Chapter Text
The Ottawa arena was already shaking long before the puck had even dropped.
Scarlet jerseys filled every row of the lower bowl, thousands of Ottawa Charge fans pressed against the glass as warmups unfolded under bright white arena lights. Towels spun above heads, arena music thundered through the speakers. The crowd was loud, fans stomping their feet in anticipation.
The 2025 PWHL Finals had finally arrived.
Minnesota Frost versus Ottawa charge. Two teams that had spent the entire season trading blows in the standings. Two captains that had become the league’s most talked about rivalry. Amber Glenn of the Minnesota Frost. Alysa Liu of the Ottawa Charge.
Amber rested her forearms along the Minnesota bench boards, stick balanced loosely in her gloves as she watched the end of the ice. Warmups were usually routine but tonight she was studying.
Across the rink, Alysa Liu glided through Ottawa’s passing drill with notable teammates, Brianne Jenner and Emily Clark. The three forwards moving the puck with sharp precision. Alysa received a pass near the blue line and accelerated instantly. Three strides, that’s all it took. She crossed the neutral zone before sliding a quick pass to Jenner cutting towards the slot. Jenner snapped the puck past the goalie during the drill.
Amber couldn’t help but shake her head. “Still ridiculous,” she muttered under her breath.
Beside her, Kendall Schofield chuckled while adjusting her gloves to the perfect fit. “You’ve been staring at their line for ten minutes.”
“I’m just scouting,” Amber said flatly.
Kendall smirked and didn’t say anything.
Across the ice, Alysa circled towards the boards and slowed to a glide. Her eyes drifted toward Minnesota’s bench. She found Amber instantly. It wasn’t difficult.
Amber stood a little taller than most players around her, shoulders broad under the deep purple Frost jersey. Bright blonde hair spilled out from underneath it. Even through the visor, Alysa could see her intense blue eyes scanning the ice. Focused and sharp, like she was already halfway into the game.
Alysa smiled slightly to herself. Playoff hockey was supposed to feel like this.
Ottawa’s starting goaltender skated toward the crease as the final minutes of warmups ticked down. Gwyneth Phillips tapped both posts with the blade of her stick before settling into position. Her movements were calm and controlled. Even during the drills she tracked the puck carefully, glove snapping shut around several quick shots.
Amber watched from afar as player after player shot, Philips catching each one in her glove with ease. She nodded in acknowledgment from across the ice. Good goalie. That meant they’d need traffic in the front.
The referees called the teams to center ice after warmups had long since finished. The opening faceoff had begun.
Minnesota’s starting line stepped onto the ice, the crowd letting out various disapproved noises. Amber grinned under her helmet, she loved the attention whether it was bad or good.
Amber Glenn, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Kelly Pannek. Behind them the defensive pair waited. Lee Stecklein and Sophie Jaques.
At the other end of the rink, Ottawa answered with their top units. Alysa Liu, Brianne Jenner, and Emily Clark. Savannah Harmon and Ashton Bell.
The defense slapped their sticks on the ice, growing impatient for the first puck drop of the game. The crowd roared as both captains skated toward the circle.
Amber bent down slightly at the waist, gripping her stick firmly. Her heart was beating with excitement.
Alysa rested more casually on hers, weight balanced easily over her skates.
For a moment neither spoke, until their eyes met under their visors as they moved closer, inches away now.
Alysa tilted her head playfully. “Ready?”
Amber’s lips curved into a mischievous smile. “Always.”
The referee dropped the puck.
The opening shift lasted less than twenty seconds and it set the tone for the entire series. Kendall tied up Jenner on the draw. The puck kicked loose toward the corner boards.
Amber exploded forward first. She chipped the puck deep into Ottawa’s zone and chased it at full speed. Defenseman Savannah Harmon reached it behind the net.
Amber didn’t slow down.
Her shoulder drove into Harmon with a solid check that rattled the glass.
The Ottawa crowd erupted in boos.
Amber loved it.
She skated through the contact and kept moving. Kelly Pannek grabbed the loose puck and threw it towards the slot. Phillips kicked the quick shot aside with her right pad. The rebound bounced wide.
Ottawa cleared the puck moments later.
Line change.
Amber hopped back over the boards breathing steadily. Good start, not good enough though.
Across the ice Ottawa’s next shift began. Within seconds, Alysa had the puck. She intercepted a Minnesota breakout pass near the red line and accelerated instantly. Her strides were effortless. Sharp edges carving across the ice.
Minnesota’s defense backed up quickly. Alysa crossed the blue line and cut toward the middle.
Amber recognized the rush and jumped off the bench during the change. She sprinted across the ice like she wasn’t wearing skates on her feet, just as Alysa reached the slot.
The collision was unavoidable.
Amber stepped into her path. Their shoulders slammed together with a heavy thud. The puck bounced loose towards the boards.
Both players recovered their balance instantly.
Alysa grabbed the puck again and slipped past her. As she skated by, she tapped her stick against Amber’s shin pad.
“Missed me.”
Amber laughed. “Keep dreaming.”
The first period turned into a battle of styles. Minnesota played heavy. Dump and chase. Hard forechecking. Amber led the pressure, hammering defenders along the boards and firing shots whenever a lane appeared.
