Minnesota Frost fall to Montreal, hit end of four-game PWHL winning streak

When the Montreal Victoire picked Abby Boreen in June’s PWHL draft in St. Paul, some Minnesota fans in attendance booed.

Not because they weren’t fans of Boreen — in fact, they wanted the former Gophers and Hill-Murray standout in Minnesota. The Somerset, Wis., native had played well on two 10-day contracts for the Frost as she enrolled in pharmacy school in Dinkytown, ineligible for a full-time contract with the Walter Cup champs because of her student status.

When she declared for the 2024 draft, and Minnesota passed on her in the first three rounds, Montreal picked Boreen. She now has two goals, two assists and a league Star of the Week honor for the Victoire early in the season.

As she returned to Xcel Energy Center on Saturday as a visitor for the first time, her new team handed Minnesota its first regulation loss of the season, 3-2.

Montreal ended the league-leading Frost’s four-game winning streak and moved into second place in the PWHL.

A crafty second-period finish from Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin stood as the game-winner after a scoreless third period.

​”It’s nice to be back in front of friends and family, and obviously friends on the other team, too,” said Boreen, who returned alongside another former Frost player, Clair DeGeorge. “It’s been fun, moving to a whole new city, meeting literally everyone from scratch.”

Minnesota (4-1-1) remains atop the six-team league standings but has had to shift lineups to work around injuries to rookie forward Dominique Petrie and defensive stalwart Sophie Jaques.

Petrie, who has scored three goals this season, and Jaques were placed on long-term injured reserve because of upper-body injuries suffered against the Ottawa Charge on Dec. 19.

“Obviously we’ve lost two really top players for us,” Frost coach Ken Klee said. “We still have a lot of good players in our room, so it’s about us just figuring out ways to put more pucks in the net.”

En route to its third straight win, Montreal (4-1-0) outshot Minnesota 25-24. It’s the second consecutive game that the Frost have been outshot by their opponent, after averaging 35.5 shots in their first four games.

“We didn’t have a great start. I think it’s hard to play catch-up,” Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said. “They defended well. It was hard to get to the net front, tip pucks, get pucks through.”

Minnesota scored first off some of the net-front “puck luck” Klee has emphasized, despite early momentum in Montreal’s favor. Halfway through the first period, Britta Curl-Salemme knocked her knee into a shot from Claire Thompson; it became Curl-Salemme’s third goal of the year and Thompson’s league-leading seventh assist.

But late in the first, Montreal defender and Boreen’s former Hill-Murray teammate Mariah Keopple scored on a long-range shot through traffic in front of the 60 hometown family members and friends she had in attendance.

Four minutes later, Alexandra Labelle cleaned up the rebound on her own shot to put the Victoire ahead.

Frost rookie Brooke McQuigge’s first goal of the season, an equalizer off a scramble in the crease early in the second period, was answered quickly by Poulin’s winner.

The Victoire nearly widened their lead after Poulin’s goal, but Frost goalie Maddie Rooney shut down a Montreal breakaway, then drew a goaltender interference on a Laura Stacey goal that was successfully challenged and overturned.

With just over a minute remaining, Coyne Schofield fed Grace Zumwinkle the puck for her game-high fifth shot of the night, but Victoire goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens made an improbable back-post save to see out the win.

Minnesota State Mankato alum Charlotte Akervik made her PWHL debut against Montreal, playing eight minutes on the blue line after signing to replace Jaques.

Minnesota continues its four-game home stretch against the Boston Fleet (2-3-0) on Thursday.