Lou Orlando
The Minnesota Frost cruised past the New York Sirens on Sunday afternoon in a 6-2 victory at Grand Casino Arena. It was New York’s first regulation loss since Dec. 21, and snapped a team-record seven-game points streak.
The Frost (6-2-3-3) jumped ahead of the Sirens into second place in the PWHL standings with 25 points. The Sirens (7-0-2-6) remain in a playoff spot, but fell to fourth overall behind the Boston Fleet, Frost, and Montreal Victoire.
Minnesota’s League-leading offense got the better of Sirens starting goalie Kayle Osborne, who surrendered a career-worst five goals on 26 shots, with five different Frost skaters hitting the back of the net. The Frost reached the six-goal mark for the second time in 2025-26. The Seattle Torrent are the only other PWHL team to tally six goals in a single game this season.
For the second straight game, New York fell into an early hole. Sirens rookie Casey O’Brien drew a tripping penalty on Frost defender Brooke Becker at 4:44 of the first period, but Kristin O’Neill negated the power play after 15 seconds by playing the puck with a broken stick.
In a flash, Minnesota pounced. The Frost scored twice at 4-on-4 in just 12 seconds — the quickest two-goal stretch in franchise history.
Taylor Heise, drafted No. 1 overall in the inaugural 2023 PWHL draft, opened the scoring at 6:13. Receiving a pass at the right dot from Mae Batherson, Heise glided across the crease and sent a backhander on net that trickled through Osborne. The 25-year-old has points in five straight games (two goals, six assists), and is tied for second on the Frost with 14 points overall.
Kendall Coyne Schofield followed Heise at 10:25, netting her League-leading 10th goal of the season to give the Frost a 2-0 lead. Minnesota’s 2025 second-round pick Abby Hustler (No. 14 overall) knocked Elle Hartje off the puck at the far wall and chipped it into the Sirens zone, past pinching defender Micah Zandee-Hart. Coyne Schofield angled into the crease and unleashed a lightning-quick wrister over Osborne’s blocker to double Minnesota’s lead.
The Sirens didn’t record a shot on goal until 9:41 of the first, when Frost goalie Maddie Rooney turned away Kristyna Kaltounkova on a breakaway.
Rooney made another clutch save against Kaltounkova at 15:31, getting the blocker on a short-handed rush, but couldn’t keep the 2025 No. 1 overall pick quiet for long. At 18:28 of the opening frame, Kaltounkova’s wrap-around attempt deflected off Frost forward Kelly Pannek and into an open net.
But Minnesota quickly put distance between themselves and the Sirens with two more goals in the second period. Katy Knoll made it 3-1 Frost at 9:33, completing a highlight-reel move after toe-dragging past Maja Nylen Persson and finishing with a wrister underneath Osborne’s blocker.
Grace Zumwinkle made it 4-1 at 12:59 with a goal off of the face-off, skating to the crease and beating Osborne top shelf.
New York got back within striking distance at 14:00 of the third period, cutting the deficit to 4-2 on an Anna Bargman rebound goal, but the comeback effort fell flat. Knoll tallied her second of the day, this one into an empty-net at 17:15, and Pannek added one last score for good measure at 18:40, swooping in to deposit a rebound after a Kaltounkova penalty.
“We made a couple mistakes tonight that ended up in the back of our net. We had some great chances that we didn’t cash in,” Sirens coach Greg Fargo said postgame. “That’s the story of the game, in my opinion.”
Minnesota had no problem cashing in on their many chances. The Frost now have 44 goals in 15 games — good for a League-best average of 2.93.
“Obviously, we’ve seen on the stat sheet this year, they’re able to capitalize on their chances,” Zandee-Hart noted. “They’ve got a lot of players having really good years in that department. When you make a mistake, sometimes in hockey, it goes unnoticed, and sometimes you’re playing a team like Minnesota, and you notice when you make a mistake. And I think that maybe happened to us a couple times tonight.”
