In a six-team league, there are slim margins between the reigning champs and last season’s last-place finishers. The Frost know those margins all too well, riding a five-game losing streak into the fourth and final seed of last year’s playoffs before their title run.
“We knew they were going to push in the second. We just didn’t match that push,” Coyne Schofield said. “The good part is, it’s Game 1, Day 1, and we get the opportunity to learn from tonight’s game.”
Carpenter assisted Jessie Eldridge on a long-range power-play goal that sneaked through a crowd in the second period. Then, Blaine native and Sirens rookie Gabby Rosenthal evened the score, scrambling on a rebound to tuck a shot past Frost goalie Nicole Hensley.
Minnesota’s No. 1 overall draft pick last season, former Gopher Taylor Heise, came up big through the team’s playoff run last year. On Sunday, it was this year’s top draft pick, forward Sarah Fillier out of Princeton, who set up Carpenter for a pretty one-timer — the Sirens’ third-period go-ahead goal with 15 minutes left.
“I think the media likes to feel like there’s pressure,” Fillier said about making her pro debut. “But I mean, I like to just show up and play hockey with my friends and have fun.
“I played international hockey and college hockey,” added Fillier, a 2022 Olympic gold medalist with Canada. “This is kind of something a little bit in between, so it will take a second to get used to.”