Power Play Club

Correction: PPC Chalk Talk dates for 2026-2027

Please note a date correction for the first of the Power Play Club's three Chalk Talks in the 2026-2027 season. The dates of all three (subject to change) are:

Saturday, October 17 – prior to Minnesota vs. Ohio State
Saturday, January 30 – prior to Minnesota vs. St. Thomas
Saturday, February 20 – prior to Minnesota vs. St. Cloud State

Chalk Talks will be held in the Ridder Arena Weight Room, upstairs across the hall from the suites and press area, starting 90 minutes before game time.

We apologize for the error in last week's email and thank you for your patience.

Note: the correct date was published on the webpage - it was incorrect in the previous emailed edition of the newsletter.

Pannek named finalist for 2026 PWHL Billie Jean King MVP Award

We congratulate and wish good luck to Gopher Women's Hockey alumna Kelly Pannek on being named a finalist for the 2026 PWHL Billie Jean King MVP Award following her season with the Minnesota Frost!! She is joined by goaltenders Ann-Renée Desbiens of the Montréal Victoire and Aerin Frankel of the Boston Fleet.

Pannek, also a finalist for the league's Forward of the Year Award, set new PWHL records for both total points and goals in the regular season with 33 and 16 respectively, dishing out 17 assists as well (placing her in a tie for second). She also earned a share of the league lead with four game-winning goals, and her 27.6% shooting percentage led skaters having a minimum of 15 shots on goal. In five postseason games, she added another four points with a goal and 3 assists.

In 25 games, Desbiens co-led the PWHL in the regular season with a record-setting 19 wins, losing a league-low six times, and finishing the schedule with a seven-game winning streak that helped the Victoire secure first place in the standings. Her 28 goals against were the fewest among goaltenders with at least 15 starts and part of a Montréal tandem that surrendered just 41 goals, the fewest by any team in history. She posted a career-high 592 saves, becoming one of four goaltenders in league history to surpass 500 saves in multiple seasons and one of only two to achieve the milestone in consecutive seasons, alongside Frankel.

Frankel's 19 regular-season wins in 26 starts included 14 in regulation and co-led the league with Desbiens for a new single-season record, earning 10 wins despite two or fewer goals of supporting offense. She allowed just 31 goals while anchoring a defense that surrendered 45 overall, the second-fewest all-time, while Boston maintained a 92.9 percent penalty kill efficiency with her in the crease. She finished second with a 1.17 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage, both career bests, while ranking second with 631 saves and turning aside 25 or more shots in half of her appearances.

The 2026 Billie Jean King MVP winner will be announced at the PWHL Awards on Tuesday, June 16 in Detroit.

Gopher alumnae Pannek, Heise signed and protected by
Minnesota Frost in Phase 1 of PWHL's expansion process

This week marked the start of the PWHL's Expansion Process as the new clubs in Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas and San Jose are incorporated into the league.

Phase 1 of the process featured the eight existing teams protecting three players apiece from future phases. Gopher Women's Hockey alumnae Kelly Pannek and Taylor Heise were among the protectees; listed as free agents coming out of the 2025-2026 season, both signed new three-year Standard Player Agreements to remain members of the Minnesota Frost. Frost goaltender Maddie Rooney, having two years remaining on her existing contract, was designated as the team's third protected player. The PWHL published the list of all 24 players protected to-date across the eight teams here.

Phase 2 begins today – The second phase of the expansion process begins at Noon ET / 11 a.m. CT today (Friday, June 5) and continues through 1 p.m. ET / Noon CT on Monday (June 8). Each expansion team will build the foundation of its roster by acquiring five players through signings and, if necessary, a player selection process. Existing teams can each lose a maximum of three players who are under contract for 2026-2027 during this phase, though that limit does not apply to / count players whose contracts expired at the end of the 2025-2026 season. Among the other Gophers in the PWHL this past year...

Abby Boreen (Vancouver) & Ella Huber (Boston) are under contract through 2026-2027.
Emily Brown (Seattle), Olivia Knowles (New York), Savannah Norcross (New York), Lee Stecklein (Minnesota), and Grace Zumwinkle (Minnesota) have expired contracts.
Peyton Hemp (Ottawa) & Natálie Mlýnková (Montréal) have expired contracts but their rights are held by their respective 2025-2026 teams.
Hannah Brandt's contract has expired, but she has announced her retirement.

The complete, detailed rules for all phases of the expansion process (PDF document) are available here.

We will continue to monitor signing announcements and share news on our social media accounts, along with future issues of the Penalty Box Post. You can also track updates on the PWHL's Trades & Signings page.

GWH alum Cameranesi Brodzinski joins team staff at St. Thomas

We send a shout-out to another Gopher Women's Hockey alumna, as Dani (Cameranesi) Brodzinski was named Player Development & Scouting Coordinator for the St. Thomas Tommies Women's Hockey team this past Tuesday (June 2).

Dani remains 10th in Gopher history for both career points (201) and goals (93), and was a member of the 2015 & 2016 NCAA Championship teams.

Ice hockey rule change proposals announced by NCAA

Meeting in mid-May, NCAA ice hockey rules committee members representing Division I men, Division I women, and Division III men & women discussed several topics and made rule change proposals.

The proposal gathering the most attention was the recommendation that players wear cut-resistant equipment intended to protect the neck, wrist and ankle areas for the 2026-2027 academic year. Current rules permit the use of this type of equipment. The goal of committee members is to make the use of such equipment mandatory in Division I play in 2027-2028 (and 2028-2029 in Division III).

Among other proposals discussed at the May meeting...

Permitting devices on team benches for audio communication and health & safety tracking, but continuing to prohibit video for coaching purposes.
Strongly encouraging playing conferences and coordinators of officials to enforce existing embellishment and diving rules more stringently in the upcoming season.
Women's hockey: Pucks could be played above shoulder height at any time in any zone of the ice (matching the experimental rule used during regular-season league games in the WCHA last year).
The regular-season format for overtime will remain three-on-three for five minutes. If the game remains tied after the five minutes, conference policy will dictate if a shootout is used, but it will no longer be mandated. The conference policy of the home team (actual or designated) would apply for nonconference contests.
NCAA women's hockey championships: In competition that uses video replay, all goals will be required to be cleared before play resumes.
Hand passes will be allowed in the defensive zone (rescinding the prohibition enacted in 2012).

All proposals will go to respective Oversight Committees for further review and potential approval later this summer.

Switzerland to host 2028 IIHF Women's World Championship

At its Annual Congress last week, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) named the host nations for a number of future tournaments. Switzerland was announced as the host of the top division of the 2028 Women's World Championship (though the specific city or cities remains TBA).

The 2026 Women's Worlds top division tournament is still to be played this coming November, hosted by the Danish cities of Herning & Esbjerg. Quebec City, Quebec, Canada will host the 2027 edition of the event.

For the top division of the U-18 Women's World Championship, Canada was confirmed as the host nation in 2028. The 2027 tournament will be played in the Czech city of Ostrava this coming January.

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Follow the Power Play Club online at www.powerplayclub.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PowerPlayClubMN, or on X at x.com/powerplayclub.

Follow the Gopher women's hockey team and all Univ. of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics at gophersports.com. You can also find the Gopher women's hockey team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GopherWomensHockey and on X at x.com/GopherWHockey.