Minnesota Frost ready to defend championship in sophomore season
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The Minnesota Professional Women’s Hockey League Team is back on the ice with a new team name, new uniforms and a returning roster ready to defend their league championship. They acknowledge the PWHL may be catching up to them talent-wise.
At their first practice at TRIA Rink Thursday, Minnesota Frost players sported practice jerseys with a purple ‘F’ resembling an icicle on the front and “Minnesota Frost” decals on their helmets.
“To come in here and to have an identity, not only for our room, but for our fans, for our city, for our state, it’s very exciting,” said forward Kendall Coyne Schofield. “It was fun to say ’Frost’ for the first time as a collective unit together on the ice. It felt strong. It felt exciting. And I think we look pretty good, too.”
The Frost will start the season strong with 18 returning players. To win the championship, Minnesota defeated Boston 3-2 in the final game in the best of five series.
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But that high note was quickly followed by controversy. Minnesota hockey legend Natalie Darwitz, the team’s general manager for the first season, was fired. Why was not made public, but many fans were not happy about the move.
Coach Ken Klee declined to say much about the upheaval.
“In pro hockey, things happen,” Klee said. “It’s some unfortunate things and some things out of our control. So we’re just really, we’re looking forward, excited to get the season going.
The Frost have to pare the roster from 28 to 23 players by Nov. 27. Three extra players can be signed to reserve contracts.
The team is expecting another big year in terms of fan support. This summer, in a tradition men in the NHL follow with the Stanley Cup, the women brought the championship trophy, Walter Cup around the world, showing up at just about every event in Minnesota they could think of.
“I said, if someone hadn’t seen it, they just were not in the right place, because we brought it literally anywhere and everywhere,” said Taylor Heise, a forward for the Frost. She said they even spent hours lugging the cup around the Minnesota State Fair.
“We were very accessible this summer and I think a lot of fans really enjoyed that,” Heise said. “You want to keep people engaged.”
General Manager Melissa Caruso said ticket sales are already doing well.
“I’ve been told that we’ve doubled our season ticket member base in the offseason, which I think is really exciting,” Caruso said. “Hopefully our fans can keep the momentum going forward and show up to support us at the [Xcel Energy Center]."
Forward Michela Cava said she knows defending a championship in a league of six evenly matched teams will be hard, especially as other teams made changes.
“I just feel like we kind of will have a chip on our shoulder, knowing teams are going to want to get a little bit of revenge on us from last year,” she said. “So I think it’s good for us to be able to have that under our belt. It’s going to be a lot of fun just to go out there and show everybody that we're back and we're hungry for another championship.”
The Frost head to Canada next week for mini camps and scrimmages with Toronto and New York. Minnesota will open its regular season at home on Dec. 1 against the New York Sirens.