Zumwinkle, Knoll Each Score Two Against Torrent, Minnesota Once Again Freezes Seattle
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — You could look at this game and say the Torrent were still in striking distance until late in the third period. You could also say that the Frost dominated in nearly every facet and perhaps should have won by more. Both, I think, are true.
Frost keeper Maddie Rooney kept a stone cold grip on the Minnesota net during the Torrent-Frost game on Sunday, Jan. 11, saving 24 of 26 shots on net from the Seattle side. It wasn’t the shutout that Nicole Hensley put together in Minnesota’s last victory over Seattle in November, but it was still more than enough to secure the home crew’s win. Although some (especially early on) were longer, more easily handled attempts, the Torrent managed quite a few good looks on net at points in the game.
The real killer was the breakaway. Seattle goalie Hannah Murphy kept a solid lid on things whenever the defense would break down in the house and form a chaos in front of the net, but when the Torrent gave the puck away far up-rink, it was a whole different story. The defense often couldn’t recover quickly enough to prevent a tremendously disadvantageous 1-on-1 between Murphy and a fast-charging Frost forward.
Despite Murphy’s efforts, results were clear: Minnesota racked up a 6-2 victory and kept Seattle in seventh place in the PWHL standings. They out-shot Seattle 45-26, a marked disadvantage that would be hard for any team to weather - especially when so many of the Frost cracks at the net were high-danger, high-quality opportunities.
Grace Zumwinkle continues to feast against the Torrent as Minnesota builds a three-goal lead in 38 minutes.
During Seattle’s 3-0 loss to Minnesota back in the beginning of the season, it was Frost right wing Grace Zumwinkle who put the game away with Minnesota’s third goal. She became an even bigger face of the Frost’s win on Sunday, going on hat trick watch by the end of the second period and putting the Torrent in a hole they never worked their way out of.
The Frost had a definite edge for much of the first period - beating Seattle on face-offs 14-4 - but it didn’t pay off for the home side until the final fourth of the first period. With 4:05 remaining before the first intermission, Torrent center Mikyla Grant-Mentis was called for tripping, and Seattle had to go to the penalty kill.
Murphy weathered the first volley by the midpoint of the power play, but with time running out for the Frost to capitalize, an attack up the right side swiveled left and caught the retreating Torrent off-guard. Minnesota right wing Britta Curl-Salemme whipped the puck to fellow forward Katy Knoll, who slapped it over Murphy’s left shoulder for the opening goal.
This all came on the heels of a prime but uncapitalized opportunity. Frost center Klára Hymlárová was called for boarding with 8:26 left in the first, and since Minnesota came into Sunday’s game as the worst team in the PWHL on the penalty kill, this was the perfect chance for Seattle to strike first. But although the team had a good amount of possession during the advantage, Minnesota kept Seattle to longer shots that found deflections and saves.
Things didn’t get better for Seattle early in the second. Just 40 seconds beyond the intermission, Frost forward Kendall Coyne Schofield saw the slimmest of windows and tore it wide open, sending a pass to Zumwinkle just inches from the Torrent net. Murphy made the initial save, but the puck worked its way to the post, where Zumwinkle wrapped it beyond the line to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead.
Julia Gosling came a half an inch from singlehandedly cutting the lead to one not long after, but the puck bounced outward off the post after zooming through the high corner hole. More opportunities as the minutes wore on (including two prime shots by Jessie Eldridge) later ended up fruitless for Seattle thanks to Rooney’s continued quick reactions in net.
Zumwinkle shined brightly - blinding Seattle once more - as she skated with a puck barely past the blue line into the Seattle zone and then fired it as if out of a cannon. Murphy saw what was happening far too late, and the puck crashed into the back of the net with 6:34 remaining in the second period.
Down 3-0 and unable to find a groove, the quality of Seattle’s play declined noticeably. Instead of stalwartly defending the house, play in the defensive zone became a free-for-all of pucks and players with last-second deflections from skaters and quick thinking from Murphy saving the team from further disaster time and again in the waning minutes of the period.
Taylor Heise giveth, Taylor Heise taketh away, and the faint seeds of a Seattle comeback are dunked in third period liquid nitrogen.
The Torrent finally caught a break with less than two minutes before second intermission. A 3-on-3 fell apart with a bad pass from Bilka to Carpenter, seemingly taking away an opportunity from Seattle, but as the first line came on and regrouped the charge, Frost center Taylor Heise made an awfully errant clearance attempt - right to Eldrige’s stick. The game was 3-1 with 1:35 left in the second, but it remained that way until the intermission despite renewed momentum for Seattle.
“I think that just sparks something in our group,” Torrent right wing Brooke Bryant said during the second intermission. “I think we just needed a little kick like that, and hopefully it carries over into the third period.”
It was not to be. Zumwinkle nearly secured her hat trick before a single minute had expired in the third, but the true turnabout came from the same woman who let Seattle back into the match: Taylor Heise. Taking an expert pass from Curl-Salemme, she quickly separated herself from Torrent blueliner Megan Carter and whipped the puck past Murphy to make it 4-1 and utterly reverse the momentum of play.
The Frost were quick and aggressive, with chance after chance appearing in quick succession. Murphy once again kept Seattle’s outside shot at a comeback alive during these phases of chaos, but with 12:09 remaining until the final horn, Knoll took advantage of a breakaway to extend Minnesota’s lead to 5-1.
A slashing call against Torrent left wing Marah Wagner with 10:34 remaining put Seattle on the penalty kill for almost a fifth of the remaining game time, but with a four-goal deficit and all the wind sapped from their sails, it was all but opening a wound that was mortal anyway. Despite the game being a hair away from a lost cause, Murphy still played as well as ever, denying Zumwinkle multiple near-hat tricks and successfully killing the penalty.
There was still some gas left in Seattle’s tank, in spite of the long odds they faced. With 7:04 left to play, Julia Gosling drew Rooney out of the net from the near side, and when the caroming puck reached Danielle Serdachny on the far end, she wrapped it around the post for Seattle’s second goal of the game.
But an improbable comeback would have required a near-perfect finish, which is something that Seattle ended up without. Cayla Barnes had a breakaway within the five-minute mark and came 1-on-1 with Rooney in net, but instead of keeping it simple and trying for one of the top corners, she attempted to wrap it around the left side - and Rooney had a beat on it all the way.
Minnesota’s dagger came not long after, as Abby Hustler zoomed across the ice and punched one past Murphy with 3:54 left in the game. 6-2 remained the final score, as the Torrent once again fell to the Frost.
Torrent fall to 3-1-1-5 at the one-third mark in their inaugural season.
In the PWHL’s 30-game campaign, the 10-game mark is as good a time as any to check back on how things have gone and see what needs to be done for the future.
Seattle is doing marginally better than their Vancouverite neighbor to the north, but that’s about it. Both have the same number of points, but since the Goldeneyes have played two more games, the Torrent get the tiebreaker for now. But no team in the PWHL has less points than the 12 that Seattle and Vancouver share.
A hot streak could change things, however. The team is set to return home for two games before taking on the Goldeneyes in a Takeover Tour game in Denver, but the biggest opportunity for a statement is on Sunday, Jan. 18 against the first-place Boston Fleet.
The team will need to be on their A-game in a week’s time, however, and the chemistry that head coach Steve O’Rourke has been looking for will have to begin coalescing in force.
