Neal: Minnesota Frost roommates Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson bolster the defense

Frost players Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson are living just outside St. Paul in a place belonging to former Gophers star Hannah Brandt, who currently plays for the Boston Fleet.

“It’s been great so far,” Thompson said. “The apartment is super nice. It’s convenient to where we have to go.”

It’s not uncommon for athletes to live in homes owned by other athletes who are playing elsewhere in the country. In this case, there couldn’t have been a better pairing of roommates who became good friends.

Jaques and Thompson are both from Toronto and knew each other as they moved up the youth hockey ranks. They both are part of that dreaded Team Canada but are able to put aside their rivalry with Team USA and join forces with Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise, Lee Stecklein and the other top Americans on the team.

Jaques and Thompson both are offensive-minded defenders, providing scoring from the blue line while giving Frost coach Ken Klee options for the power play. Jaques tied as the highest-scoring defender in the league, accumulating 22 points on seven goals and 15 assists — despite missing five games because of injury. Thompson had 18 points on four goals and 14 assists — impressive for a PWHL rookie. Jaques was tied for third in assists. Thompson was tied for sixth.

And both are back home this week as the Frost, the defending Walter Cup champions, play at Toronto. Montreal enters as the top seed and had the right to choose its first-round opponent, but the Victoire declined to face the fourth-seeded Frost and opted for Ottawa, seeded third.

“For me, personally, I was excited to come back to Toronto so I can have some more friends and family at the game,” Jaques said. “And it’s always fun getting to go home.”

Jaques’ youth hockey career was spent with the Thompsons. She played for Claire’s father, Ian, and was good friends with Claire’s sister Gillian. Claire Thompson, two years older than Jaques, saw plenty of her.

“She was around my house along with my sister, and then watching my sister’s games and stuff when they were on the same team all those years,” Thompson said. “I knew Sophie just a little bit growing up.”

The two Canadians decided to move in together this season. It’s the first time they have played on the same team. And they have become closer.

“I think we’re great friends off the ice, as we are with a lot of our other teammates,” Thompson said. “So it’s nice to just be able to build relationships outside the rink with the fantastic people we have in the locker room.”

Both also were not with the Frost at the start of the inaugural 2023-24 season. Jaques was part of the first trade in league history when she came over from Boston in exchange for forward Susanna Tapani and defender Abby Cook. Jaques had no points through seven games with Boston but flourished with Minnesota.

Thompson opted for medical school following college. But, as the 2026 Olympics in Italy approach, the future doctor has put school on pause to play hockey for a couple of years. The Frost selected her with the third overall pick of the 2024 draft and are comfortable with her returning to school when she decides to.

“Being able to acquire an offensive ‘D’ [in Jaques] was an area we thought we could use,” Klee said. “When we looked at the draft this year, we looked at best available player, and it was Claire Thompson for us.”

The Frost had to win their final two regular-season games to qualify for the playoffs. But they enter with the first- and third-highest scoring defenders in the league. They scored a league-high 85 goals as a team during the regular season, with much help from Jaques and Thompson. As Jaques has recovered from injury, so has the rest of the team, and the Frost feel the league hasn’t seen their best yet.

“I think our last two games really showed that we are prepared to do that,” Jaques said.

So, yeah. If I’m looking at scouting reports on the high-scoring Frost — and I notice that they are healthy, and that Jaques and Thompson are threats at even strength and the power play — I might opt to play Ottawa too.