Frost open PWHL playoffs seeking to three-peat, with semifinals featuring familiar mix of contenders

So much for the complaints raised last summer about the PWHL's expansion process favoring the league’s newest franchises in Seattle and Vancouver.

After a five-month, 120-game regular season featuring record crowds, women’s hockey enjoying a significant post-Olympic boost and with more expansion on the horizon, the Walter Cup playoff semifinalists are made up exclusively of the league’s old guard.

The four-team field is led by the Minnesota Frost seeking to three-peat. They open their best-of-five series at Montreal on Saturday against the Marie Philip-Poulin-led Victoire, who have failed to carry over regular-season success into the playoffs in each of the league’s first two seasons.

The Boston Fleet return following a one-year absence, with a new coach, Kris Sparre, and following Hilary Knight’s offseason departure to Seattle. Boston opens its series at home on Thursday facing the Ottawa Charge — the PWHL’s two other teams to reach the final, before losing to Minnesota.

“The experience absolutely helps,” captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said of the Frost, who still feature a veteran core despite the offseason departures of key defenders Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson to Vancouver.

“We have a handful of players in the room who have won. And if they haven’t won in the PWHL, they’ve won before coming to the PWHL,” Coyne Schofield said. “And those who haven’t played in a best-of-five series yet, I think they’ll figure it out quickly.”

If the past means anything, records and standings don’t matter. The lower-seeded team has won each of six playoff series, with Minnesota winning the Cup twice after finishing fourth.

This year, the Frost finished third only to be selected by the two-time regular-season champion Victoire as their semifinal opponent. In doing so, Montreal avoided a rematch of its four-game semifinal series loss to Ottawa last year.

“There’s no team in this league that is easy to beat,” coach Kori Cheverie said, without providing insight into Montreal's decision to choose Minnesota. “We landed on Minnesota, and we’re looking forward to that opportunity.”

Montreal swept its four-game regular-season series against Minnesota — with two wins in overtime.

Though the Victoire and Fleet each finished with 62 points, Montreal had the tiebreaking edge in having one more win. Boston struggled in going 0-0-4 against Ottawa this season.

Montreal closed the season on a 15-1-2 run, and went 11-1-1 at home (not including neutral site games). The Victoire allowed a league-low 41 goals and feature Canadian national team goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens, who led the PWHL in most every category, while finishing second with seven shutouts.

Overshadowing Montreal’s regular-season dominance through three seasons is the Victoire having yet to win a playoff series. Aside from losing to Ottawa last year, they were swept by Boston in 2024, with all three games decided in overtime.

“Obviously, coming into the playoffs, we’ve struggled,” said Poulin, who returned for the regular-season finale after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury. “But every year is a new year, it’s a new team, and we’re truly excited.”

The Frost scored a league-leading 91 goals. Led by MVP candidate Kelly Pannek and her PWHL-leading 16 goals and 33 points, Minnesota had the league's top-three point producers rounded out by Taylor Heise (30) and Britta Curl-Salemme (29).

Minnesota features the veteran goalie tandem of Maddie Rooney (9-5-2) and Nicole Hensley (7-4-2).

Boston features a mix of experience and youth and is led by goalie Aerin Frankel, who backstopped the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

Frankel set a PWHL record with eight shutouts and finished mere percentage points behind Desbiens with a 1.17 goals-against average and .953 save percentage.

Megan Keller, who scored the U.S. gold medal-clinching goal in overtime against Canada, led PWHL defenders with 22 points. Defender Haley Winn finished second in the rookie scoring race with 19 points, and led all rookies in averaging 26:45 of ice time per outing.

The mid-season addition of forward Jessie Eldridge in a trade with Seattle provided the Fleet scoring depth to complement Alina Muller and Susanna Tapani.

The Charge closed 4-0 and clinched their playoff berth with a season-ending 3-0 win over Toronto. And they get a boost in welcoming back coach Carla MacLeod, who returns after taking a five-game leave to focus on her breast cancer treatments.

Ottawa is led by captain Brianne Jenner and a blueline group that includes Emily Clark and Jocelyn Larocque.

In net is Gwyneth Philips, Frankel’s Team USA backup.

Philips was the PWHL’s playoff MVP last year after allowing 13 goals in eight outings, and finished this season third with 16 wins, fourth with a .931 save percentage and fifth with a 2.12 goals-against average.

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

Minnesota Frost's Kelly Pannek (12) celebrates with teammates after her goal against the Vancouver Goldeneyes during the third period of a PWHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A judge has ruled an 18-year-old man charged with murder in the killing of a paddleboarder in Maine is competent to stand trial.

The death of Sunshine “Sunny” Stewart, 48, of St. George, last year shocked the community around Crawford Pond in rural Union, Maine. Authorities charged Deven Young of Frankfort, Maine, with murder in Stewart's death in July, about two weeks after Stewart's body was discovered.

The court system has thus far treated Young as a juvenile. Prosecutors in the state want to charge Young, who was 17 at the time of Stewart's death and is 18 now, as an adult. First, he needed to be deemed competent to stand trial, and a judge ruled this week that he is.

"The court finds that the defendant is competent to proceed based on the court’s finding that the juvenile has a rational, as well as a factual, understanding of the proceedings and a sufficient present ability to consult with legal counsel with a reasonable degree of rational understanding," wrote Maine District Court Judge Eric J. Walker on Wednesday.

Young is due back in court on May 7. Police have said a medical examiner determined Stewart's cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma.

Jeremy Pratt, an attorney for Young, declined to comment on Thursday. Prosecutors in the case also declined to comment Thursday.

Authorities have not publicly stated a possible motive in the case. Court documents about the case, which were briefly made public before being removed from the state's courts website, contained little detail other than stating that Young “did intentionally or knowingly cause the death of another human being, namely Sunshine Stewart.”

Audio recordings by the Waldo County Sheriff's Office that were obtained by news agencies earlier this year provided details about Young's history of violent behavior and mental health challenges prior to Stewart's death. The Portland Press Herald reported that Young had been waiting for behavioral health services from the state.

Stewart went missing at Crawford Pond, where she was paddleboarding, on July 2 and her body was found the next day. The pond is a popular summertime attraction for swimming, boating and fishing. Stewart lived about 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the pond in the Tenants Harbor neighborhood in St. George.

Stewart's friends and family celebrated her life with a maritime service last August. The memorial included a procession of boats, some decked out with flowers, in Tenants Harbor.

On the boats were pictures of Stewart smiling and a large sign that read, “Shine On.” Over the years, Stewart worked as a fisherman, boat captain, biologist, carpenter and bartender, friends have said.

FILE - Acquaintances of Sunshine Stewart sit on the bow of a lobster boat during a memorial service for the slain paddleboarder, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, off the coast of St. George, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)