Minnesota Frost eager to defend PWHL title after eventful summer with trophy

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 an August afternoon.

"I had scrapes up and down my arm," Heise said, flashing a mischievous smile: "That was my off-season lifting."'

Goalie Nicole Hensley took the Cup back to her native Colorado, including a visit to her favourite concert venue, the venerable Red Rocks amphitheatre. 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.

"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."

There's been no shortage of attention for this team.

WATCH | PWHL champion Heise shares Walter Cup stories with Hockey North:

PWHL Draft, Awards reaction show featuring Taylor Heise’s Walter Cup stories

One week after the dramatic win over Boston in the finals last spring,