Minnesota Frost eager to defend PWHL title after eventful summer with trophy
'Everyone's going to look at us a specific way,' says top forward Taylor Heise
Taylor Heise and her Minnesota Frost teammates had the time of their lives celebrating the inaugural Professional Women's Hockey League championship throughout the summer, taking the Walter Cup with them wherever they could.
"If someone hasn't seen it," Heise said, "they just weren't in the right place."
One of those outings was to the Minnesota State Fair, where the sterling silver trophy posed for pictures, saw the sights and even served as a receptacle for serving the group a margarita during a four-hour tour on an August afternoon.
"I had scrapes up and down my arm," Heise said, flashing a mischievous smile: "That was my off-season lifting."'
Goalie Nicole Hensley took the Cup back to her native Colorado, including a visit to her favourite concert venue, the venerable Red Rocks amphitheatre. Shipping from player to player was meticulously arranged via UPS so everyone had a turn.
"It was pretty cool," Hensley said. "Door-to-door service."
The entire team has more to carry when the PHWL's second season begins on Nov. 30, with new logos and nicknames for every club after branding was largely skipped over in the hasty launch a year ago. Winning a title breeds fiercer competition, particularly in a six-team league with so much familiarity between players from their college and international careers.
"We have a spot on our back," said Heise, who led the team with five goals in 10 playoff games. "Everyone's going to look at us a specific way."
There's been no shortage of attention for this team.
WATCH | PWHL champion Heise shares Walter Cup stories with Hockey North:
Melissa Caruso new GM
One week after the dramatic win over Boston in the finals last spring, Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz, an icon for women's hockey in this hockey-rich state, was removed from her post by the PHWL.
She was later replaced by Melissa Caruso. Ken Klee, who took over on the fly when the initial hire Charlie Burggraf resigned a week before the season began, was retained as head coach.
The Athletic, citing unnamed sources within the league, reported there was a rift between Darwitz and Klee and thus between certain players who were supporters of each.
"For me it's just about getting our group back together," Klee said on Thursday after practice. "We're focusing on the future. Pro hockey things happen, some unfortunate things and some things out of our control, and we're just really looking forward and excited to get the season going."
Neither PHWL officials nor Frost leaders or players have been willing to speak publicly about the situation.
"Those were league decisions," said Frost forward Kendall Coyne Schofield, who was second on the team in scoring last season. "We're here to play hockey."
Whatever issues might've bubbled up in the aftermath of the championship were either non-existent or tamped down in the leadup to the title.
"We had an unbelievable locker room. We had an unbelievable group, an unbelievable staff," Klee said. "If we didn't have those things, we wouldn't have won."
The PWHL is a centralized league that owns all six franchises and is financed by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, with an eye on expansion for 2025-26. The Frost have relished the opportunity to lean into their new name and wear the new threads featuring several shades of purple and the "F" logo with icicle-like points on the lettering.
"Last year was a lot about building our league, building up our fan base, having all the little girls have the best time," Heise said. "Now I think we can focus on that as well as focus on the ice and everything that we can do there. We want to bring a better team out every single time we come out there."
Duggan joins PWHL hockey operations
On Friday, the league named 2018 Olympic champion Meghan Duggan special consultant to hockey operations.
An 11-time world medallist with the United States, Duggan is director of player development for the NHL's New Jersey Devils.
"The PWHL in general, and our hockey ops department in particular, will benefit tremendously from Meghan's experience and insight," PWHL senior vice-president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said in a statement.
"Meghan is a long-time advocate for women's hockey, a proven leader and an accomplished executive at the top levels of sport.
"As we continue to prioritize advancement and innovation in our game, Meghan will draw on her competitiveness, character, and a long list of hockey achievements to help move our league forward."
Duggan, a three-time Olympian, coached Team Kloss for the PWHL's 3-on-3 Showcase during last year's NHL all-star weekend in Toronto. The Danvers, Mass., native joined the Devils in May 2021 as manager of player development. She elevated to her current role in May 2022.
"The opportunity to join the PWHL to continue to impact and help push the women's game forward is one that I am very excited about," said Duggan. "This league and its players have just scratched the surface in terms of what they are capable of and I look forward to advising and assisting in any way that I can."
During her university playing career, Duggan led the Wisconsin Badgers to three national championships and won the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as top player in NCAA Division 1 women's hockey.
She was later inducted into the school's athletic Hall of Fame before turning professional and playing for Boston Blades of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. Duggan won two Clarkson Cups in four seasons before spending two years between the Premier Hockey Federation's Buffalo Beauts and Boston Pride.
