Kelly Pannek's Hot Start

The Minnesota Frost have once again been one of the highest scoring teams in the PWHL. Offensively, the Frost have barely missed a beat after their offseason departures, and one big reason has been Kelly Pannek's blistering hot start. Through six games, Pannek is tied for the league lead with eight points.

“I think one thing I'm doing really well is just moving off the puck, trusting my linemates to make plays, be in spots, and just kind of keep pursuing the puck,” Pannek told The Ice Garden. “It helps give me a few good bounces here to start the season.”

Pannek has always been a responsible two-way center. She's been a plus player in all three PWHL regular seasons, taking care of her own zone and consistently ranking among league leaders in faceoff win percentage. But this season, Pannek’s name is also atop the leaderboard of most league-wide offensive numbers.

Pannek has put up eight points in her first six games, including three goals, matching her goal total from the entirety of last year’s regular season. She's had three multi-point games already, and even more impressive, six of her eight points have come at even strength. This year, Pannek has a 4.77 pts per 60 minutes of ice time. She's on pace to smash last year's 11 points in 30 games, and she's already halfway to her points total from her career best PWHL season, 16 points in 24 games during the 2024 season.

Pannek had a quieter regular season, scoring-wise, last year, but she picked it up during the Frost's playoff run. Pannek had two goals and five points in eight playoff games en route to the Frost's second Walter Cup Title, and she believes finishing last year strong contributed to this season's hot start.

“I think I ended last year with a lot of momentum,” Pannek said. “It’s kind of been a process of coming back into playing in a league full-time. It takes a couple of seasons, really, and I think even this late in my career, there's always adjustments to be made.”

Year three of the PWHL season has necessitated plenty of adjustments. With the Olympics on the horizon in February, national team players like Pannek had an earlier start to their season because of national team training camps. It was something she planned for heading into the offseason.

“Knowing that it's a long season, [I’m] trying to be ready for the PWHL season, and also trying to be in a good spot to make an Olympic team and then compete at the Olympics in February," Pannek said. "So it's just managing a lot of things, staying on top of it. That was, I think, my biggest goal in this offseason was to be in the best shape I can be and stay healthy.”

“Looking at our offseason, I'll try to recover from the prior season, pick the things I want to work on in the offseason, and kind of map it out, timing it, so that I'm not overworking it too early, too soon. With international camps starting in August for the U.S. side [it was] a little bit of a shorter off-season. So just kind of trying to navigate that and trying to build a good plan, which I think I did,” Pannek said. 

So far, the plan is working quite well. Pannek has transferred her strong PWHL scoring numbers into success with Team USA. In the four rivalry series games in November and December, Pannek scored three goals and one assist, including a three-point night in Team USA’s 10-4 win over Canada on December 10th.

Whether it’s with Team USA or the Minnesota Frost, Pannek’s offensive game is simple but effective. The majority of Pannek’s shots come from high-danger areas, and her strength enables her to reach good scoring areas where she can unleash her heavy shot.

For the Frost, Pannek is also shooting the puck a lot more often this season compared to last season. Last year, she fired 51 shots on goal in 30 games, good for a 5.5 shots/60. Through six games this season, Pannek has 15 shots and 8.83 shots/60. She has also been a playmaker for the Frost; four of her five assists this season have been primary assists.

Looking forward, the task for Pannek and her Minnesota Frost teammates will be to continue the positive momentum within a PWHL season full of stops and starts for international duties.

“Yeah, I think that's something that's been seen with this league the last two seasons is [the importance of] momentum, not just individual players but also for teams,” Pannek said. “It's something that's helped us at times and hurt us at times with Minnesota.” 

Though this season presents some unique challenges, the stops and starts are a flow that veteran international players like Pannek are familiar with.

“I keep telling people the Olympics are a different beast than a World Championship. But at the same time, and it's maybe different timing [within the year], but at the same time, the concept of leaving and coming back, whether it's for rivalry series games, isn't much different,” Pannek said.

“If I keep doing the right things and playing the way I know I can, it shouldn't be as much of an ebb and flow. I'm really lucky that both here, with the Frost, and with Team USA, there are a lot of similarities in the way we're trying to play, so it's easy to kind of switch back and forth.”

Pannek will continue to balance competing across several competitions as the season moves along, but of course, her point production isn’t her biggest concern.

“Ultimately, I'm always going to look more at how I'm playing versus the production level of it, but it's nice to see a few pucks go in the back of the net for sure.”

Pannek and the Frost are back in action on Dec. 27, when they will take on the Vancouver Goldeneyes from Rogers Place in Edmonton as part of the PWHL Takeover Tour.