The stage is set for the 2026 Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) Walter Cup Playoffs, presented by SharkNinja, featuring best-of-five semifinals between the Montréal Victoire and the Minnesota Frost, and the Boston Fleet against the Ottawa Charge. Montréal finished as the league’s first-place team in the regular-season standings, earning the opportunity to select their opponent between third-place Minnesota and fourth-place Ottawa. The Victoire announced their selection, the Frost, Sunday evening on team social media platforms, which made both semifinal matchups official.
Montréal (16-6-2-6) will face Minnesota (13-3-5-9), the two-time Walter Cup champions, for the first time in playoff history, beginning Saturday, May 2 at 2 p.m. ET at Place Bell. This season, the Victoire won all four games of the head-to-head season series against the Frost, including two overtime victories. This is the third straight season the Victoire have qualified for the playoffs and second straight season they finished in first and selected the third-place team as their opponent.
Boston (16-5-4-5) earned home ice advantage by finishing in second place in the standings and will take on Ottawa (9-8-1-12) for the first time in playoff history, beginning Thursday, April 30 at 7 p.m. ET at the Tsongas Center. This is the second playoff appearance for both teams after each advanced to the finals in their playoff debuts (Boston in 2024, Ottawa in 2025). All four games of this season’s head-to-head series required extra time, including three shootouts, with the Charge winning three of the four matchups against the Fleet.
The lower seed has won all four playoff semifinals in PWHL history. The winners of each series will advance to the PWHL Walter Cup Finals to compete in a best-of-five championship series.