The PWHL Takeover Tour made its way to Raleigh on Friday night, stopping at the Lenovo Center for the seventh of nine games on the tour. For the first PWHL game in Raleigh, the defending champion Minnesota Frost hosted the Ottawa Charge in a battle for a crucial three points. With Minnesota barely holding off Ottawa in the standings, this was expected to be a spirited bout.
To kick off the game, Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis, who received a deafening cheer when shown on the scoreboard, sounded the siren with Jesperi Kotkaniemi cheering him on. Two of the league's best goalies squared off as Minnesota's Maddie Rooney and Ottawa's Emerance Maschmeyer clashed between the pipes.
The Frost wasted little time setting the tone as they opened the scoring early in the first. Dominique Petrie's pressure below the goal line forced a turnover to Denisa Křížová. While she couldn't power it home, Kendall Coyne Schofield was on the spot to lift the puck home for her ninth of the season. Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" blasted over the PA system, a song we'd hear plenty in the opening 20.
Late in the frame, Minnesota would strike twice more. Brooke McQuigge refused to give up on a play while lying on her stomach, batting a loose puck to herself before getting just enough of it to send it home with Maschmeyer on her backside. Less than two minutes later, Coyne Schofield returned the favor to Křížová, finding her on a 2-on-1. Křížová lost control of the puck but did just enough to slide it through Maschmeyer's pads.
With Ottawa generating next to nothing in the opening period and trailing 3-0, the Charge changed things up by sending Gwyneth Philips into the net for Maschmeyer to start the second. This period belonged to the Frost's penalty kill. Despite committing three penalties, Minnesota channeled the Hurricanes' PK, killing all three infractions with ease to maintain their advantage through two periods.
Sophie Jaques put the nail in the coffin 35 seconds into the third period. The defender grabbed a loose puck in the slot, turned, and fired a shot past an unsuspecting Philips to make it 4-0, taking the Charge out of it for good. It was a well-defended play by Ottawa, but they didn't get any bounces all night.
The rest of the period was about Rooney. The third period was easily Ottawa's best. After generating just eight shots through 40 minutes, the Charge had 11 in the third and none was better than the chance Taylor House had on a seemingly open net. Rooney reached back with her blocker and absolutely robbed her. Michela Cava put one into the empty net to bring the final score to 5-0.
This was way more one-sided than I had initially expected. Minnesota ran the show in the first period but wasn't really rewarded until the final five minutes when they scored twice to extend their lead to three. The trio of Coyne Schofield, Křížová, and Petrie was on fire. Each finished with two points and was on the ice for three of the five Minnesota goals.
Ottawa played much better in the final 40 minutes after Philips entered the game. The message was sent. They just couldn't find offense, which has been a recurring theme for them this season. If the Frost's penalty kill mirrored the Hurricanes', then Ottawa's power play mirrored the Hurricanes' as well. Ottawa couldn't create anything on their three chances in the second as they failed to make a dent in the deficit.
The third period was easily the most exciting of the night. Along with the early goal, both teams had more shots in the final 20 minutes than they had in the first two periods combined. Both goalies were great, but only one was perfect. Along with the highway robbery on House, Rooney also stood tall on a breakaway against Natalie Snodgrass. Rooney was impressive, earning her 8th win with a 19-save shutout.
As for the environment after experiencing it first hand, it was electric. It had some of the same characteristics as a Friday night Hurricanes game. The building's lower bowl was packed with hockey fans of all ages to witness a first-of-its-kind event in Raleigh. The PWHL and the Carolina Hurricanes did an excellent job of providing an exciting spectacle.
I said on Friday that this would be a good test for the area if we had any hopes of getting a PWHL team. While Raleigh, or The Triangle at large, is likely not at the top of the list for the league when it comes to expansion, the fans at the Lenovo Center showed the type of atmosphere they could expect if we were graced with one.