PWHL Finals Game Five: Her-story Achieved
The first-ever Walter Cup Champions are crowned in an amazing and deciding Game Five of the PWHL Finals
It's been an amazing inaugural season of the Professional Women's Hockey League, and it came to a spectacular end on a Wednesday evening. Six teams fought for the honor of becoming the league's first-ever champions, and it came down to two teams: PWHL Boston and PWHL Minnesota. Game One went Boston's way, but Minnesota took Games Two and Three of the best-of-five Finals. Minnesota thought they had won the whole thing in double overtime of Game Four, but goalie interference prevented that. Boston would win just over a minute later, and as a result, the first-ever PWHL Finals came down to one final game.
The first period, unsurprisingly, saw no scoring, but Minnesota looked quite dominant in the opening frame. After that first period, I expected a repeat of Game Four, and by that, I meant that we would see a wild game go to overtime (possibly) scoreless. Minnesota's dominance continued in second period, as they had a plethora of shots towards Boston's Aerin Frankel. Frankel stopped them all, but she couldn't stop Liz Schepers from making it 1-0 for the road team. Schepers tipped in a pass from Sydney Brodt, who fanned on a shot attempt before getting the assist. With that goal, Minnesota scored first in every game in the Finals except for Game Four.
1-0 was the score in Minnesota's favor after 40 minutes. The final countdown appeared to be on once the third period started, as Minnesota was 20 minutes away from winning the whole thing. Now, you would think that Boston would be in urgency mode and getting all sorts of chances to tie the game. Normally, you would be right, but here's the thing: Boston couldn't muster two shots together in that third period. Minnesota continued to pelt shots and Frankel, and at 8:08, Michaela Cava's weird bounce went in, and it was 2-0. Even with over half of a period left, it felt like it was over. The goalie was pulled for the extra attacker, but at 17:54, the captain herself, the legendary Kendall Coyne-Schofield, iced it. How fitting!
With that goal, it was all over but the shouting, and when the clock reached all zeroes, Minnesota had that celebration that was taken from them three nights prior.
On Wednesday night, May 29, 2024, PWHL Minnesota won Game Five of the Finals, 3-0, to become the first-ever Walter Cup Champions. It was a hell of a road for the team; an up-and-down season that saw them finish fourth in the six-team league, and end up facing the top ranked Toronto team. They lost the first two Semifinal games, but took the next three to reach the Finals, which they won in five over Boston. One of the leaders for Minnesota was Taylor Heise, who was awarded the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP Trophy by the tennis legend herself, Ilana Kloss. Heise had eight points in the playoffs, with five of them being goals, and she assisted on Cava's third period goal in Game Five.
What can I say about Kendall Coyne-Schofield that hasn't been said already? She's a legend in women's hockey in the US. 2018 Gold Medalist, 2022 Silver Medalist, showed out on NHL All-Star Saturday a few years back, worked commentary on a number of NHL broadcasts, and she can add Walter Cup Champion to her list of accolades. KCS had only four points in this playoff run, but her last one was the empty netter that iced the championship for Minnesota. Michaela Cava also had eight points (four of each), and Sophie Jaques had five points (2 G/3 A). Liz Schepers had five points, but her fifth point is one she'll remember very well--the goal that clinched the Cup. Mellissa Channell had five points--all assists, including three in Game Five. As for the goaltending, Nicole Hensley and Maddie Rooney each had three wins, though Hensley had two shutouts in the Finals.
This was absolutey epic! Watching that celebration reminded me of 2018, when I watched our women's team bring the Gold Medal to the U.S. in the Olympics. That was my first time watching women's hockey, because I knew the women would actually show out and succeed, and that's what happened. It's still happening, and it's growing big time with this awesome league. I predict that this league will double in size withing the next three years; there has to be a demand for more teams. I can definitely see six more teams added. Los Angeles and Chicago will inevitably get teams. I can see DC and probably Detroit with teams, and maybe Vancouver and Denver get involved as well. It will be interesting to see what develops in the PWHL, but for now, a major congratulations to PWHL Minnesota for winning the state's first pro hockey championship, and the state's first pro sports championship since the WNBA's Lynx won their most recent championship in 2017!
About the Creator
Clyde E. Dawkins
I'm a big sports fan, especially hockey, and I've been a fan of villainesses since I was eight! My favorite shows are The Simpsons and Family Guy, etc.
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Comments (3)
What an exciting conclusion to the Finals! I hope your prediction for the league to expand and for fans to support additional teams comes about.
I'm feeling incredibly hopeful after reading this. Thank you once again for being an advocate for sports.
I appreciate your work.