Defending PWHL champion Minnesota Frost face playoff newcomers Ottawa Charge in best-of-5 finals

Kendall Coyne Schofield delivered a cautionary message when assessing the edge in playoff experience she and the defending Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost enjoy entering the PWHL Finals against the Ottawa Charge.

“Yeah, it helps, but it’s not everything,” Coyne Schofield said before the best-of-five series begins in Ottawa on Tuesday night. “They just played an incredible four-game series the last week-and-a-half, too, right? And that’s experience they just gained.”

The Frost have the championship experience in returning to the finals after a four-game semifinal series win over Toronto. The Charge, who knocked off regular-season champion Montreal in four games, are playoff newcomers after missing the postseason in the PWHL’s inaugural season last year.

And the real lesson is how the regular season doesn’t count for much as the finals once again feature a showdown between the two lower-seeded teams. The Charge finished third in the six-team standings and the Frost fourth — just as they did last year — with both clinching their respective berths with wins on the final day of the season.

“We have a lot of respect for Minnesota. Obviously, they were here last year and they went all the way,” Charge captain Brianne Jenner said. “We know it’s going to be very hard. But our group has never shied away from hard work. We’re pretty excited to get started.”

Minnesota’s 23-player roster returned 16 from the squad that defeated Boston in five games last year. Ottawa features just four players with previous playoff experience — and they’re all former Toronto players who lost a five-game semifinal series to Minnesota a year ago.

“It’s just showing the parity that we have in our league,” Minnesota coach Ken Klee said, referring to a regular season in which four points separated second-place Toronto and fifth-place Boston, with the Fleet eliminated by a tie-breaker after finishing tied with Ottawa and Minnesota.

The Frost are known for their offense. After scoring a league-leading 85 goals in the regular season, Minnesota outscored Toronto by a combined margin of 18-14. Minnesota features the playoffs’ top six scorers, with Taylor Heise leading the list with seven points (one goal, six assists).

The Charge place an emphasis on a hard-hitting defensive style, and finished the regular season tied for last with 71 goals scored. Ottawa is coming off a semifinal series in which it totaled nine goals, with all four games decided by one-point margins, including 3-2 4OT loss in Game 2. With two goals, Jenner is the only Charge player to have scored more than once in the playoffs.

Propelling Ottawa’s playoff run is rookie goalie Gwyneth Philips, who has taken over the starting duties since Emerance Maschmeyer was sidelined by a lower body injury in mid-March.

The 25-year-old from Ohio closed the season with a 4-1 record in which she allowed six goals. And she’s built on her performance by allowing just six goals on 135 shots in the playoffs, including a 26-save 1-0 shutout in Game 3.

“We have so much confidence in front of her,” Jenner said. “When you try to go on a run like this, it takes depth, it takes players stepping up at crucial moments. And Gwen has done that for us since she entered the net.”

The Frost continue to go with a rotation in net, with the former U.S. national team tandem of Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley. Rooney went 2-0 against Toronto, while Hensley 1-1, including a 26-save outing in a 4-3 series-clinching overtime win.

The teams split their season series with three wins apiece, and Minnesota outscoring Ottawa 15-14.

Coyne Schofield sees similarities between this season and last year’s run to the championship in which Minnesota won both series in a deciding Game 5s, and overcame a 2-0 deficit against Toronto. This year, the Frost clinched their playoff berth by winning their final two games, including a 3-0 victory at Ottawa.

“This playoff feel, kind of goes back to those two games,” she said. “We’ve stepped up to the plate and to the challenge, and we’re excited for the next one ahead of us.”

The Charge also had to scrap to get to this point in closing the season 4-1 and clinching their playoff spot with Katerina Mrazova scoring to seal a 2-1 OT win over Toronto.

“Really proud of our group just continue to find our way and recognizing that adversity is part of the experience, and it’s what allows you to grow,” Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod said. “I think we’ve grown from it and we find ourselves in a nice opportunity now.”

AP freelance writer Madie Hricik contributed to this story.

AP Women’s Hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips, right, reacts after losing her helmet during third-period PWHL hockey playoff action against the Montreal Victoire in Ottawa, Ontario, Friday, May 16, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)

CORRECTS TO GOAL BY FROST'S SOPHIE JAQUES NOT KENDALL COYNE SCHOFIELD - Minnesota Frost forward Kendall Coyne Schofield (26) celebrates after a goal by teammate Sophie Jaques (not shown) against Toronto Sceptres goaltender Kristen Campbell, fourth from left, in the second period of a PWHL hockey playoff game Sunday, May 11, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Ottawa Charge players celebrate after their win over the Montreal Victoire in PWHL hockey playoff action in Ottawa, Ontario, Friday, May 16, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)

Minnesota Frost forward Taylor Heise (27), left, is surrounded by teammates, Minnesota Frost forward Britta Curl (77) and Minnesota Frost forward Grace Zumwinkle (13) after she scored the winning goal in overtime of the PWHL Walter Cup in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Renée Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP)

Protesters confronted federal officers in Minneapolis on Thursday, a day after a woman was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

The demonstrations came amid heightened tensions after President Donald Trump's administration dispatched 2,000 officers and agents to Minnesota for its latest immigration crackdown.

