2025 PWHL Semifinals Preview: Toronto Sceptres vs Minnesota Frost

The PWHL playoffs kick off Wednesday night, with the Toronto Sceptres and Minnesota Frost taking the ice in a rematch of last year's semifinals. Last time around, the #4 Frost reverse-swept the #1 Sceptres en route to the Walter Cup. This year, the #2 Sceptres seek revenge against the still-#4 Frost.

Schedule

As mentioned, this series kicks off the 2025 playoffs on Wednesday night. All games will be broadcast on Prime Video in Canada and the PWHL Youtube Channel and thepwhl.com elsewhere. Fans in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN area can also find the games on FanDuel Sports Network North. The full schedule can be found below:

• Game 1: Wed, May 7- 7 p.m. ET, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto, ON.
• Game 2: Fri, May 9- 7 p.m. ET, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto, ON
• Game 3: Sun, May 11- 6 p.m. ET, Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
• Game 4*: Wed, May 14- 7 p.m. ET, Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
• Game 5*: Sat, May 17- Time TBD, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto, ON

*if necessary

Regular Season Series

• Sat, Dec 7: Toronto vs Minnesota- 6-3 MIN W
• Tues, Jan 28: Toronto at Minnesota- 4-3 MIN SOW
• Tues, Feb 11: Toronto vs Minnesota- 3-2 TOR OTW
• Sun, Feb 23: Toronto at Minnesota- 2-1 TOR W
• Sun, March 9- Toronto vs Minnesota- 2-1 MIN OTW
• Sun, March 30- Toronto at Minnesota- 5-2 MIN W

Minnesota had the upper hand on Toronto in the regular season, taking 11 out of 18 points and outscoring Toronto 20-14. The Sceptres spent slightly less time in the penalty box than the Frost, with 34 minutes to Minnesota’s 45. However, the Frost made the same number of trips to the box, but Brooke McQuigge got a major and misconduct in their fourth meeting of the season, while all of Toronto's were minor penalties, hence the difference in minutes. Minnesota’s power play converted on four of their 17 attempts (23.5%), while Toronto’s banked five goals on 17 opportunities (29.4%). 

In total, the Sceptres and Frost each had 15 skaters get on the scoresheet in their season series. Daryl Watts and Renata Fast led the way in points for Toronto with six each, while Michela Cava led the Frost with seven. Cava also led the Frost with four goals, while Fast had four for the Sceptres. As for assists, Watts and Hannah Miller tied for the Toronto team lead with three apiece, while Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise, and Claire Thompson tied for the Frost team lead with four each.

Player to Watch from Each Team

Minnesota: Nicole Hensley/Maddie Rooney. Choosing two players is a bit of a cop-out, but I’m not 100% sure which one of them Ken Klee will go with to start this series. At the end of the day, neither goaltender has had their best season. Both are at the bottom of the leaderboard for save percentage among qualified goalies, with Rooney (0.907) coming out just a smidge ahead of Hensley (0.900). Rooney was technically their starter, making 19 appearances to Hensley’s 11. However, Klee turned to Hensley for the final two do-or-die games, during which she allowed just one goal. So, my gut says he’ll go with her to start the series. Regardless, the Frost’s goaltending has had a rocky season but has been improving recently. They need that trend to continue, or they're in big trouble.

Toronto: Hannah Miller. After a red-hot first two-thirds of the season that saw her tally 10 goals and 12 assists, Miller has been ice cold offensively for the last ten games. She has just two assists in that span, one of which was a secondary marker and the other a primary power-play assist. She hasn’t necessarily been playing poorly outside of the lack of production, but the Sceptres really need her to start putting up points again in this series.

Storyline to Watch from Each Team

Minnesota: Stay out of the box. I cannot emphasize this one enough. The Sceptres have the clear-cut best power play in the league, converting at a 25.8% rate. The next highest was the New York Sirens at 18.5%. Meanwhile, the Frost have the league’s worst penalty kill at 78.4%, the only one under 80%. Luckily for Minnesota, they were the least penalized team by a long shot, only taking 74 trips to the box (averaging 2.5 per game). The Sirens were the next most disciplined at 87. So, they’ve proven it’s not too difficult to stay out of the box, but they did take slightly more penalties than average against Toronto (2.8 per game). They must find a way to stick to their usual discipline as the intensity ramps up, or things could get out of hand quickly for them.

Toronto: Learn to score at even-strength. Related to how the Frost must stay out of the box, the Sceptres must start scoring more at even-strength. 32.9% of their regular-season goals came on the power play, the highest percentage in the league (New York was second at 28.2%). In the regular season series against Minnesota, they managed just one standings point in games where they didn’t score a power-play goal. In the three games they did, they earned six points, including two wins. Special teams are massive in the postseason, but in a best-of-five series against a well-disciplined team, the Sceptres simply must find a way to score more and win without their power play carrying them.

Prediction

Sceptres in four. While Minnesota had the upper hand in the regular season, I can’t imagine that’ll be the case in the playoffs. Toronto has been the much better team in nearly all aspects in the second half of the season, and they’ll be hungry to avenge last season’s reverse sweep.

If Toronto drops one of the first two at home, this takes all five. Minnesota is the hotter team coming into this series, but they'll have been away from home for a week and a half by the time it starts. That's difficult for any team, and when you combine it with four full days off, it could easily be a momentum killer. Meanwhile, the Sceptres have been home that whole time. That's a big advantage, so I think they get off to a hot start this series and wrap it up in four.