With PWHL expansion looming, the defending champion Frost go out on top

For the second year in a row, it was Minnesota Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield hoisting the Walter Cup after her team won the championship.

It was the player who played such a key role in the creation of the Professional Women's Hockey League who again led her team to the top of the mountain, through bumps and bruises and overtime galore.

Just like last year, the team that squeaked into the playoffs as the final seed at the end of the season ended up on top.

"It's hard to win back to back," Coyne Schofield told reporters on Monday after her team's win. "I'm just so proud of this group. When you look at the way we won, it takes everybody."

A few things were different this year.

For one, the Frost won this championship in front of a home crowd. More than 11,000 fans showed up to the Xcel Energy Center to watch the Frost defeat the Ottawa Charge 2-1 in overtime of Game 4.

But the biggest distinction is that this felt like the last dance for a deep Minnesota team.

WATCH | Frost captain Coyne Schofield lifts the Walter Cup:

Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield hoists PWHL's Walter Cup

The second part is a reality every team across the league is facing: change is coming.

As the celebrations continue in Minnesota, Frost general manager Melissa Caruso and her staff will need to start to decide who to protect in the upcoming expansion draft, which will help build new teams debuting in Seattle and Vancouver next season. 

Teams can only protect three players to start, and those protection lists are due next Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET. Once a team loses two players to expansion, a fourth player can be protected.

It's a reality that wasn't lost on the Frost's players on Monday night.

"This group's so special and it's sad to