Minnesota Earns Inaugural PWHL Title

A second-period goal by Liz Schepers (Ohio State) stood up as the game-winner, and Minnesota won the first-ever Professional Women's Hockey League playoff title with a 3-0 victory over Boston in Game 5 of the inaugural PWHL final last night in Lowell, Mass. Minnesota won the best-of-five series, three games to two, to lift the Walter Cup.

Michela Cava (Minnesota-Duluth) made it 2-0 in the third period, and later set up Kendall Coyne-Schofield (Northeastern) for an empty-net insurance goal. Mellissa Channell (Wisconsin) finished with two assists for Minnesota, both in the final frame, while Nicole Hensley (Lindenwood) made 17 saves for the shutout. Aerin Frankel (Northeastern) recorded 41 stops in defeat for Boston.

Minnesota's Taylor Heise (Minnesota) earned the first-ever Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP award after tallying five goals and eight points in the postseason.

Canada Wins 2022 IIHF Women's World Championship

Brianne Jenner (Cornell) scored two goals less than two minutes apart in the second period, and Ann-Renee Desbiens (Wisconsin) made 20 saves in all, including several in-close in the final minute of play, to lift Canada to a 2-1 victory over the United States on Sunday in the gold medal game of the 2022 IIHF Women's World Championship in Denmark.

Abby Roque (Wisconsin) tallied the only goal on the afternoon for Team USA in the final period to cut the deficit to one, which was as close as the the U.S. would get. Nicole Hensley (Lindenwood) stopped 17 shots in net for the Americans, who lost for the first time in the tournament. The U.S. had defeated Canada, 5-2, in round-robin play back on Aug. 30.

It is the first time in 18 years that Canada has won back-to-back Women's World Championships. The win also marked the third gold medal won by the Canadians in just over a year's time, with two World Championships and one Olympic title, all backstopped by Desbiens.