Knoll, Hustler, Zumwinkle, and Batherson all posted multi-point nights as Minnesota extended its point streak to five games (2-1-2-0). Rooney enjoyed one of her best starts of the season, making 25 saves on 27 shots to earn her third win of the season (3-3-1).
Kaltounkova recorded a career-high nine shots for New York. With her first-period score, the Sirens rookie kept pace with Coyne Schofield and remains one goal away from tying the PWHL lead.
Takeaways after Frost defeat Sirens 6-2
1. Anne Cherkowski out until Olympic break
The Sirens lineup notably excluded one of their top rookie forwards, Anne Cherkowski, who was made inactive two hours before puck drop.
Cherkowski did not travel to Minnesota for the game Sunday. Instead, the second-round pick (No. 9 overall) remained in New York to recover from a non-hockey medical procedure, Fargo told PWHL play-by-play broadcaster Jamie Hersch.
Although the Sirens list Cherkowski as day to day, she is not expected to dress when New York travels to Boston on Wednesday. Her talents are undoubtedly missed — Cherkowski is tied for fifth on the team with six points (two goals, four assists) — but it also presents a roster conundrum for New York.
With Taylor Girard still serving her four-game suspension, that could leave the Sirens with just 11 active forwards for the second game in a row.
New York activated defender Olivia Knowles off its reserve roster Sunday, and placed her on the fourth line alongside Kayla Vespa and Savannah Norcross. Knowles was on the ice for just 2:54 against Minnesota, and Fargo shuffled his top three lines throughout the game, using the fourth line sparingly.
Unless the Sirens sign a free-agent forward in the coming days, it’s fair to expect a similar gameplan Wednesday.
Even with eight active defenders, Fargo notably leaned more on rookie Dayle Ross. The fourth-round pick (No. 25 overall) logged a career-high 11:38 on Sunday, playing primarily on the right side with Jincy Roese. It could be an indicator that the 22-year-old is due for a larger role on New York’s blue line moving forward.
2. A little help here?
There’s no question Osborne wasn’t her sharpest against the Frost. New York’s No. 1 goalie returned to the net after sitting for the first time all season Tuesday, allowing rookie Callie Shanahan to make her PWHL debut.
Osborne likely wants a couple of Minnesota’s tallies back. The 23-year-old got good leather on Heise’s backhand score, but failed to close the glove on a shot that trickled into the net. Later in the second, Osborne quickly dropped to the butterfly, allowing Zumwinkle to pick the top of the net with ease.
That said, it wasn’t a pretty game for the Sirens in front of their goalie. New York struggled to keep Minnesota out of the crease, and allowed too many rush attempts against such a high-powered offense. That’s not a recipe for success.
“Minnesota is a really strong team. They’re buttoned up with their details. You’re not going to get too many freebies out of them,” Fargo stated. “They just kind of keep coming at you in waves. And I just don’t think we had our A-game tonight.”
Let it be a sharp reminder that New York can’t rely on a red-hot goalie to do all the heavy lifting, especially against an elite offense like Minnesota.
3. Sirens look ahead to ‘really important game’
Before select Sirens players can set their sights on Olympic glory, they must first brace for a big test against a Boston squad that’s held the top seed for most of 2025-26.
“In this league, every night’s really important,” Fargo asserted. “We’ve got to move on from this one really quick. We know we’ve got a really important game on Wednesday night in Boston.”
The Fleet earned points in four straight contests (2-1-1-0) and own a three-point edge on first in the League standings. They defeated the Sirens 2-0 earlier this season behind a shutout from star goalie Aerin Frankel.
“We’ve got to continue to focus on tightening up,” said Fargo. “I think Wednesday is another opportunity to do that.”
Boston’s offense isn’t quite as potent as Minnesota’s, but they’ve proven to be one of the top defensive units in the PWHL. Another sloppy outing for New York won’t cut it.
