“It’s been a whirlwind” accurately describes PWHL Minnesota’s last month. It entailed barely squeaking into the postseason and then being the first PWHL team ever to have a reverse sweep, and they did so over the number one team, PWHL Toronto. Next, they took on PWHL Boston and had the interesting predicament of winning the Championship not once but twice when they had the game-winning goal waved off in Game 4, only to win it all on the road in Game 5.
Their first season in the PWHL has been anything but boring, and for the players, it’s been a dream come true to play in a league like this and win it all. “I think I’ve shed a few tears every single day since at home and even before that game, after that game. You know, I was on with NHL radio this morning, they had me in tears, and I wasn’t even on camera, but yeah, so it’s been emotional for sure.” said Kendall Coyne-Schofield when asked if she’s been emotional at all.
Now that the season is over, we’ll examine what this season meant in terms of the big picture from the players’ perspective, how they set history, and how they are helping make dreams come true. We’ll start with the Minnesota players and how it felt to bring a Championship home to a fanbase that waited a long time for women’s hockey.
PWHL Minnesota is a Piece of Minnesota History
For those born and raised in Minnesota, there’s no doubt about how much the state truly loves the game of hockey. For many kids, the t-shirt saying “eat, sleep, hockey” is a true embodiment of how they live their lives. The same can be said for these PWHL Minnesota players, and Minnesota natives, it was huge.
“Yeah, it’s huge; like you said, there’s a lot of Minnesotans on this team, and I’ve played my whole career here in Minnesota, so it’s super special for all of us to get that win here in our home state and just the whole experience this year being in Minnesota, playing at the Xcel and I know we always talk about the fans, but it truly was like a great fan base…” said Minnesota native Maddie Rooney when asked about what it was like to get the win for Minnesota.
Watching this team all season, it’s clear they wanted to represent Minnesota, and it’s clear every player on that team felt pride in playing for the State of Hockey, especially Taylor Heise, who spoke on what it was like to play for PWHL Minnesota as a Minnesota native and make Minnesota history.
“It’s special; we obviously don’t discriminate between our non-Minnesotans, but yeah, to have all these girls who you know we talked about it, Sophie Jaques and Liz Schepers at Ohio State, they’re like ‘welcome to the winning group,’ I haven’t felt this in a really long time, not high school and not college so only at the National Team Level have we really felt the Championship mentality so….I think we just leaned on everyone and made sure that whether or not you’re from Minnesota, we’re doing this for the State of Minnesota, we’ll do it for ourselves, but we do it for the State..”
PWHL Minnesota is Creating Dreams
“First of all, so far, we’re the only people who’ve gotten to touch Walter, so we’re just hoping to get to share that a little bit with everybody, and I think it’s important to, you see a lot of parades of men’s teams that win and how much fun they get to have so for us to get to do something similar I think is really important to show young girls that just like this whole league that’s what it’s all been about, there is something to aspire to, there is a women’s professional league you can play in, and you can strive to be in and to be a professional hockey player so I think this is just one more extension of how just being able to celebrate with the City and showing what’s possible.” Nicole Hensley talked about why it was important to celebrate St. Paul.
One of the reasons this league was created was to provide a future for women in hockey. After college, if they didn’t make an Olympic or National-level team, there often was little for them to do, at least in North America. However, now those players have somewhere to play, and young girls have a chance to chase a dream.
“Yeah, we’ve felt the love all season from our fans, always especially the young female hockey players being on this big stage, hopefully getting just more visibility so more and more girls can come see us play, and it’s huge, it’s really special as we were those little girls once looking for female hockey players to watch so now we get to do that, to be that person. I hope we’re doing a good job, and it felt like the fans continued to come out, so it feels like we were doing our best, but those fans, thank you so much. I hope they get to dream about this and be here someday,” said Lee Stecklein during postseason interviews.
Stecklein summed it up best: This league has created a new dream for so many young girls, and these players are getting to live it after not having a path for so long. Hopefully, this league can continue to fulfill the dreams of future generations of young girls as it grows.
PWHL Minnesota has a Great Future
After seeing the success of this league and PWHL Minnesota, I truly believe that the sky is the limit for this league and its players. They sold out arenas, they sold out merchandise, and everyone was excited to go see these women play. They had the best of the best players on the ice, and it showed when these teams played each other and even more in the postseason.
Related: PWHL Minnesota’s Team Effort Wins Inaugural 2024 Walter Cup
“I think in all those areas (quality of play, success, media attention, attendance),…the Xcel holds by my count, almost 19,000, so to reach that would be awesome. Again I think continuing to grow as a league, evolves as time goes, there’s going to be more and more quality in terms of the play on the ice. It’s really hard to make a roster in this league and it’s going to continue to be that until expansion in our future. I think, its’ again, just being excited about the fact that we all get to be pro hockey players and a lot of times, it’s hard to find balance of being really grateful and thankful for the opportunities but also..we earned this, we deserve this right…” said Kelly Pannek about growing the league.
PWHL Minnesota is Here to Stay
If the past few weeks were any indication, PWHL Minnesota and the league are here to stay. The turnout of fans for the regular season and the postseason has shown that people want to see women’s hockey, and they’ll support them even in the downtimes. This first season has been incredible for everyone, and seeing all the little girls with their signs and knowing they have a professional team to dream about makes it all worth it. This may be the history-making first Walter Cup for PWHL Minnesota, but hopefully, there will be plenty more to come.
