The sellout crowd at Lowell’s Tsongas Center brought the energy and noise from well before puck drop, but at the end of the night, it was PWHL Minnesota celebrating the first Walter Cup championship after defeating Boston, 3-0, in Wednesday night’s decisive Game 5.
It was the kind of close, exciting game that this inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and first-ever Walter Cup Finals deserved, just with the wrong result for Boston, who had forced the Game 5 with a thrilling double overtime win in Game 4.
Much like Boston’s NHL team, PWHL Boston’s downfall wound up being its offense, which scored just two goals total over the final four games of this series. Minnesota goalie Nicole Hensley certainly deserves credit for her part in that, but too often – in Wednesday’s Game 5 and in the series as a whole – Boston couldn’t create enough quality chances to even test Hensley.
Both teams struggled to get inside for grade-A chances in the first period, with stingy defense carrying over from Game 4, and had to settle for mostly outside shots, hoping for deflections or rebounds. Minnesota landed nine shots on goal in the first, Boston seven.
Boston goalie Aerin Frankel, the Northeastern alum who was excellent all postseason, drew a “FRAN-KEL, FRAN-KEL” chant midway through the first as she held her ground during a Minnesota flurry around the crease, although it didn’t look like any of Minnesota’s whacks at the loose puck actually wound up on net.
Boston’s best chance of the first came off the rush late in the period, with Susanna Tapani sliding the puck across the crease off a tic-tac-toe passing play, but linemate Alina Muller’s stick was tied up at the back post and she couldn’t get a shot off.
Minnesota took control of the game in the second period, outshooting Boston 16-7 in the frame and taking a 1-0 lead at the 6:14 mark. After whiffing on her own shot attempt, Sydney Brodt got the puck back, waited out Frankel and sent a pass to the crease for Liz Schepers to tap into an empty net.
Minnesota kept the pressure on and threatened to extend their lead several times, including on a point-blank chance for Michela Cava late in the second, but Frankel made a couple big-time saves to keep Boston within one.
Minnesota’s dominance continued into the third, though, as they landed the first 15 shots on goal of the period and held Boston without one for over 13 minutes. They made it 2-0 at the 8:08 mark when they hemmed Boston in their own zone for over a minute and eventually capped off the shift with a Cava wraparound that pinballed off a Boston stick and over the line.
Boston was just never able to mount any sort of sustained attack, with a potential comeback slipping further and further out of reach every minute. Kendall Coyne Schofield sealed Minnesota's win with an empty-netter with 2:06 remaining.
"To be honest, I think we just ran out of steam," Boston coach Courtney Kessel said after the game.
When the night was over, Boston had been outshot 44-17, a disappointing dud to end an otherwise exciting inaugural season that finished one win short of a championship. The Tsongas crowd was clearly still appreciative of the home team, serenading them with chants of "FRAN-KEL, FRAN-KEL" and "THANK YOU, BOSTON" as they waited to go through the series-ending handshake line.
"Obviously, it's tough when you lose, especially Game 5 at home in front of our amazing fans," Boston captain Hilary Knight said after the game. "But we just came from the room and that's kind of all we were doing, is reflecting on how proud of our group we are, how we continued to persevere regardless of any odds that were thrown in our direction, how we fought. You know, this year was a historic year. It was tough. It was something that no player was ever used to.
"We built it, and we're extremely ecstatic about where it is right now, year one, and where our group is and how we continued to battle and fight for one another. And so, I think if anything, that reflection point is something that we can celebrate and take away from tonight, even though we did lose as our group, and how proud of one another we are in that room."