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The Minnesota Frost are eager to defend their PWHL title after an eventful summer with the trophy

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The Minnesota Frost are eager to defend their PWHL title after an eventful summer with the trophy


ST. PAUL, Minn. — Taylor Heise and her Minnesota Frost teammates had the time of their lives celebrating the inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League championship throughout the summer, taking the Walter Cup with them wherever they could.

“If someone hasn’t seen it,” Heise said, “they just weren’t in the right place.”

One of those outings was to the Minnesota State Fair, where the sterling silver trophy posed for pictures, saw the sights and even served as a receptacle for serving the group a margarita during a four-hour tour on a August afternoon.

“I had scrapes up and down my arm,” Heise said, flashing a mischievous smile: “That was my offseason lifting.”’

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Goalie Nicole Hensley took the cup back to her native Colorado, including a visit to her favorite concert venue, the venerable Red Rocks amphitheater. Shipping from player to player was meticulously arranged via UPS so everyone had a turn.

“It was pretty cool,” Hensley said. “Door to door service.”

The entire team has more to carry when the PHWL’s second season begins on Nov. 30, with new logos and nicknames for every club after branding was largely skipped over in the hasty launch a year ago. Winning a title breeds fiercer competition, particularly in a six-team league with so much familiarity between players from their college and international careers.

Minnesota coach Ken Klee watches a video screen during a challenge in the second period of Game 2 of a PWHL hockey championship series against Boston, May 21, 2024, in Lowell, Mass. Credit: AP/Mark Stockwell

“We have a spot on our back,” said Heise, who led the team with five goals in 10 playoff games. “Everyone’s going to look at us a specific way.”

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There’s been no shortage of attention for this team. One week after the dramatic win over Boston in the finals last spring, Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz — an icon for women’s hockey in this hockey-rich state — was removed from her post by the PHWL. She was later replaced by Melissa Caruso. Ken Klee, who took over on the fly when the initial hire Charlie Burggraf resigned a week before the season began, was retained as head coach. The Athletic, citing unnamed sources within the league, reported there was a rift between Darwitz and Klee and thus between certain players who were supporters of each.

“For me it’s just about getting our group back together,” Klee said on Thursday after practice. “We’re focusing on the future. Pro hockey things happen, some unfortunate things and some things out of our control, and we’re just really looking forward and excited to get the season going.”

Neither PHWL officials nor Frost leaders or players have been willing to speak publicly about the situation.

Minnesota Frost's Grace Zumwinkle, left, throws out a ceremonial first...

Minnesota Frost’s Grace Zumwinkle, left, throws out a ceremonial first pitch as teammate Taylor Heise, right, watches before a baseball game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Minnesota Twins, Sept. 9, 2024, in Minneapolis. Credit: AP/Abbie Parr

“Those were league decisions,” said Frost forward Kendall Coyne Schofield, who was second on the team in scoring last season. “We’re here to play hockey.”

Whatever issues might’ve bubbled up in the aftermath of the championship were either nonexistent or tamped down in the leadup to the title.

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“We had an unbelievable locker room. We had an unbelievable group, an unbelievable staff,” Klee said. “If we didn’t have those things, we wouldn’t have won.”

The PWHL is a centralized league that owns all six franchises and is financed by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, with an eye on expansion for 2025-26. The Frost have relished the opportunity to lean into their new name and wear the new threads featuring several shades of purple and the “F” logo with icicle-like points on the lettering.

“Last year was a lot about building our league, building up our fan base, having all the little girls have the best time,” Heise said. “Now I think we can focus on that as well as focus on the ice and everything that we can do there. We want to bring a better team out every single time we come out there.”



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Minnesota

NEXT Weather: 10 p.m. report for Minnesota on Dec. 24, 2024

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NEXT Weather: 10 p.m. report for Minnesota on Dec. 24, 2024


NEXT Weather: 10 p.m. report for Minnesota on Dec. 24, 2024 – CBS Minnesota

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Meteorologist Lisa Meadows says high temperatures will be in the 30s for Christmas day, with patchy fog in the morning.

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An Unusual Airport Is Closing in Minnesota

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An Unusual Airport Is Closing in Minnesota


A small airport with a bigger claim to fame is closing in northern Minnesota after more than a half-century of operation. The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport is so named because its runway crosses the US-Canada border, reports Minnesota Public Radio. In fact, it’s been hailed as “the world’s first binational airport,” notes the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Despite the bragging rights, however, the airport has been mostly used by hunters and fishermen, and the cost of maintenance has proven to be too much. The airport has a 3,297-foot runway, of which 2,350 feet are in Minnesota and the rest in Canada, per the Grand Forks Herald.

“It’s a tough decision to close an airport ever, but the evidence was all there that now was the time,” says Ryan Gaug of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The airport opened in 1953 and is one of six now that straddle the border—but only Piney-Pinecreek has a paved runway. “It’s always been the No. 1 fun fact that I’ve shared with friends, family, coworkers, colleagues here at MnDOT,” says Gaug. The agency has jointly owned the airport with the municipality of Piney, Manitoba, in Canada, but the town ended the arrangement because it was unable to meet the cost of maintenance. As such, “a colorful era in the history of Minnesota aviation” ends on Friday, per the Herald. (More Minnesota stories.)

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Two St. Stephen residents involved in injury crash on Highway 55 near Buffalo

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Two St. Stephen residents involved in injury crash on Highway 55 near Buffalo


Two St. Stephen residents were involved in an accident Christmas Eve morning.

The accident took place at roughly 7 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Minnesota Highway 55 and Highway 25 in Buffalo, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. Road conditions were listed as wet at the time of the accident.

St. Stephen’s Hunter Merten, 24, and Amber Burns, 25, were heading west on Highway 55 when their Ford F150 collided with a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Jeep was heading east on Highway 55, and was allegedly turning northbound onto Highway 25 at the time of the accident.

The Jeep’s driver, 22-year-old Dakota Dimond of Maple Lake, was transported to Buffalo Hospital for non-life threatening injuries, according to the incident report. Burns was also taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

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All persons involved were wearing seatbelts.



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