Ottawa Charge season ended by two-time champs as yet another PWHL finals game goes to OT

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FROST 2, CHARGE 1 (OT)
(Minnesota wins PWHL finals 3-1)

For the fourth straight game in the Walter Cup finals, the Ottawa Charge and Minnesota Frost battled to a 2-1 overtime outcome.

For the third time in a row, the Charge came up short.

Liz Schepers’s goal at the 12-minute mark of OT gave the Minnesota Frost their second PWHL championship with a heartbreaking loss for the Charge in front of 11,024 at Xcel Energy Center on Monday night.

Schepers took a pass from Katy Knoll, the hero of Game 3, and took two whacks at the puck to get it behind Ottawa goalie Gwyneth Philips.

Tereza Vanisova ended an 11-game drought with her first of the playoffs to tie the score with 9:51 left in regulation time.

The goal by Vanisova, who led the Charge with 15 during the regular season, was set up by Danielle Serdachny, the second overall pick in last year’s draft.

Serdachny showed a burst of speed to get past Minnesota’s Sophie Jaques, who is a finalist for the PWHL Defender of the Year award.

Serdachny caught up to the puck in the corner and fought off Jaques to send a pass in front that Vanisova one-timed behind Maddie Rooney.

After scoring just two goals and six assists in 30 regular-season games — and seeing limited, fourth-line duties throughout playoffs — Serdachny was bumped to the first line and was one of the best Charge players through regulation time.

“It was a great pass from Dach,” Vanisova said in a TV interview after regulation time. “I just finished it. Here we go again.

“I’m sure this one is going to be ours.”

That looked to be the case when Charge defender Aneta Tejralova hit the crossbar and post off a solo rush in the sixth minute of overtime.

The Vanisova goal erased a 1-0 lead the Frost built — and looked like it would successfully protect — on a second-period goal by Kelly Pannek.

Minnesota outshot Ottawa 36-30 through three periods, with Philips and Rooney making a number of huge saves.

Philips’ best was an incredible left pad stop off Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield with five minutes left to keep the score knotted.

Taylor Heise came within inches of giving the Frost a two-goal cushion in the fourth minute of the third when she whipped a shot past Philips but hit the post.

Eight minutes into the second, Klara Hymlarova broke in on a clear breakaway, but Philips managed to get enough of her backhand that the puck grazed off the post to the backboards.

The Frost finally opened the scoring at the 10:10 mark of the period against some soft defensive zone coverage, with Claire Thompson finding Pannek all alone in front of the Ottawa net.

Pannek quickly flipped a shot over Philips’ left shoulder for her second of the playoffs.

The Charge had a couple of good chances to tie the score late in the middle frame, but both times Rooney came up big.

The first blocker save was off a good wrist shot by Brianne Jenner, with Vanisova just failing to get a stick on the rebound with an open side in front of her.

A few moments later, Emily Clark broke in alone, only to have Rooney stop her backhand effort off a deke.

Each team had 12 shots on goal in the first, with Minnesota getting the better quality scoring chances.

Ottawa entered the game a sickly 1-for-17 on the power play during the playoffs, and the struggles continued when Dominique Petrie went off for tripping in the 12th minute.

It wasn’t until Mannon McMahon tested Rooney just as Petrie was stepping out of the box that the Charge managed a shot with the advantage.

Minnesota was given its first power-play chance when Ronja Savolainen went off for cross-checking 18 seconds before the intermission, but the Charge killed it off.

“Both teams had their looks, both goalies are playing well,” Jenner said on TV at the end of the first period, before expressing her confidence in the Charge being able to bring the series back to TD Place for a fifth and deciding on Wednesday.

“I think this team is prepared for this moment.”

Alas, it was not meant to be for the Charge this season.

The Ottawa lineup was bolstered by the return of Katerina Mrazova, who missed games 2 and 3 of the final after suffering an injury in a Game 1 collision with Britta Curl-Salemme.

Ottawa did establish a strong rivalry with the two-time champs in 2024-25.

Game 4 was the 10th in the history of the Ottawa-Minnesota matchup (including playoffs) that was decided by one goal or a shootout.

That equalled the second-most one-goal games between any two PWHL teams all-time.

Boston and Montreal have played 11, while Montreal and Ottawa have also played 10.

With the first three games of the finals going to overtime, the teams played an additional 69:08.