Wednesday night had a marquee matchup between two of the last remaining PWHL teams that have yet to lose a game in overtime. The exciting PWHL Minnesota team visited upstart PWHL Ottawa, and both teams treated us to another exciting contest. Minnesota’s resolve was tested early by ending up 2 goals behind the home team, but the core group from the State of Hockey rallied back to collect a 3-2 win in overtime.

               Savannah Harmon got the scoring started just under 4 minutes into the opening period on assists from Emily Clark and Gabbie Hughes (Harmon and Hughes both started 2 game point streaks on this goal. 7 minutes later, on the power play, Lexie Adzija scored her first of the year from Roese and Mrazova. Emily Clark would take a minor penalty in the opening minutes of the 2^nd period, and Susanna Tapani would make Ottawa pay for it less than twenty seconds later. Taylor Heise and Lee Stecklein assisted on the goal, continuing their torrid starts to the season. 8 minutes later, Grace Zumwinkle would score a shorthanded goal to jailbreak Tapani from the penalty box, bringing herself to 5 goals on the season. The 3^rd period saw PWHL Ottawa fight back to take back their lead, but Nicole Hensley was phenomenal, and continued both team’s point streaks by sending the game to overtime. Two minutes into the overtime period, Zumwinkle wired a spectacular pass across the offensive zone to Tapani, and Tapani beat Emerance Maschmeyer high glove to put this game to rest.

               Overall, PWHL Minnesota has established themselves as the strongest team in the league. Zumwinkle and Heise have more than staked their claim to be prevalent names in the next era of women’s hockey through the infancy of the PWHL, and Susanna Tapani has made it clear that her era in this sport is nowhere near over. Hensley has been great in all her contests for Minnesota so far, and alongside Maddie Rooney, Minnesota has a fantastic duo in net. For Ottawa, the first home loss is out of the way, but there’s no reason to be disappointed as Hughes, Harmon, and Mrazova continue to impress in Canada’s capital. I eagerly anticipate what’s next for both of these teams.