Minnesota Frost

The Minnesota Frost are a professional ice hockey team from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area and a charter member of the Professional Women’s Hockey League. They play home games at Grand Casino Arena. The Frost won the league’s first Walter Cup in 2024 and repeated as champions in 2025, then played in the first round of the 2026 playoffs. The team was announced as one of the PWHL’s original six franchises on August 29, 2023, filling the gap left by the Minnesota Whitecaps. Natalie Darwitz, a former U.S. national team captain and three-time Olympic medalist, became general manager on September 1. Charlie Burggraf, previously head coach of Bethel University’s men’s and women’s teams, was named the first head coach on September 15, but stepped down on December 27. Former U.S. national team coach Ken Klee replaced him. The first three players signed were U.S. national team members Kendall Coyne Schofield, Kelly Pannek, and Lee Stecklein. Minnesota won a lottery for the first overall pick in the inaugural PWHL draft and selected Golden Gophers forward Taylor Heise. In November, the team’s colors were revealed as purple, black, and white, and Grand Casino Arena—home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild—was announced as the home venue. For the inaugural season, Coyne Schofield was named captain, with Pannek and Stecklein as alternates. The first game was on January 3, 2024, against PWHL Boston in Lowell, Massachusetts; Heise scored the franchise’s first goal in a 3–2 win. The home debut on January 6 drew 13,316 fans—a professional women’s hockey attendance record—and resulted in a 3–0 shutout of PWHL Montreal, with Grace Zumwinkle scoring a hat trick and Maddie Rooney earning the shutout. On May 5, the team clinched the fourth playoff seed. They upset first-seeded Toronto in a five-game semifinal series, rallying from a 2–0 deficit, then beat Boston in a tight final that went to a decisive Game 5. After losing Game 4 in double overtime at home, Minnesota won 3–0 on the road at Tsongas Center to claim the inaugural Walter Cup. Heise led playoff scoring and won the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP Award; Zumwinkle was named rookie of the year. Natalie Darwitz parted ways with the team in June 2024, with Ken Klee taking over as acting general manager. During the first season, the team operated without a nickname, using the league-wide jersey template with “Minnesota”