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The Minnesota Frost and Boston Fleet faced each other in their final regular season game on Saturday, May 3, the final day of the PWHL regular season, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Both teams were playing for their playoff lives, as a win for either team meant elimination for the other. The Frost had their full lineup, as did the Fleet, who had Aerin Frankel and Loren Gabel back on their roster after they missed some time with injuries.
The goaltending matchup was between Nicole Hensley for the Frost and Frankel for the Fleet. However, Frankel was pulled in the first intermission, and Klára Peslarová came in to relieve her. The Frost jumped to an early lead in the first, continued to build on it in the second, and added two empty-netters in the third to take the 8-1 win. They secured their spot in the postseason for the second consecutive season, but also eliminated the Fleet with the win.
Game Recap
The Frost got things started under three minutes into the first period as Britta Curl-Salemme scored to give her team the early jump. Natalie Buchbinder tallied the lone assist. Less than a minute later, Lee Stecklein tallied a goal to make it 2-0. Liz Schepers and Grace Zumwinkle assisted her. The scoring stopped until late when Kendall Coyne-Schofield recorded a power-play goal to make it 3-0. Kelly Pannek recorded the lone assist, and the Frost took the lead into the second period.
The Fleet had some strong chances, but the Frost added to their goal total. Sophie Jaques scored to make it 4-0 for her team, and Zumwinkle and Brooke McQuigge assisted her. Curl-Salemme scored her second of the game just over eight minutes later and the second power play goal for the Frost to make it 5-0. Michela Cava and Taylor Heise assisted her. That was the final goal of the second period, and the Frost took another lead into the third.
The Fleet pulled their goalie for the first time with over 16 minutes to go to try and overcome the five-goal deficit. They had some chances, but the Frost’s Brooke McQuigge scored on the empty net to make it 6-0 with over half of the final period left. Zumwinkle assisted her with her third assist in the game. Jaques scored an empty-net, jail-break goal to make it 7-0 with less than five minutes to go in the third. The Fleet got their first of the game under 30 seconds later with a goal by Jessica Digirolamo, the first of her PWHL career, and made it 7-1, unassisted.
The game’s final goal came from the Frost’s Klara Hymlarova on the power play, and it was also the first of her PWHL career. Schepers and Jaques assisted her. The Frost took the 8-1 win, clinched their spot in the PWHL postseason for the second consecutive season, and will defend their Walter Cup Championship.
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