Despite Charge's loss, Gwyneth Philips named PWHL playoff MVP

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While the Ottawa Charge failed to drag the Minnesota Frost back to TD Place for a winner-take-all Game 5, the team is not coming home empty-handed.

After a virtuoso performance that kept her team alive much longer than it had any right to, rookie goaltender Gwyneth Philips was awarded the Ilana Kloss award as the PWHL’s playoff MVP.

Playing in all eight of Ottawa’s playoff games, Philips posted a league-best 1.23 goals-against average and .952 save percentage. She made 257 saves, and never lost a game in regulation.

“I thought it was a great choice,” Minnesota goaltender Maddie Rooney said. “She definitely gave her team the best chance to win.”

It was a performance reminiscent of the show that the Boston Fleet’s Aerin Frankel put on in last year’s playoffs, where she turned in a 1.45 goals-against average and .953 save percentage in eight games, also losing to Minnesota in the finals. Philips was Frankel’s understudy for several seasons at Northeastern University during their college careers.

This was the crowning moment for Philips’ season after a meteoric rise since taking over for starter Emerance Maschmeyer, who suffered a long-term injury on March 11. Philips has played every game since, helping the Charge make the playoffs and even being nominated for the PWHL’s goaltender of the year award, despite playing just 15 of Ottawa’s 30 regular-season games.

“She came into a tough spot when their No. 1 went down,” Minnesota coach Ken Klee said. “We even thought, ‘Okay, they might be in trouble, this is a girl who’s never really played a regular amount of games in our league.’ All of a sudden, she got pressed into action, and she was phenomenal.”

In the NHL, the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP has been awarded to a player from the losing team just six times. In the PWHL’s second season, Philips gave the selection committee no other choice.

Philips’ shining moment in Game 4 was an incredible left-pad stop on Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield with five minutes left to keep the score knotted.

Moments like that became commonplace in the final, where Philips was often the only force keeping the dam from bursting. She gave up just seven goals on 135 shots against the Frost, who led the PWHL in regular-season scoring and scored a whopping 18 goals in four games against the Toronto Sceptres in their semifinal series.

“She was unreal,” Klee said. “I thought three out of the four games, if she doesn’t play the way she played, I don’t think we go to overtime in any of them, to be honest with you.”

The respect for Philips transcended the Ottawa fanbase. The rookie netminder received a standing ovation from the crowd at Xcel Energy Center as she accepted the award, and started chanting her name as she and her teammates vacated the ice.

“It’s an honour, and I think it’s a tribute to this league, and how everyone can respect each other,” a tearful Philips said post-game.

“The individual award is superseded by the team loss,” she continued. “My accomplishments are attributed to the players in front of me. Maybe tomorrow it’ll be nicer, but I really wanted that win.”

While head coach Carla MacLeod emphasized that the team’s success “wasn’t about a singular player,” few performances have dragged a team forward quite like Philips’ historic showing.

The 25-year-old’s future is certainly bright.