Seeded fourth for PWHL playoffs, the Minnesota Frost are still a team others want to avoid

In an attempt to innovate, the young Professional Women’s Hockey League allows the top-seeded team in its four-team playoffs to choose its first-round opponent.

A year ago, Toronto chose a fourth-seeded Minnesota team that had lost its final five regular-season games, and Toronto lost in five games.

This time around, top-seeded Montreal bypassed the fourth-seeded team now called the Frost and chose to play third-seeded Ottawa instead.

The league’s defending Walter Cup champion Frost won truly must-win games last week at Ottawa 3-0 and at Boston 8-1 to end the regular season.

The decision to give the regular-season champs the choice of opponent was intended to get fans talking and perhaps provide opponents bulletin-board material.

The Frost start at Toronto on Wednesday and Friday before coming home for Game 3 on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center.

“I love that the league is continuously trying to be innovative, to find new ways to engage new fans,” Montreal coach Kori Cheverie said. “For us to make a decision either way, whether No. 4 or No. 3 — every team should be internally motivated in their locker room. If you want to win the Walter Cup, you have to go through a hard road to get there. It’s even harder this year.”

The Frost refused to wilt when they faced playoff series’ fifth games twice last season and two regular-season ending games last week, when they needed regulation-time wins to advance.

Frost coach Ken Klee called his team’s resilience testimony that “just shows how great our players are.”

Their roster is filled young and old with Olympic, world and collegiate champions, two starting-caliber goaltenders in gold-medal winner Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley as well as eight Minnesotans.

“It’s a great feeling when you look down the bench and see the depth of our roster,” said Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, a three-time Olympian herself and 2018 gold medalist. “Regardless of what people have accomplished prior to being on the Frost, it’s the belief in the room. It’s the belief in our depth that we have what it takes to accomplish our goal.”

The Frost used their talent and depth to outlast both Toronto and Boston in playoff series last season after they reached the playoffs carrying no momentum whatsoever. They persevered in long playoff series that are new to women’s hockey.

“Last season was the first time any of these players have been in a five-game setting,” Klee said. “A lot of them have played elimination games, gold-medal games, Olympic gold-medal games, where it’s just kind of one-and-done, which are stressful situations.

“But going through the same matchup night after night, seeing the same team, it’s a grind. It’s what makes the playoffs so great. It makes what winning a championship so great.”

Toronto chose to play the Frost in the first round last season, a logical decision that still didn’t work out. This season, the two teams play again because of Montreal’s choice to play Ottawa instead of the pressure-tested Frost.

This time, Toronto has memories of momentum and playoff series lost. It won the series’ first two games at home, then lost the next three.

It was the start of a new league and new rivalries following those already established by players from both PWHL teams, many of whom compete against each other already in U.S.-Canada international competitions.

American players are not long back from beating Canada in the IIHF Women’s World Championships in Czechia last month.

“Losing to Minnesota in five games is part of what motivated me and makes me even more excited to get this series started,” said Toronto forward Blayre Turnbull, a two-time Olympian and 2022 gold-medal winner. “For those of us were might use it as motivation, there’s a group of players who have never experienced what it’s like to lose in the playoffs.”

Coyne Schofield well knows what it’s liked to win with defeat so close, as well.

“That’s why you play the games,” she said. “We needed to win two games in regulation to get where we are today, and we did that. I think back to last year and how hard it is to win a five-game series.

“To do it twice, that for me was unique in itself. We can’t look past Game 1. It’s going to be an exciting atmosphere, an electric atmosphere and we’re looking forward to it.”

6 p.m., Wednesday at the Coca Cola Coliseum

TV: Broadcast on Fan Duel Sports Network North, streamed live on PWHL’s YouTube channel and Prime Video.

This best-of-five, first-round PWHL playoff series is a rematch of last season’s first-round series. Top-seeded Toronto chose fourth-seeded Minnesota last year as its first-round opponent and lost in five games after winning the first two in Toronto. The Frost advanced to beat Boston in five Finals games, winning 3-0 in Game 5 on the road. ... It’s a 2-2-1 format, the first two games at Toronto, next two in St. Paul and a Game 5 back in Toronto. Games 4 and 5 are if needed. …The Frost won the season series over Toronto 11-7 in points, with a head-to-head 2-2-1-1 record.