Tuesday, May 20, 2025 | 7:00 p.m. ET | The Arena at TD Place
WATCH LIVE: TSN 4/5, TSN.ca, TSN App, FanDuel Sports Network North, PWHL YouTube & thepwhl.com (U.S. / International), more below.
Kenzie Lalonde (Play-by-Play), Cheryl Pounder (Analyst), Rob Pizzo (Reporter), Daniella Ponticelli (Panel Host), Becky Kellar (Panel Analyst), Alexis Pearson (Panel Analyst);
FR: RDS 2, RDS.ca, RDS App with Claudine Douville (Play-by-Play), Isabelle Leclaire (Analyst), Catherine Savoie (Reporter), Andrée-Anne Barbeau (Studio Host), Karell Émard (Studio Analyst)
MINNESOTA FROST
Regular Season: 10-5-4-11 | 44 PTS | 4TH PLACE
Season Series: Taylor Heise – 6 GP, 1-5-6 PTS
Playoffs Top Scorer: Taylor Heise – 4 GP, 1-6-7 PTS
OTTAWA CHARGE
Regular Season: 12-2-4-12 | 44 PTS | 3RD PLACE
Season Series: 6 GP, Vanišová (4-1-5) & Hughes (2-3-5)
Playoffs Top Scorers: 4 GP, Jenner (2-1-3) & Clark (1-2-3)
2025 PWHL FINALS SCHEDULE:
Game 1 – May 20 at OTT | Game 2 – May 22 at OTT | Game 3 – May 24 at MIN | Game 4 – May 26 at MIN | Game 5 – May 28 at OTT
2024-25 SEASON SERIES: SERIES TIED 9-9 IN POINTS (MINNESOTA WON 10-5 IN 2024)
Ottawa Home Games: Feb. 13: 8-3 OTT | Mar. 11: 3-2 OTT: Apr. 30: 3-0 MIN
Minnesota Home Games: Dec. 19: 5-2 MIN | Jan. 21: 1-0 OTT | Mar. 7 at RALEIGH: 5-0 MIN
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Frost and Charge both ended the regular season with the same numbers of points (44) and split their season series with three regulation wins apiece. The Charge set their franchise high with eight goals scored against Minnesota on Feb. 13, while the Frost had their franchise’s largest shutout win against Ottawa on Mar. 7 (5-0).
Minnesota has never won Game 1 of a playoff series, going 0-3 so far across two seasons with each series-opening game played on the road. Ottawa opened their first-ever playoff series on the road with a 3-2 win in Montréal.
The Frost scored at least four goals in each of their three wins during the semifinals against the Sceptres. Minnesota has scored four or more goals in 12 games this season (regular and postseason), four more than any other PWHL team (Toronto is second with eight).
Taylor Heise, the PWHL’s Second Star of the Week, leads the playoffs with seven points (1G, 6A) this year, after tying for the lead with eight points (5G, 3A) last year (tied Michela Cava (4G, 4A)). Heise, the reigning Playoff MVP, is averaging over a point per game in her playoff career (15 in 14 games, 1.07 per game), best in PWHL history, compared to 0.73 per game in her regular-season career (35/48).
Heise (1G, 6A) and Sophie Jaques (2G, 4A) have recorded three straight multi-point games, while Cava (3G, 2A), Mellissa Channell-Watkins (1G, 3A) and Kelly Pannek (1G, 3A) enter the series on three-game point streaks. Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield (2G, 2A), Brooke McQuigge (2G, 1A) and Grace Zumwinkle (2A) all have two-game point streaks.
Seven Frost skaters will be making their PWHL Finals debut tonight in Ottawa including McQuigge, Mae Batherson, Britta Curl-Salemme, Klárá Hymlárová, Katy Knoll, Dominique Petrie and Claire Thompson, each joining the 16 players that won the Walter Cup in the league’s inaugural season. On the coaching side, Ken Klee (Head Coach), Mira Jalosuo (Assistant Coach) and Samantha Hanson (Video Coach) were part of last year’s staff, with new Assistant Coaches Chris “Critter” Johnson and Pete Samargia.
Batherson is the younger sister of Ottawa Senators forward Drake Batherson, marking the second straight series the Charge will face the sister of a Sens player following Montréal’s Dara Greig (Ridly Greig).
Ottawa is a perfect 2-0 at TD Place in the playoffs after going 5-1-2-5 (.487) in their primary home venue during the regular season, including two regulation wins and one loss against the Frost. Minnesota is 1-1 on the road so far in these playoffs (4-4 all-time) after going 5-2-3-5 (.489) in road games during the season.
The Charge won each of their three games against the Victoire by exactly one goal in each game. Between the regular and postseason, Ottawa has 12 one-goal wins (in 20 games) in regulation or overtime, most in the PWHL. The Frost have a total of seven wins in 16 one-goal decisions.