Across the country, another city was reeling after federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in a vehicle outside a hospital in Portland, Oregon.

The killing of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday set off a clash between federal and state officials over whether the shooting appeared justified and whether a Minnesota law enforcement agency had jurisdiction to investigate.

Here's what is known about the shooting:

The woman was shot in her SUV in a residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where police killed George Floyd in 2020. Videos taken by bystanders and posted online show an officer approaching a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle.

The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle draws his gun and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

It is not clear from the videos if the officer gets struck by the SUV, which speeds into two cars parked on a curb before stopping.

It’s also not clear what happened in the lead-up to the shooting.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the SUV was part of a group of protesters that had been harassing agents and “impeding operations” that morning. She said agents had freed one of their vehicles that was stuck in snow and were leaving the area when the confrontation and shooting occurred.

No video has emerged to corroborate Noem’s account. Bystander video from the shooting scene shows a sobbing woman who says the person shot was her wife. That woman hasn’t spoken publicly to give her version of events.

Good died of gunshot wounds to the head.

A U.S. citizen born in Colorado, Good described herself on social media as a “poet and writer and wife and mom." Her ex-husband said Good had just dropped off her 6-year-old son at school Wednesday and was driving home when she encountered ICE agents on a residential street.

He said Good and her current partner moved to Minneapolis last year from Kansas City, Missouri.

Good's killing is at least the fifth death to result from the aggressive U.S. immigration crackdown the Trump administration launched last year.

Noem said Thursday that there would be a federal investigation into the shooting, though she again called the woman’s actions “domestic terrorism.”

“This vehicle was used to hit this officer,” Noem said. “It was used as a weapon, and the officer feels as though his life was in jeopardy.”

Vice President JD Vance said the shooting was justified and referred to Good's death as “a tragedy of her own making.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara gave no indication that the driver was trying to harm anyone when he described the shooting to reporters Wednesday. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he had watched videos of the shooting that show it was avoidable.

The agent who shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

Jonathan Ross has been a deportation officer with ICE since 2015, records show. He was seriously injured this summer when he was dragged by the vehicle of a fleeing suspect whom he shot with a stun gun.

Federal officials have not named the officer. But Noem said he was dragged by a vehicle in June, and a department spokesperson confirmed Noem was referring to the Bloomington, Minnesota, case in which documents identified the injured officer as Ross.

Court documents say Ross got his arm stuck in the window as a driver fled arrest in that incident. Ross was dragged 100 yards (91 meters), and cuts to his arm required 50 stitches.

According to police, officers initially responded to a report of a shooting outside a hospital Thursday afternoon.

Minutes later police heard that a man who had been shot was asking for help in a residential area a couple of miles away. Officers went there and found a man and a woman with gunshot wounds. Officers determined they were wounded in a shooting with federal agents.

Police Chief Bob Day said the FBI was leading the investigation and he had no details about events that led to the shooting.

The Department of Homeland Security said the vehicle’s passenger was “a Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring” who was involved in a recent shooting. When agents identified themselves to the occupants during a “targeted vehicle stop,” the driver tried to run them over, the department said. An agent fired in self-defense, it said.

There was no immediate independent corroboration of that account or of any gang affiliation of the vehicle’s occupants.

Trump and his allies have consistently blamed Tren de Aragua for being at the root of violence and illicit drug dealing in some U.S. cities.

Drew Evans, head of Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said Thursday that federal authorities have denied the state agency access to evidence in the Good case, barring the state from investigating the shooting alongside the FBI.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz demanded that state investigators be given a role, telling reporters that residents would otherwise have a difficulty accepting the findings of federal law enforcement.

“And I say that only because people in positions of power have already passed judgment from the president to the vice president to Kristi Noem,” Walz said.

Noem denied that Minnesota authorities were being shut out, saying: “They don’t have any jurisdiction in this investigation.”

Dozens of protesters gathered Thursday morning outside a Minneapolis federal building being used as a base for the immigration crackdown. Border Patrol officers fired tear gas and doused demonstrators with pepper spray to push them back from the gate.

Area schools were closed as a safety precaution.

Protests were also planned across the U.S. in cities including New York, New Orleans and Seattle.

Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy contributed.

Protesters confront federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

People gather for a vigil after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a motorist earlier in the day, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

People participate in a protest and vigil after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)