Frost captain and ‘MVP’ Kendall Coyne Schofield leads Minnesota back to Walter Cup Finals

Whether in regulation or overtime, Minnesota Frost coach Ken Klee knew one thing about a potentially clinching Game 4 of the first-round playoff series at Xcel Energy Center last Wednesday:

His captain and arguably best player Kendall Coyne Schofield wasn’t going to let her team rise at 5 the next morning to return to Toronto for a deciding Game 5.

“I think she was just like, ‘This isn’t happening. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we close it out here,’” Klee said.

At stake was a place in the Walter Cup Finals for a second consecutive season, as well as four extra days at home for a road-weary team that now opens Tuesday at Ottawa in the best-of-five finals.

It’s a meeting of the league’s third and fourth seeds now that Montreal and Toronto were eliminated.

Coyne Schofield is the smallest (5-2) and fastest player on the ice. Come Sunday, she’ll turn 33 and will remain the oldest, too.

Coyne Schofield scored twice Wednesday, mucking it up at goal’s edge with deflections and a backhanded rebound, until teammate Taylor Heise scored the winning goal 16 minutes into overtime.

“She has been lights out; to me she has been our MVP all year,” Klee said. “Our coaches have talked about it. In our mind there’s no doubt she has been excellent all year and in the playoffs.”

A three-time Olympian from Chicago’s suburbs, Coyne Schofield had two goals and two assists in that first-round playoff series. That was after 12 goals and 12 assists in 30 regular-season games, when she proved herself still fast and physical.

“She’s elite,” Klee said. “She has been driven her whole career, told she’s too small and not good enough or not from the right state or the right area. I just think she has that chip and it serves her well.”

The 3-1 series victory allowed Coyne Schofield time at home for the important things with young son Drew and husband Michael.

“I went to the grocery store,” she said. “I wasn’t going to go if we weren’t going to be home.”

Coyne Schofield and nine other Frost teammates were gone for three weeks in April to play for their national teams in the IIHF World Championship in Czechia. They were gone again for almost two more weeks at regular season’s end and the start of their playoff series against Toronto.

Now her team is traveling again, having left Sunday for the finals first two games on Tuesday and Thursday. They return for afternoon games Saturday and Monday (if needed).

“That was the case for all of us,” Coyne Schofield said. “We’ve been on the road a lot this year, knowing what was at stake with another extended road trip if we were to go to a Game 5. Everyone had their own reasons for wanting to win. Obviously ending the series, but also getting a few extra days at home. I think everyone needed it mentally and physically to reset and recharge.”

Heise weeded and mowed her lawn – saying, “Those are two important things to me” – and cooked, baked and cleaned her house. Like Coyne Schofield, she, too, grocery shopped.

Heise also came down from the high of scoring Game 4’s winning goal, a snapped shot coming across high above both circles that eluded traffic low and left, into the net.

The celebration that spread across the ice was relief more than anything for time off earned.

“I know Kendall got to be with Drew; she does a great job balancing the two,” Heise said. “Obviously it can be overwhelming. It has been really hard the last couple months. I know she doesn’t want to miss any more time with him.

“We need to show how we can help her in any way possible. We’re excited we were able to do this for her. The two things we wanted for her was to be home with Drew and we wanted not to leave at 5 in morning.”

Both missions accomplished for Coyne Schofield, one of the founding forces of a PWHL that debuted with six teams last season and will add Vancouver and Seattle next season. It has been dramatically competitive, both in determining the four playoff teams and in the playoffs, where Montreal beat Ottawa in a four-overtime game.

“I think it was inevitable,” said Coyne Schofield, whose phone call to legend Billie Jean King years ago helped get the league rolling. “We had an incredible Year One and I think it’s only going to get better and better. I said that last year and I meant it.”

When asked if she knows how much longer she will play, she answers, “I don’t.”

“She can play as long as she wants to play, as long as she’s loving it and enjoying her time doing it,” Klee said. “To me, she’s not close to being done, but it’s different for all these players on life things and family and all those things. Those are decisions she and Michael will make.”

Until then, she will play at that elite level Klee sees no signs of diminishing.

“At the end of the day, I just show up and put in the work it takes,” Coyne Schofield said. “Work on the ice, work off the ice and do what’s asked of me. That’s all I can do.”

Game 1 of Walter Cup Finals (best-of-five series)

6 p.m., Tuesday at TD Place

TV: Fan Duel Sports Network North. Streamed: PWHL’s YouTube channel.

This is a matchup for the second consecutive season of two lower-seeded teams meeting in the finals. The Ottawa Charge were seeded third overall, the Frost fourth. Ottawa secured home-ice advantage for the finals by defeating top-seeded Montreal 3-1 while the fourth-seeded Frost beat Toronto 3-1. Game 2 is Thursday in Ottawa while Games 3 and 4 (if needed) come to Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Saturday and Monday afternoons. Game 5 would be May 28 back in Ottawa. The Frost won last season’s inaugural Walter Cup by winning three consecutive games, including the fifth and final elimination game, after they lost the first two in Boston.