Ottawa Charge lose 2-1 to the Frost as Frost wins the Walter Cup
By Tyler Beauchesne
The Ottawa Charge were set to face the Minnesota Frost at the Xcel Energy Center for game four of the finals series. The Charge were down 2-1 in the series against the Frost with back-to-back heartbreaking losses in overtime. Now was their chance to tie the series up, or their season was truly over.
The first period was a tough effort for each team. Both the Charge and the Frost had aggressive offensive play throughout the period, but neither team could finish on their opportunities. The Frost were doing well at drawing penalties, but Ottawa’s great penalty kill units were taking care of business each time as they were heading into the second period.
The second period began with the Charge successfully killing off the penalty and returning to even strength. It was another tight battle where both Maddie Rooney and Gwyneth Philips were a brick wall in the net. It was another tough battle that ended up with Minnesota scoring first to end the period 1-0, with the Charge needing to come back in the third if they wanted their season to continue.
The third period was a desperate time for the Charge as they were trying to find ways to tie up the game. That is when my favourite player, Tereza Vanišová, tied the game up, finishing a net front opportunity on Rooney. That finish was perfectly set up by Danielle Serdachny from behind the net, with Jocelyne Larocque getting the secondary assist. The game is now tied up and is going into overtime as per usual.
Overtime started strong as there was hope for the Charge to end strong and bring it to a game five. It was 12 minutes of high-intensity hockey, that was until Liz Schepers got the game-winning goal for the Minnesota Frost to make them back-to-back champions! This was an incredibly heartbreaking loss as the Charge fought hard this entire run just to come up short.
It was not all gloom as Philips ended up winning the 2025 Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP! It simply could not have been anyone else as she was the best player in this playoff run. There were times when she was basically the entire team, but her help pushed them onto this deep run. Doing this as a rookie is just astounding and I look forward to her future career where she will hopefully be in Ottawa for life!
As rough as an ending that was, it was still a fantastic season for this team! Even with the expansion draft on the horizon, the future is still bright for the Charge. I hope that next year, they can find their way back to win it all this time! That being said, this city is super proud of them regardless of what happens next. Go Charge!
