Frost fall to Ottawa 1-0 for third consecutive loss

On Tuesday night, the Frost players walked into their locker room wearing jerseys — but not with their own names on the back. They each bore either “[Maddie] Rooney” or “[Nicole] Hensley,” the Frost’s two starting goalies.

It wasn’t identity theft. It was goalie appreciation night at Xcel Energy Center, if the chants of “Rooney” rippling around the arena and youth goalies in attendance didn’t give it away.

But in the 1-0 loss for the Frost (4-3-2-4) to the Ottawa Charge (5-0-2-5), not even Rooney’s reliably strong showing could put the Frost on top.

“Hopefully [our goalies] feel appreciated every night,” forward Kelly Pannek said. “Today, our goaltender played well. We just couldn’t get one or two in there to see it on the other side of this game.”

After the loss, the Frost still retain second place in the PWHL, behind the Montreal Victoire.

BOXSCORE: Ottawa 1, Frost 0

PWHL standings

The star of Tuesday’s show did turn out to be a goalie, but the one in the opposing net — Charge rookie Gwyneth Philips. The Ottawa netminder defended all 22 of the Frost’s shots on goal, even as she played in what was only the third game of her PWHL career.

“You’ll tape that puck up and keep that one on the shelf for a while, I suspect,” Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod said to Philips after her shutout.

“You suspect correct,” Philips replied.

At the beginning of the night, both squads rolled into St. Paul on losing skids — Minnesota was two losses deep, fresh off its first two road losses of the season, and Ottawa was one deeper at three. It was a battle to get back in the win column, and both teams made it known that they were not there to mess around.

The two teams’ last and only meeting of the season was back in mid-December, when the Frost handily took down the Charge 5-2. Ottawa didn’t want that to happen again.

The Charge came out ready to shoot, logging 10 shots on goal in the first period. The only shot that slipped past Rooney came early — only three minutes into that first period — from the stick of Ottawa forward Brianne Jenner. Ottawa was suddenly on the board.

The Frost were still missing forwards and scoring powerhouses Dominique Petrie and Grace Zumwinkle, both out because of upper-body injuries. Minnesota did have defender Sophie Jacques back on home ice for the first time since she came off long-term injury reserve during their road stretch.

After the first period, the Frost seemed to be back on their game. The second and third periods saw much more time spent around Ottawa’s net, with Minnesota getting into the Charge’s zone and letting off a few shots that looked promising.

But by the end of the night, in true goalie appreciation night fashion, neither team was able to get another one to the back of the net. The game ended with the same score since three minutes into the first period — Ottawa 1, Frost 0.

“They made a nice play. It wasn’t that we made a big lapse,” coach Ken Klee said about Ottawa’s early goal. “It was just that, to me, [Jenner] found the soft spot and made a nice shot. But obviously, we’ve got to find a way to put a few in ourselves.”

Up next in the Frost’s home swing is a rematch with the Boston Fleet on Sunday. Minnesota’s past two games against the Fleet have ended in overtime victories, and the Frost are looking to replicate a winning result and put an end to their skid.

“We’re fired up to go, and it’s just about us [getting] back on a roll,” Klee said. “Find our mojo back that we need to get, and we’ll be OK.”

Alyce Brown is a student at Northwestern on assignment for the Minnesota Star Tribune.