Back to back: Frost beat Charge in overtime to successfully defend Walter Cup crown

The Associated Press

· Posted: May 26, 2025 8:18 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

The Walter Cup is staying successful Minnesota and the defending champion Frost erstwhile again person Liz Schepers to recognition for scoring the championship-clinching extremity for a 2nd consecutive year.

All 4 games of the bid were decided by 2-1 scores, and each of them successful overtime, including the Frost's triple-OT triumph successful Game 3 connected Saturday.

Kelly Pannek scored astatine the 10:09 people of the 2nd period, giving Minnesota its archetypal pb successful regularisation of the series, and Maddie Rooney stopped 33 shots.

WATCH | Schepers' extremity helps Frost bushed Charge, triumph 2nd consecutive Walter Cup:

Katy Knoll acceptable up the victor by collecting the puck on the extremity boards and driving down the nett to provender Schepers successful the slot. Goaltender Gwyneth Philips parried the archetypal shot, but Schepers poked location the rebound.

Schepers, who is from Mound, Minn., and played collegiately astatine Ohio State, was 1 of 16 Frost players who returned from past year's title team, and this clip got the accidental to observe earlier their location crowd. Minnesota won the inaugural Walter Cup past twelvemonth with Schepers scoring the opening extremity of a 3-0 triumph astatine Boston successful Game 5.

And conscionable similar past year, the Frost won the rubric arsenic the fourth-seeded playoff team, and some times precocious to the finals aft knocking disconnected Toronto successful the semis.

WATCH | Frost skipper Kendall Coyne Schofield lifts the Walter Cup:

Minnesota sneaked into the playoffs this twelvemonth with an 8-1 triumph implicit Boston connected the last time of the regular season. The triumph led to Ottawa, Minnesota and Boston finishing with 44 points each with the Fleet eliminated based connected having less regularisation wins.

The Charge, Canada's archetypal squad to scope the finals, forced overtime connected Tereza Vanisova's extremity with 9:51 near successful the 3rd period. It was her archetypal extremity of the playoffs and ended an 11-game extremity drought.

WATCH | Charge's rookie goalie Philips claims Ilana Kloss Trophy:

Philips finished with 36 saves and was won the Ilana Kloss Trophy arsenic playoff MVP. The rookie finished the playoffs with a 4-4 record, with each 4 losses coming successful overtime. She finished with 148 saves successful overtime alone, portion allowing conscionable 13 goals connected 270 shots for a .952 prevention percent and 1.23 goals-against average.

The rookie from Ohio took implicit the starting duties aft Emerance Maschmeyer was sidelined by a lower-body wounded successful mid-March.

Both teams had their chances successful the other period.

Ottawa's Aneta Tejralova, connected a rush, deed the near station with a changeable astir 5 minutes into overtime and the Frost's Taylor Heise deed the close station astir 4 minutes later.