At the IIHF break, the Minnesota Frost find themselves on the outside of a playoff spot, trailing the Ottawa Charge by 1-point. The Frost have had a rollercoaster ride of a season that has seen some great highs (February 8^th, 4-0 win at Montréal) but also crushing lows (February 13^th, 8-3 Loss at Ottawa) in rapid succession of one another. With a record of 8-5-4-10 and a points percentage of 0.469, the Frost have lost more often than they’ve won, but luckily for them, that will not matter over the last playoff push because their schedule puts them in control of their own destiny.

               Minnesota’s successes this season have come from the depth in their line-up. In their forward group, the Frost have 6 players who have produced above the league average in Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise, Michela Cava, Britta Curl, Brooke McQuigge, and Dominique Petrie while Sophie Jacques and Claire Thompson have been among the league’s most effective from the blue line. This depth is tied for the most players scoring above league average with the Ottawa Charge, making the Frost a dangerous team if they can qualify for the playoffs (Where have we seen this story before?). Oddly, the biggest concern for the Frost is statistically in goal. After calculating GSAA (Goals Saved Above Average) for all PWHL goalies with 6 or more starts, Maddie Rooney has posted a -1.782 in 18 appearances, while Nicole Hensley has a PWHL-worst -6.344 in her 9 appearances this season. For comparison, last season Rooney and Hensley posted a 0.432 and 2.321 respectively, which translated to the magnificent run they were able to go on in the postseason. The Frost have shown in the past that their goaltending is more than capable of rising to the occasion, and with support from what is usually a defensively responsible group, the path to success is clear and will simply be a matter of execution.

               To qualify for the playoffs, the Frost simply need to take care of business over their last three games of the season. They have New York, Ottawa, and Boston, which are all winnable games for the Frost. Through 27 games, the Frost lead the league with 74 goals scored, and that’s not a fluke. Three strong performances in goal and on defense should be enough for this team to return to the postseason, where they will once again have a chance to make some noise due to their scoring depth.