Tereza Vanišová was tied for the PWHL lead this season with four goals against the Frost, including a hat trick (Feb. 13 in Ottawa). It was one of two hat tricks for Vanišová this season (Mar. 22 vs. NY) and the only hat trick against the Frost. The only other hat trick against Minnesota in PWHL history was by Brianne Jenner (Apr. 20, 2024 in Ottawa). Vanišová led the Charge in goals (15) and penalty minutes (38) during the regular season but has yet to pick up a goal or a penalty so far in the PWHL Playoffs.
Gwyneth Philips, the PWHL’s First Star of the Week, owns a .956 save percentage in the playoffs, which is the best mark in PWHL history. Philips saved 88 of her last 90 shots faced in the semifinals from the middle of the second period in Game 2 through the end of the series – a stretch of 226 minutes and 58 seconds.
Gabbie Hughes, the PWHL’s Third Star of the Week, enters the series with points in consecutive games (2A). The Lino Lakes, MN, native recorded five points (2G, 3A) of her season’s 16 points (5G, 11A) against her home state team.
Four Charge players have playoff experience against Minnesota including Victoria Bach, Jocelyne Larocque, Rebecca Leslie and Alexa Vasko who competed for Toronto in last season’s semifinals.
Shiann Darkangelo continues wearing an ‘A’ after being appointed an alternate captain at the commencement of the playoffs with Jincy Roese on LTIR. The former captain of the PHF’s Toronto Six, who hoisted an Isobel Cup in 2023 prior to the PWHL, is part of a strong leadership core assembled by the Charge that includes 21 skaters to have served as captains or alternates for past teams.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“We’re excited to be in Ottawa and ready for the series. We don’t take this opportunity for granted and are ready for a tough test against a great team. We know we will need a full 60-minute game every night.” – Frost Head Coach Ken Klee.
“Playing a series is so much more fun than one game, and I really like it. I think the true winner comes out of a series. It’s exciting. It’s fun. I grew up wanting to play in game seven of the Stanley Cup final, so this is as close as that is for me.” – Charge defender Jocelyne Larocque.
TUESDAY’S GAME: The 2025 PWHL Finals, presented by Scotiabank, begins in Ottawa where the Charge will take on the defending champion Frost. The first-ever PWHL Finals game in Canada will take place in the nation’s capital. The opening of the championship series for women’s hockey’s newest and most exciting trophy – the Walter Cup – will be contested in the ancestral home of the Stanley Cup, the most iconic, historic and revered trophy in men’s hockey. The Stanley Cup was donated via a letter from Lord Stanley that was read by an aide at a dinner of the Ottawa Hockey Club in 1892 at The Russell House hotel, which was located at the corner of Sparks & Elgin Streets, not far at all from TD Place.
PWHL action returns to TD Place following Friday’s semifinal thriller where Ottawa eliminated Montréal in front of a roaring crowd of 8,011. Fans can bring the energy pre-game to “Electric Avenue” outside of Gate 1 as the players arrive between 4 and 5 p.m. and enjoy the atmosphere with music, a live host, facepainting, poster-making, and complimentary ‘Playoff Mullet’ haircuts from a barber on-site. The party will continue between 5 and 6 p.m. at the TD Place Stadium Log Cabin where four-time Juno award nominee Jamie Fine will set the stage for the Finals by performing a free show for ticket holders.
Inside TD Place, drum lines and trumpeters will welcome fans at the gates, out on the concourse and inside the arena bowl. There will be facepainting inside Gate 2. CTV will broadcast live from the Jamie Fine show from 5 to 5:30 p.m. and inside Gate 2 from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Rogers/Unique FM will also broadcast live between Gate 1 and Gate 2. Concourse activations include Scotiabank’s ‘Make It Merch’ and Canadian Tire’s ‘My Team. My Sign’ outside of Section 25. Fans can also look forward to Canadian Tire’s ‘Shoot for Loot’ during the second intermission, plus Aeroplan’s ‘Lucky Row’, SharkNinja’s ‘Hair Flip Confidence Cam’, Canadian Tire’s ‘My Team. My Sign’, Hard Rock’s ‘Air Guitar’ and e.l.f.’s ‘Dance Cam’ during TV timeouts.
In addition to live broadcast coverage exclusively on TSN and RDS in Canada, today’s game will be available to fans in the U.S. on FanDuel Sports Network North, on various stations distributed in partnership with Gray Media (The Wax Sports), Scripps Sports (Boise, Denver, Detroit, Fort Myers, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Twin Falls and West Palm Beach), the Sinclair Broadcast Group (Baltimore and Portland), and on YouTube. Internationally, the game will be distributed by NOVA Prime in Czechia and Slovakia.
© 2025 PWHL
