Minnesota
Women’s hockey: Minnesota loses fourth straight, again fails to clinch PWHL playoff spot
TORONTO — Natalie Spooner scored twice and Toronto clinched first place in the inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League with a 4-1 win over Minnesota on Wednesday night.
Toronto (12-4-0-7) moved ahead of Montreal (10-3-5-5) in the standings with 44 points, while holding the tiebreaker in case of a tie by regular season’s end. Both teams have one game remaining before the post-season begins next week.
Earning first place means Toronto is able to choose between the third- or fourth-place team as their first playoff opponent.
Minnesota (8-4-3-8) lost its fourth straight since the season paused for the world championships. It enters its final game Saturday at New York needing one point to clinch a playoff spot.
Hannah Miller and Emma Maltais, with an empty-netter, also scored for Toronto, which extended its winning streak to three games. Kristen Campbell made 25 saves.
Spooner’s two goals extended her lead atop the league for points (25) and goals (18). Maltais also dished out two assists, taking the league lead with 15 on the season.
Michela Cava scored for Minnesota. Maddie Rooney stopped 19 shots.
It was the last of four regular-season matchups between the two sides, with Toronto taking the season series 2-1-0-1.
Cava opened the scoring 4:14 into the first period. Taylor Heise found Maggie Flaherty from behind the net, and Cava tipped in Flaherty’s point shot past Campbell.
Miller tied it on the power play at 10:16. Maltais, from the right faceoff circle, sent the puck to Sarah Nurse, who was near the back of the net and whizzed a pass into the slot for Miller who finished off the tic-tac-toe play.
Toronto picked things up in the second period.
Jocelyne Larocque had the door shut on her in front by Rooney, with Spooner missing another close chance and Nurse not being able to convert a nice pass in front from Miller.
Spooner put Toronto ahead 11:10 into the second period on the power play. Renata Fast sent in a point shot that Spooner got her stick on.
Spooner added to her goal total and Toronto’s lead 7:21 into the third period. She blocked Lee Stecklein’s point shot and immediately went on a breakaway, where she got Rooney to bite on a deke well enough to almost the leave the entire net open and scored.
Maltais scored into an empty net with 2:05 remaining while almost falling with two defenders on her heels.
Up next
Minnesota visits New York for their regular-season finale on Saturday.
Toronto hosts Ottawa for their regular-season finale on Sunday.
See how the bald eagle’s story shows its enduring symbolism
As the U.S. celebrates 250 years, the bald eagle endures as North America’s native sea eagle and national bird.
The common loon, Minnesota’s state bird, is more closely related to a penguin than a duck.
Despite loons predominantly living in the northern hemisphere and penguins mostly living in the southern hemisphere, researchers consider them to be genetic cousins. Taxonomic analyses placed them in an evolutionary cluster tracing back 40 million to 50 million years ago, along with herons and pelicans.
While loons and ducks share habitat on Minnesota lakes, they aren’t close relatives. Ducks are closer cousins to geese and swans.
After sharing a common ancestor, penguins and loons developed distinct characteristics. Loons can fly, but struggle to move on land; penguins can’t fly, but waddle on land. Penguins use flipper-like wings to swim; loons use webbed feet for underwater propulsion.
They have some similar features, however, including dense bones to help dive underwater and their tuxedo coloring.
MinnPost partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
Fires in the past burned more frequently in western Canada, but recent years have seen that trend migrate eastward, with large fires now burning in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic provinces, Prof Chasmer said, leading to more noticeable smoke in densely populated cities like Toronto and New York.
Minnesota United, the Liberia Lone Star National Football Team and SARX today announced that the international friendly against the Liberia National Team, scheduled for July 26, 2026, has been canceled.
While we were looking forward to welcoming the Liberia National Team and celebrating the strong ties between Minnesota’s Liberian community and our club, circumstances outside of our control have made it necessary to cancel the match. We appreciate the understanding of our supporters and wish the Liberia National Team all the best.
Fans who purchased tickets to the match will be refunded within approximately 3-10 business days.
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