PWHL Minnesota rides Grace Zumwinkle's hat trick, Maddie Rooney's 24 saves to shutout victory in front of record-setting 13,316 fans

Late Saturday afternoon, Grace Zumwinkle found herself at a loss for words. The former Gophers hockey star had just netted a hat trick in the first Professional Women's Hockey League game in her home state, propelling Minnesota to a 3-0 shutout of Montreal before an announced crowd of 13,316 at Xcel Energy Center.

It was all so overwhelming that Zumwinkle couldn't find a word perfect enough to describe the day. Then, after a little more thought, the Excelsior native settled on one.

"Pride," she said. "Especially being from the state of Minnesota. I think a lot of us that are from here just felt that the whole day."

For fans, Minnesota's PWHL home opener conjured all kinds of adjectives. Start with historic, as it broke the record for the largest-ever attendance at a women's pro hockey game. It was exhilarating, too, as thousands of loud, joyous fans celebrated a major leap forward for the women's game.

Minnesota overcame some early jitters to move to 2-0 on the season, becoming the first PWHL team to win its home opener. Zumwinkle scored the first home-ice goal in franchise history at 17 minutes, 21 seconds of the first period, then added two more in the third period for the first-ever hat trick in PWHL play.

Goaltender Maddie Rooney, an Andover native who played at Minnesota Duluth, made 24 saves in a rock-steady performance to earn the shutout. Montreal outshot Minnesota 24-22 but went 0-for-3 on the power play and committed four penalties in the third period to spoil any chance at a rally.

The attendance smashed the previous record of 8,318, set Tuesday when Montreal played at Ottawa.

The pride extended to the stands. The arena was full of dads and daughters, moms and sons, women who never got the chance to play hockey and little girls who can now dream of going pro. They cheered from beginning to end, greeting the new league with full hearts and loud voices.

That was not lost on the players, who were determined to make the day memorable in more ways than one.

"That was electric," Rooney said. "It was just such a fun environment.

"It's great for the sport. To have us play in this huge arena and have the younger generations in the stands, being able to look out on the ice and be like, 'I want to be like her someday.' That is so big for our sport."

Ticket demand was so high for the opener that team officials began selling seats in the club level on Friday, then made upper-deck seats available on Saturday morning. Though the doors didn't open until 1:30, more than 100 people were lined up in the lobby at 1 p.m., waiting to get in.

A lucky few wore Minnesota jerseys. Others improvised with sweatshirts or T-shirts in the team's purple and white colors. During warmups, kids gathered along the glass with signs that declared, "Making Herstory" and "We Play Like Girls. Try To Keep Up."

Several players said Friday they would allow themselves to soak in the atmosphere, knowing they would want to remember this landmark day. But they also understood they would have to set that aside quickly.

It didn't happen quickly enough for coach Ken Klee's taste, as Montreal outshot Minnesota 5-1 in the first seven minutes.

"We looked nervous," Klee said. "I kept saying, 'Hey, take it easy. Relax. I get it, there's a big crowd, but there's a hockey game going on.' Our start was a little rough, then we really seemed to find our game."

Zumwinkle, who scored the game-winner in Wednesday's 3-2 victory at Boston, gave Minnesota the lead with 2:39 left in the first period. She picked up Susanna Tapani's pass in the left circle, and her backhanded shot glanced off Montreal goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens and into the goal.

Minnesota's attack was slowed by three penalties in the second period. That gave Rooney, who helped bring the U.S. the Olympic gold medal in 2018, a chance to shine.

On Montreal's third power play, Rooney blocked a point-blank shot by Maureen Murphy. When Murphy got another chance from the bottom of the left circle, Rooney snared the puck out of the air.

Zumwinkle made it 2-0 at 1:47 of the third period with a shot from the center point. Montreal pulled Desbiens with more than three minutes remaining, and Zumwinkle fired the puck down the ice for an empty-netter to complete the hat trick with 2:47 left in the game.

Most of the crowd had stayed, and many hurled their caps to the Xcel ice to salute Zumwinkle. They rose to their feet for the final seconds to let loose another roar. Even the Montreal coach, Kori Cheverie, said it was "great to see" so many fans, even if the volume didn't favor her team.

Unlike Zumwinkle, Klee didn't have any trouble finding the words to describe the day.

"It was phenomenal,'' he said. "[The players] deserve this."