Walter will be in town on Memorial Day.
The Frost are on a first-name basis with the PWHL championship trophy after winning it — the Walter Cup — last year in the league’s inaugural season. They quickly grew attached to it, calling the union a match made it heaven.
Saturday at Xcel Energy Center, the Frost entered Game 3 of the best-of-five PWHL Finals knowing that a win over the Ottawa Charge would leave them just one win away from making Walter theirs to have and to hold for another year.
It took them longer than they could have imagined, but Minnesota fought its way to a 2-1 win in triple overtime on Saturday. Katy Knoll got the winner at 9:57 of the third extra period, spinning around to bang in a rebound in the slot.
With Game 4 set for 4 p.m. on Monday at Xcel, the Frost can claim their second straight PWHL title on home ice with a victory. Should a Game 5 prove necessary it will be played in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Goals continue to be at a premium in the series, with each of the three games being decided by a 2-1 score in overtime.
The Frost held Ottawa without a shot on goal through the first 11:37 of the game. But the Charge’s first shot found the back of the net, giving them a 1-0 lead.
A scramble around the Frost net saw the puck bounce off the top of the net and onto the stick of Charge winger Emily Clark just off the edge of the crease. Clark fired a wrist shot past Frost goaltender Maddie Rooney for her third goal of the postseason.
The Frost, who had the only power play of the period, outshot the Charge 10-2 in the first 20 minutes of play.
The Frost pulled even at 2:58 of the second period on a goal by Lee Stecklein. With Knoll helping to create a screen in front of the net, Stecklein beat Ottawa goaltender Gwyneth Philips on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line for her fourth goal of the postseason.
With the game still tied 1-1, the Frost went on a power play at 6:32 of the third when Ottawa’s Jocelyne Larocque was sent off for roughing. The Frost came up empty despite having three great scoring opportunities.
Philips slid across the crease to smother a one-timer by Grace Zumwinkle from the left-wing circle early in the power play. Seconds later, the Frost’s Claire Thompson was looking at an open net when she gathered a rebound, but a Charge defender got her stick on the shot to deflect the puck over the net.
Taylor Heise hit the post on a wrist shot before the penalty expired.
Both goaltenders were called on to make big stops in overtime. A few by Philips were of the acrobatic variety. She had little chance on Knoll’s game winner.
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