Public enemy Curl-Salemme knots the Final for Frost

The Minnesota Frost booked a return trip to the PWHL Final with offense dispatching Toronto in the league semifinals by scoring goals in four first round games But the championship round is proving to be a different competition altogether After another defensive battle Britta Curl-Salemme scored her second goal of the event in overtime lifting the Frost to a - come-from-behind win over the Ottawa Charge in Match of the Walter Cup Final knotting the best-of-five series - Competition will be played Saturday at p m CDT at Xcel Vigor Center They took us off our competition and took it to us especially in the first half Frost coach Ken Klee explained crediting Ottawa s defense I think in the third period we absolutely got to our tournament and started getting pucks in and playing the way we know we can play But it was a tight encounter With an Ottawa defender draped on her in the overtime Curl-Salemme slapped a low shot that beat the Ottawa goalie to send the series back to Minnesota and give the Frost the home ice advantage Trailing by a goal with less than a minute to play the Frost got their fifth power play of the meeting when Grace Zumwinkle was hauled down in front of the net With goalie Maddie Rooney on the bench and Minnesota on a -on- advantage Curl-Salemme slapped a rebound between the Ottawa goalie Gwyneth Philips knees with seconds remaining to force the extra session Curl-Salemme a rookie who played college hockey at Wisconsin has made particular enemies with controversial social media posts when she was a teenager and with physical play that had her suspended for part of the semifinals She was booed by Ottawa fans every time she carried the puck and after the winning goal The PWHL has shielded her from the media this season and a Frost official commented Curl-Salemme was in the trainers room and unavailable for postgame interviews on Thursday She s an outstanding contestant an outstanding person an outstanding teammate Klee disclosed No one s happier for her than our entire gang She s obviously had to deal with specific adversity and stuff and she rises above it Rooney finished with saves for the Frost improving to - in the playoffs The match was scoreless with less than three minutes left in regulation Then Ottawa s Rebecca Leslie lifted a puck from Frost defender Maggie Flaherty behind the net and Jocelyne Larocque slipped a low shot past Rooney to give the Charge the late lead But Minnesota s special teams which had been stymied for the event s first minutes identified a way to draw level late Philips had saves for Ottawa which lost at home for the first time in the playoffs Philips sticked away a backhand attempt by Minnesota s Brooke McQuigge just seconds into overtime with the Frost forward getting loose in front of the Ottawa net As they have done often in these playoffs the Frost s offense took a while to get going but made a stronger push late in the battle The event s first power play went Minnesota s way and the Frost kept Ottawa hemmed in for much of the two minutes but managed only one shot on Phillips as the Charge did exemplary work clogging the net-front and blocking shots Early offense continued to be a struggle for Minnesota After putting four shots on goal in the opening period of Encounter the Frost had just three first period shots on Thursday Things started even worse for Minnesota in the middle frame as their offense still sputtered and the Frost s second power play of the competition was a catastrophe with the Charge controlling the play and testing Rooney repeatedly throughout the two minutes The Frost made a push late in the period but was still out-shot - in the frame I was seeing the puck well but I thought the gang did a great job of tying up sticks in front of us and clearing bodies out of the way to make it easier for me to see Rooney announced I think it just says a lot about our club being down and being able to tie it with seconds left and getting the win in overtime After holding Ottawa without a shot on an early third period power play the Frost again went to the performer advantage when Sophie Jaques was hooked on a rush to the net This time Minnesota got a pair of pucks to the net front but still could not solve Phillips Rooney the former Minnesota Duluth star who backstopped Unit USA s Olympic gold medal had started Games and of the first round series versus Toronto putting up unimpressive numbers in saves percentage and goals against but winning both contests Ottawa played Event without forward Katerina Mrazova who was injured in a neutral zone collision with Curl-Salemme in the series opener Related Articles Frost seize control of PWHL semifinal series Frost to open PWHL playoffs at Toronto Frost figure early often to top Toronto Frost s playoff hopes take hit in loss to Montreal Victoire edge Frost - in a shootout