Ready for a repeat? Minnesota Frost look poised to challenge for another PWHL title

The Minnesota Frost are here to stay.

Last Tuesday was the halfway point of the team’s sophomore season, and they’re proving that last season’s title was just an indicator of where they’re headed next.

Through ups and downs, the Frost have settled themselves into second place in the league as they head into an international break for the U.S./Canada Rivalry Series. Minnesota will resume play Feb. 11 to kick off the second half of their season. Here’s how they’ve fared in their few months as Walter Cup defenders.

From a strictly numbers perspective, they’re keeping pace with last season’s start. Minnesota currently sits at 5-4-2-4 comparable to their 5-2-2-3 record at last season’s halfway mark.

But even with a similar-looking record, the Frost have been displaying some markedly different improvements in their play. . For one, their power play conversion percentage has jumped from 8.2 last season to 20.9 this year, second-best in the PWHL.

This new strength was on full display in their last game before the break, a shootout victory over Toronto that saw them convert two of five power play chances in a 4-3 victory.

Coach Ken Klee said earlier in the season that their improvements have been aimed at making sure that “we’re not a one-trick pony.”

“Making sure that … we can score on the power play, we have a good [penalty kill]. We have to be able to have all our lines contribute on different nights and we know it,” he said. “That’s how we were successful last year, our depth.”

And that depth has been on full display as some of the team’s stars kicked off the season’s scoring with a bang.

Three Frost players — Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise and rookie Claire Thompson — are tied for second place in the PWHL for points this season, with 14 apiece. Thompson also leads the PWHL with 11 assists.

“Claire is a phenomenal player,” said veteran Lee Stecklein. “She is a great offensive threat, but she is also just someone you trust with the puck in our own D zone on tough matchups.”

Thompson is one skater in a strong class of rookies who have played a big role in the Frost’s successful first half.

Other newcomer headliners include Britta Curl-Salemme and Dominique Petrie, who have sped out to make a dent in their first professional season. Petrie logged three points in her first four games before being sidelined with an upper-body injury, and Curl-Salemme has seven points.

On the other end of the ice, Maddie Rooney has again been stellar in goal — but that’s not new news. Chants of “Rooney!” have been heard almost as often as chants of “Minn-e-sot-a!” this season.

But it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. The Frost roster has battled injuries, illness and suspension these past couple months that have often left them without some of their most integral players. Heise, Sophie Jaques, Curl-Salemme and Nicole Hensley are just a few of the biggest names that have taken turns on the sideline this season.

Petrie and reigning rookie of the year Grace Zumwinkle are the last two currently out, both still on long-term injury reserve. Klee said neither will be ready before the end of the international break.

The second half will rarely find the team in Minnesota. Of 15 remaining regular-season games, the Frost will be out on the road for 10 of them — which, while bad news for Twin Cities fans, doesn’t necessarily bode poorly for the Frost. They were the last PWHL team to log a regulation road loss, with that milestone not coming until mid-January.

Their first game back from the break will be Feb. 11, and their first game back at the Xcel Energy Center will be Feb. 23rd — both against the Toronto Sceptres — as they continue their journey towards title defense.