The Minnesota Frost hosted the Boston Fleet on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon, Mar. 29. They had good news regarding their lineup as their captain, Kendall Coyne-Schofield, returned after missing the past seven games. She returned from the Olympics with an injury and hadn’t played since.
Nicole Hensley was back in the net after Maddie Rooney played the past few games. The game started out in favor of the Fleet with a goal towards the midway point of the first, and another followed a short time later. The Frost fought back to tie it in the second, which included a goal from Taylor Heise, but the Fleet responded and retook the lead in both the second and the third. The Frost couldn’t mount another comeback and fell 4-2. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with how they started the game.
Frost Start Behind Again
For the second straight game, the Frost had a rough start as they fell behind early, and the first period was a rough one. They struggled to find their energy, and any momentum they had seemed to be squashed by the Fleet almost immediately. They did find a way to dig deep and come out better in the second, and they managed to tie the game.
However, the Fleet bounced back and retook the lead and control of the game for most of the third. The Frost tried to get things going their way, but the Fleet had a way to shut it down almost immediately. If the Frost wants to have a strong postseason, they need to figure out how to start their games off stronger.
“Yeah, no question, they came out, I think the shots were 12-1 at one point, so I mean it was tough, when the ice was definitely tilted in their direction, coming at us, but like I said, we responded well. I mean you’re going to have games like that where team’s are getting on you, getting momentum stuff, it’s a game of momentum for me so I really like the way our group responded, obviously we had a bad exchange in the second to put us back down after we tied it back up but that’s okay, it’s one of those things that happens in games and obviously we’re going to look to respond Wednesday night,” said head coach Ken Klee in his postgame press conference about things to improve.
Frost Had Power Play Chances
Although the Fleet did control the majority of the game, the Frost had a fair number of chances on the power play. They did get one to go in while on the power play, which is great, but if they’d been able to get one or two more, this could’ve been a different game. They had several big opportunities and couldn’t convert.
Even in the final minute, they had an open net and couldn’t get it to go in, and then the other chances they had, the goaltender was ready for. It’s difficult to score on every power play chance, but again, the Frost had ample chances to score and just couldn’t. Hopefully, their power play can continue to find success, but a little more often, because they’re going to need it.
Frost’s Scorers Try to Step Up
The Frost looked like they were going to take the game back when they scored a quick goal at the beginning of the second period and again just before the halfway point of the game. Lee Stecklein scored the first goal, and that was another prime example of their depth scoring stepping up, as it has quite a bit this season, especially when Kendall Coyne-Schofield was still out.
The second goal came from one of their top scorers, Taylor Heise, and she set a new career high with 23 points. Prior to their recent loss to the Montréal Victoire and their win over the Vancouver Goldeneyes, Heise had been on a scoring streak, and hopefully she can get it started once again.
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“Yeah, it’s nice, I mean it’s good for Lee (Stecklein) to get on the board, it’s good for us to kind of jump momentum back right away, especially in the first minute of a period, any time we can score a goal first minute, last minute it’s a good thing for your team,” said Klee in his postgame interview about Stecklein’s goal and Coyne-Schofield assisting.
After this quick two-game stint, the Frost will head back on the road to face the New York Sirens on Wednesday, Apr. 1. Hopefully, they can turn their game around and get back on the winning track and build some more points as they cruise towards the postseason.
