ROSEMONT, IL – Rookie Sarah Wozniewicz scored her first career PWHL goal in style, securing the overtime winner for the Ottawa Charge in a 3-2 triumph over the Minnesota Frost on Sunday afternoon in the PWHL Takeover Tour™ at Allstate Arena. 
A crowd of 7,238 got their first taste of the PWHL in Chicago and were treated to a thriller between the 2025 PWHL Walter Cup finalists, with the Charge snapping a four-game losing streak that started with a Dec. 2 loss against the two-time defending champion Frost.
Three of the four goals in regulation were scored on the power play, including both Ottawa tallies by defender Ronja Savolainen at 9:31 of the first period, and captain Brianne Jenner who beat the buzzer at 19:56 of the second period.
Minnesota battled back twice, first by tying the game on a Britta Curl-Salemme snipe at 10:44 of the middle frame, then at 3:56 of the third period when defender Mae Batherson scored her first career goal with the player advantage.
Gwyneth Philips picked up her second win of the season with a career-high 41 saves, with Nicole Hensley suffering her first loss of the season with 22 saves. Ottawa will continue its five-game road trip in Toronto on Tuesday, while Minnesota will play another Takeover Tour tilt against Vancouver in Edmonton, AB on Saturday.
This was the first of two Takeover Tour games to be played at Allstate Arena this season with the New York Sirens and Seattle Torrent coming to town on Mar. 25, 2026.
QUOTES
Ottawa rookie Sarah Wozniewicz on her first PWHL goal being a game winner in overtime: “It’s awesome. I still can’t believe the puck went in. It was also great to see so many Wisconsin fans (where I played) in the stands here, being so close to the university.”
Charge forward Taylor House on bringing women’s hockey to her hometown of Chicago: “It’s huge to have the chance to play in front of your home fans and being given the chance to grow the game here and see how far it’s come since I’ve even played here. There are so many more girls’ teams around. It was pretty special to see the turnout for this. We felt the energy. The lower bowl was fully packed. Chicago was excited for this hockey, and it showed today.”
Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield on the impact of today’s game: “I thought about today and what it would have meant if I had the opportunity to come here as an eight, nine, 10-year-old little girl, to see this and dream about it. How special it was today to see the arena filled with boys and girls, knowing that they now will have that same dream to grow up and be a professional hockey player, if they’re good enough to do so, and they can do so. Obviously not the result we wanted, but at the end of the day, I think it was a win for the sport. It’s a win for society. I just was so proud to be able to be a part of bringing professional hockey here to Chicago.”
Frost Head Coach Ken Klee on what it takes to win in this league: “It’s good. I think our league is good. Every game is going to be close. We know that. For us now, it’s just about getting better and keep accumulating points. Obviously, we got one point today, not as many as we would like, but we still got a point. So, we just need to take that and keep going with it. We know at the end of the day every point matters. It’s mattered the last two years, as we were tied with multiple teams for that (last playoff) spot. So for us, it’s just about getting better.”
NOTABLES
This was the second of 16 games in the 2025-26 PWHL Takeover Tour™, with both games requiring extra time following Montréal’s 2-1 shootout win over Toronto in Halifax, NS, on Wednesday.
All four games of the 2025 PWHL Walter Cup Finals between these two teams went to overtime. Ottawa’s lone victory in the series also came in the overtime’s first five minutes, with Emily Clark scoring at 2:47 in Game 1 on May 20.
Minnesota’s 43 shots on goal are the most in a PWHL game this season and their 22 second period shots are the most since they fired 23 in the middle frame back on Jan. 24, 2024, in a 2-1 loss against Montréal.
Sarah Wozniewicz’s first career goal came on her 11th shot in her seventh game, with her parents from Cochrane, AB, in attendance. The Charge’s third-round pick is the first PWHL rookie to score an overtime goal this season after finishing the 2024-25 campaign with nine goals and 21 points and a second NCAA National Championship with the University of Wisconsin Badgers.
Gwyneth Philips has the two highest save totals in the PWHL this season with her 41 tonight following a 38-save effort in the Charge’s season opener against New York. Her parents made the trip to Chicago from Athens, OH, to see the game.
Ronja Savolainen’s goal ended a career-high six-game pointless streak. The Finnish defender scored twice last season, including one power play marker, and finished 2024-25 ranked second among Charge rearguards in points with 11.
Brianne Jenner scored her team leading third goal of the season and second on the power play. The Charge captain leads the team with six points in seven games, after recording her sixth point in her 13th game last season and her third goal in her 20th game.
Britta Curl-Salemme has scored in consecutive games for the first time this season after scoring in games six and seven of her rookie campaign. The Frost forward also recorded two assists on Dec. 2 in Ottawa after scoring twice against the Charge in Game 2 of the PWHL Walter Cup Finals.
Mae Batherson scored her first career PWHL goal and added an assist for her first career multi-point performance. The Frost defender also has her first career point streak (1G, 2A) and has matched her 2024-25 point total (3A) produced in 25 games as a rookie last season.
Kelly Pannek has three points in her last two games (1G, 2A) after recording her third multi-point game of the season and second multi-assist effort against Ottawa. With eight points (3G, 5A), the Frost alternate captain is tied with Curl-Salemme atop the league and halfway to matching her career-high of 16 points (4G, 12A) in 24 games during the inaugural season.
Kendall Cooper has her first point streak in the PWHL, with the Frost sixth overall pick contributing an assist tonight after recording two on Friday night against Boston.
Kateřina Mrázová and Jocelyne Larocque notched their first points of the season on Savolainen’s goal. Both players had just one power play assist last season and finished the campaign with seven points apiece. The Czech forward had three goals and four assists in 14 games, while the Canadian defender had seven assists in 30 games.
Rebecca Leslie recorded her third assist of the season and has points in consecutive games (1G, 1A) for the first time in two seasons as a member of the Charge. The Ottawa native had consecutive two-point games Jan. 17 and 20, 2024, while playing with Toronto.
Rory Guilday picked up her fourth assist of the season and has points in consecutive games (2A) for the second time in her career. The Charge’s fifth overall pick ended the game as the league’s top scoring rookie with six points in seven games.
Peyton Hemp picked up her second assist of the season on the overtime winner, giving the Charge fourth-round pick two points in her last three games. She finished the game as one of just seven rookies with multiple assists so far this season.
Nicole Hensley’s career-best three-game winning streak came to an end tonight, despite facing a season-low 25 shots against. Her second of three wins this season came against Ottawa with a season-high 35 saves.
Olivia Wallin was in the lineup for her first career PWHL game for the Charge and marked the occasion with the traditional helmetless rookie lap in warmups.
Gabbie Hughes returned to the Charge lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury and centered a line with Anna Shokhina and Mannon McMahon.
Fanuza Kadirova missed her first game from the Charge lineup with an upper-body injury.
The game featured two of the league’s seven Illinois players including Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield (Palos Heights) and Charge forward Taylor House (Joliet). Both players participated in the ceremonial faceoff performed by Sarah Spain.
House had a number of her former Chicago Fury teammates in attendance, including Marrisa Dunbar, Macey Horbach and Carolyn Carpenter who read the Charge starting lineup before the game.
THREE STARS
1. Sarah Wozniewicz (OTT) OTGWG
2. Gwyneth Philips (OTT) 41/43 SV
3. Mae Batherson (MIN) 1G, 1A
STANDINGS
Minnesota (3-0-1-2) – 3rd Place (Tied)
Ottawa (1-1-0-5) – 8th Place
You must be logged in to post a comment.