While Sophie Jaques was welcomed with open arms when she came to Minnesota in the middle of last season, the Frost defender did find one immediate challenge in sharing a team with star forward Taylor Heise. They had to share a nickname.
In 2022, Heise had won the Patty Kazmaier Award while playing for the Minnesota Gophers. A year later, Jaques won the trophy, given annually to the top player in women’s college hockey, while winning the NCAA title for Ohio State.
Heise was already being playfully referred to as “Patty” by her teammates when Jaques entered the chat. Never mind the fact that Frost forward Kendall Coyne-Schofield had also won the Kazmaier, in 2016 when she played at Northeastern.
So, the Frost roster was suddenly crowded with Pattys. With the Frost winning games, and both Heise and Jaques making key contributions, their teammates say they can work out a nickname sharing agreement.
“I think they both can have it at that point,” Frost forward Michaela Cava said. “They’re both incredible hockey players, and they can share it. They can both be Patty, they’re so good and so fun to watch.”
The Frost are back in action Wednesday, looking to close out their five-game, first-round playoff series against Toronto at Xcel Energy Center. Puck drop is set for 6 p.m.
With two goals and two assists in the Frost’s first three playoff games, Jaques is showing off some of the skills that made her a star as a Buckeye, controlling the play from the blue line, playing smart defense, and unleashing a scary-hard shot from time to time.
While she comes across as soft-spoken off the ice, Heise said in the locker room, on the bench and on the ice, Jaques’ teammates see a strong player who is known above all for her confidence.
“Hers is unwavering, truly. Say she gets her pocket picked once, she’s going to get (the puck) back. She’s going to skate it all the way down the ice, and she’s going to deke around a defender,” Heise said. “She has what we call sometimes a magnet. The puck sticks on her stick like no one else’s. She’s got great stickhandling skills, she can skate it up the ice. Plus, she can see the play.”
Starting her pro career in Boston, where she played in seven games without recording a point, Jaques, 24, was the centerpiece of the first trade in PWHL history when Minnesota acquired her one-third of the way through the 2023-24 season. She put up good numbers after the trade and was an important defensive player in Minnesota’s run to the 2024 league title.
She acknowledged, however, that switching time zones and teams midseason presented some challenges, and Jaques’ offensive numbers more than doubled — team-high 15 assists, seven goals in 25 regular-season games — in her first full season with the Frost.
“Last year, she really came on once she got here. Her game picked up. Her confidence level picked up. She kind of got back to where she was before,” Frost coach Ken Klee said. “And then she’s just continuing. You look at the points she put up this year. She’s still trying to take pride in her own zone and being an offensive threat when she can.”
Originally from Toronto, Jaques has gotten to face her hometown team two consecutive years in the opening round of the playoffs. While she relishes the chance to play near where she learned the game, Jaques admitted that with the Sceptres playing well, tickets are harder and harder to come by for all of the family and friends who turn out when the Frost visit.
“It’s good to see how the team has grown in Toronto, but I’m happy to still get a good group out to our games,” she said.
And with the Frost ending the regular season with must-win games in Ottawa and Boston, then traveling right to Toronto for the first two playoff games, playing close to home also meant playing close to her parents’ washer and dryer — a bonus.
“We had been on the road for about eight days, and then we still had about seven games left. So it made sense to get a load of laundry in, for sure,” Jaques said.
Sophie Jaques #16 of the Minnesota Frost skates against Kristin O’Neill #43 of the Montreal Victoire during the second period at Place Bell on Jan. 17, 2025 in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Victoire defeated the Minnesota Frost 4-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
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