Her Puck Perspective: Weekly Recap – December 7th, 2025 — Incredible Saves, Some Slow Starts, & A Statement Weekend for the Wisconsin Badgers

It was another fun week of women’s hockey! We saw two incredible saves this week (one from Gwyneth Philips and one from Emerance Maschmeyer; both could be up for saves of the year at the end of the season). We also saw some teams off to slow starts in games, with low shot totals in a number of first periods this week. Last, but certainly not least, we saw the Wisconsin Badgers have quite the statement weekend in Ohio.

Let’s look at what happened this week!

PWHL Games

Minnesota Frost @ Ottawa Charge

• Final score: Frost 5, Charge 1
• Attendance: 5,174
• Thoughts: The Frost took some of the energy out of an emotionally charged fan group, as the Charge fans came out in force (and in a lot of pink!) to support coach Carla MacLeod just days after she announced her breast cancer diagnosis. Both teams wore pink as they came into the game, both coaching staffs wore pink during the game, and the Charge players had pink tape to honor their coach, who wasn’t behind the bench for this game, but we hope to see back coaching soon. The Frost set the PWHL record for fastest 3 goals by one team to open a game, with 3 goals in just over 7 minutes. The Frost kept the momentum for most of the rest of the game, and Kendall Coyne-Schofield scored her first PWHL hat trick as the Frost had a convincing win.

Vancouver Goldeneyes @ Boston Fleet

• Final score: Fleet 2, Goldeneyes 0
• Attendance: 3,516
• Thoughts: The Fleet stayed red hot to start their season, and the Goldeneyes are still working to find their footing and consistency. The Goldeneyes only had 2 shots on goal in the first period, which is about as slow of a start as you can get off to. They ended with 21 shots on goal for the game, so they definitely picked up as the game went on, but 21 shots isn’t enough in a game, and especially against a goalie as good as Aerin Frankel. The Fleet keep finding ways to win and are looking like the strongest and most consistent team at the start of this season.

New York Sirens @ Seattle Torrent

• Final score: Torrent 2, Sirens 1
• Attendance: 8,622
• Thoughts: The Torrent got their first win in franchise history, and in very entertaining fashion to boot! They got off to a slow start in this game, with only 3 shots on goal in the first period. There were a lot of penalties in this game, with 33 total penalty minutes between the two teams. Rookie and 2025 1st overall draft pick Kristýna Kaltounková was called for a 5-minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind with about 4 minutes left in the game, and that was just what the Torrent needed to get them going! Alex Carpenter scored her first of the season to tie the game, and less than 30 seconds later, captain Hilary Knight scored her first of the season as well to give the Torrent their first ever win. Knight’s goal came with 1:02 left in the third period, so it was an exciting ending indeed. The Torrent had another strong crowd, who had a lot to celebrate and cheer for late in this game.

Ottawa Charge @ Toronto Sceptres

• Final score: Sceptres 3, Charge 1
• Attendance: 7,715
• Thoughts: One of the best moments of this game came before the game even started when former Toronto Sceptres goalie and breast cancer survivor Erica Howe came on the ice for her ceremonial puck drop in a Carla MacLeod Team Canada jersey to support coach Carla in her fight against breast cancer and her first game back behind the bench since her cancer diagnosis was announced last weekend. For the game itself, this was a strong outing for the Sceptres overall, with 37 shots on goal. For the Charge, Gwyneth Philips had one of the best saves of the year so far in the first period, with a crazy recovery to get her paddle out behind her just in time to make a fantastic save. Fanuza Kadirova got the Charge on the board in the first period, with her first PWHL goal. The Sceptres answered with 2nd period goals from Daryl Watts and Natalie Spooner (both of their first goals of the season), and sealed the game with a Blayre Turnbull empty netter late in the 3rd period.

New York Sirens @ Vancouver Goldeneyes

• Final score: Goldeneyes 4, Sirens 0
• Attendance: 9,502
• Thoughts: Goldeneyes fans came out in force for their team’s 2nd home game, and they were not disappointed! A day after the team announced that Sarah Nurse was put on LTIR, the team played its most balanced and complete game. Losing a player like Sarah Nurse will rattle any team, and their first couple of games without her looked understandably rough, but the team might have found some line combinations in this game that could be effective until Nurse is back healthy. Abby Boreen scored 2 goals, Emerance Maschmeyer looked strong in net (including our 2nd incredible save of the week, after Gwenyth Phillip’s save a couple of days earlier), and the Goldeneyes gave their home crowd a lot to cheer about in this strong outing.

Toronto Sceptres @ Montréal Victoire

• Final score: Victoire 3, Sceptres 1
• Attendance: 8,113
• Thoughts: This was a physical, gritty, and exciting game! The Victoire had a goal overturned in the first period due to a kicking motion, but they still had a strong start to the game and, even after a long time off in between games, had a strong outing overall. The Sceptres got off to a slow start in this one, with only 3 shots on goal in the first period, but their effort improved as the game went on. There were a number of big hits, and physical play throughout the game. Each team had an opportunity for an extended 5 on 3 power play. During the Sceptre’s 5 on 3 power play in the 3rd period, Ann-Renée Desbiens made numerous impressive saves, with there being a few plays that looked to be guaranteed goals for the Sceptres, but Desbiens was able to get over in time to make some fantastic saves.

Minnesota Frost @ Boston Fleet

• Final score: Fleet 4, Frost 1
• Attendance: 5,338
• Thoughts: There were no slow starts in this game! Both teams came out ready to play and most of the 1st period, but especially the first 10 minutes, felt like a shooting gallery for both teams, and both goalies looked strong early as well. The Fleet scored 2 goals in the first period, and the Frost finally ended Aerin Frankel’s shutout streak at 136 minutes with their goal early in the 2nd period. The Fleet answered back less than a minute after the Frost’s goal, and the Fleet never looked back the rest of the game. The Fleet continue to look strong, as the only undefeated team in the league, and are have definitely earned their first place finish in the league so far.

NCAA Top 10 Games

#1 Wisconsin @ #2 Ohio State

#3 Minnesota vs. St. Thomas

#4 Penn State: no games

#5 MN Duluth @ Bemidji State

#6 Northeastern @ Boston College

#7 UConn vs. Boston University

#8 Cornell vs. #9 Quinnipiac & Princeton

#9 Quinnipiac vs. #8 Cornell & #14 Colgate

#10 Clarkson vs. St. Lawrence

The Wisconsin Badgers had a statement weekend with 2 wins over Ohio State, the second one coming in 6-1 fashion. The first game was close throughout, with Wisconsin eventually winning 2-1, but the second game was much more one-sided on the scoresheet. I usually expect to see splits between these teams or other highly ranked teams when they face each other, but the Badgers went into Ohio State and made a statement this weekend. It doesn’t decide anything, and there is still a lot of hockey to be played once the games restart in late December or early January, but the Badgers definitely took care of business this weekend.

Cornell had a tough weekend against 2 tough opponents, and ended up losing to both Quinnipiac and Princeton. Quinnipiac earned a split this weekend, losing to Colgate in OT after beating Cornell the day before.

Clarkson was also tested this weekend, with both games against St. Lawrence going to OT. The first game ended in a shootout, and Clarkson was able to find the game winner in OT in the second game.

That wraps up the first half of the college hockey season, and the teams now have a few weeks off until after the holidays. They have earned some well deserved time off, and I look forward to the action starting back up in a few weeks.