there was goaltender interference on the play, and the game winner was waived off. Less than a minute later, Boston scored to send the series to Game 5.
“I just think to have something so good taken away, like last game, I just think we knew we had to have it,” Minnesota forward Taylor Heise said. “Like that feeling, it’s like drugs I feel like a little bit, like you had it, you want it back.”
Heise’s 8 postseason points led the league in playoff scoring, and was subsequently named the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP for her efforts. “We’re ‘the State of Hockey,'” she said. “And I think this proves it.”
Minnesota overcame a great deal of adversity to capture the championship in 2023-24. After being picked by many pre-season as a team who could win it all, the club appeared to hit a wall midseason. They limped into the playoffs with a 5-5 record down the stretch, barely qualifying over PWHL Ottawa for the 4th and final spot.
This led to PWHL Toronto, who finished in 1st place and had the luxury of choosing their first round opponent, selecting Minnesota in what they thought would be an easier path to a championship. However the series turned when Natalie Spooner, who led the PWHL in both goals and points, went down with a knee injury, knocking her out of the series.
Minnesota would go on to rally and dethrone the regular season champions, only to meet Boston who also upended the favoured PWHL Montreal in the finals. Boston ended the season as arguably the hottest team in the league, going 4-0-0-1 to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Although her team fell short in the deciding game, Boston captain Hilary Knight had nothing but positive things to say about the inaugural season of the PWHL. “This year was a historic year,” she told reporters. “We built it. We’re extremely ecstatic about where it is Year 1. If anything, that reflection point is something we can take away from tonight and celebrate.”
With the Walter Cup now in the rearview mirror, teams will turn their attention to the 2024 PWHL draft, which features some elite level collegiate forwards in Sarah Fillier, Danielle Serdachny and Hannah Bilka, as well as one of the most decorated women’s hockey players on the planet in Olympic champion Amanda Kessel.
How teams choose to approach the draft on June 10th, will be an interesting case study in building championship rosters. Do you take the long term prospect who could be a cornerstone of your franchise for years to come? Or do you go with a “win-now” style move in adding an impact veteran to your top six today?
In either case, New York will have the opportunity to set the tone early on when they select 1st overall in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in a few weeks time.
2024 PWHL Draft Order
- PWHL New York
- PWHL Ottawa
- PWHL Minnesota
- PWHL Boston
- PWHL Montréal
- PWHL Toronto
Photo: John Mac. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.