Ottawa responded with speed. Whenever Alysa touched the puck, the game shifted. She slipped between defenders, threaded passes into open space, and forced Minnesota’s defense to scramble.
Halfway through the period Amber nearly opened the scoring. Kelly Pannek carried the puck down the right wing and slid a pass into the slot. Amber stepped into it and unleashed a one timer. The puck screamed toward the top corner.
Philips snatched it out of the air with a brilliant glove save.
The Ottawa crowd roared.
Amber skated past the crease shaking her head.
“Nice one,” she muttered under her breath.
In the crease, Phillips simply flipped the puck to the referee. Calm and composed.
Later in the period Alysa answered with a rush of her own. She danced around Lee Stecklein near the blue line and cut hard toward the net. Her wrist shot rang off the post.
The arena gasped, everyone leaning forward in their seats.
Amber coasted past her afterward. “Lucky bounce,” Amber said, pushing her shoulder against Alysa’s.
Alysa grinned. “Next one.”
By the time the first intermission horn sounded, the score remained:
Minnesota: 0
Ottawa: 0
Everyone in the building could feel it. The tension. The speed. The growing rivalry between the two captains.
This series wasn’t going to be simple and the night was just getting started.
Minnesota’s locker room was quiet during the first intermission. Not tense, just focused.
Amber Glenn leaned forward on the bench in front of her stall, elbows resting on her knees while she listened to the coaches quickly break down the first period.
“Good forecheck,” the assistant coach said, pointing at a tablet replay. “We’re forcing Harmon and Bell to turn their backs.”
He tapped the screen again.
“But Phillips sees everything clean. We need bodies in front.”
Amber nodded, understanding. She noticed the same thing. Gwyneth Phillips tracked the puck extremely well, she gave her that. Every shot from a distance looked easy for her because she could see the release.
That meant one solution.
Traffic.
Amber grabbed a water bottle and poured some water on her head before standing up. “Let’s crash the crease next shift,” she told Kendall.
Kendall grinned, bumping her fist with Amber’s. “I was hoping you would say that.”
When the teams returned to the ice, Ottawa opened the second period with their speed line. Alysa Liu, Brianne Jenner, and Emily Clark.
Across from them, Minnesota answered again with Amber’s line.
The puck dropped.
Jenner won the draw back to Savannah Harmon, who quickly sent the puck up the boards to Clark. Clark accelerated down the wing.
Amber pivoted and chased hard.
Clark dumped the puck deep behind the Minnesota net. Lee Stecklein skated back to retrieve it while Clark and Alysa began the forecheck.
Stecklein tried to reverse the puck behind the net.
Alysa anticipated it perfectly.
She stole the puck instantly, causing the Ottawa crowd to roar.
Alysa cut toward the slot.
Amber closed the gap fast.
Alysa slipped a quick pass to Jenner cutting toward the crease.
Jenner shot.
Pad save by Maddie Rooney.
The rebound bounced out dangerously.
Amber cleared it to the boards.
Minnesota escaped the zone seconds later.
Midway through the second period, the pressure finally broke.
Minnesota dumped the puck deep again during a line change. Grace Zumwinkle chased it into the corner and won the battle against Ashton Bell. The puck slid behind the Ottawa net.
Zumwinkle wrapped it around to the point.
Sophie Jaques stepped into a slap shot.
The puck rocketed through traffic.
Phillips blocked it with her pad.
Rebound.
Amber was already there.
She chopped once at the loose puck.
The shot deflected off of the defender’s skate and bounced into the crease.
Amber swung again.
This time the puck slipped under Phillips’ arm and across the line.
The red light flashed.
Minnesota players threw their arms up.
Amber let out a quick shout as teammates collided with her.
“Let’s fucking go!”
Scoreboard:
Minnesota: 1
Ottawa: 0
Across the rink, Alysa leaned on her stick watching the celebration. Then she exhaled slowly.
Alright.
Game on.
The Ottawa response came in the third period. And like most dangerous plays for the Charge, it all started with Alysa.
The puck came loose along the boards in the neutral zone.
Alysa grabbed it and accelerated instantly.
Emily Clark sprinted down the right side.
Jenner drove the middle lane.
Minnesota’s defense retreated quickly.
Amber chased from behind.
Alysa crossed the blue line.
Amber closed in.
Alysa slowed slightly, just enough to draw the defenders inward.
Then she slipped a perfect pass through the slot.
Emily Clark one timed it.
The puck blasted past Rooney.
The arena exploded.
Tie game.
Alysa raised one arm while Clark skated past the bench shouting.
Amber glided through the crease moments later.
“Nice pass,” she admitted quietly.
Alysa smiled.
“I know.”
The rest of the regulation turned frantic.
Minnesota fired twelve shots in the third period.
Ottawa countered with dangerous rushes every few minutes.
Philips made two spectacular saves on Amber late in the period.
One glove.
One blocker.
Amber skated past the crease shaking her head.
“You’re annoying,” she muttered toward the goalie.
Philips just smirked.
The final few seconds ticked away on the overhead board.
Three.
Two.
One.
The horn sounded.
1-1.
Overtime.
Both teams rested silently on their benches while the ice crew cleared the rink.
Amber leaned forward, gripping her stick.
Across the rink Alysa rested against the boards.
Their eyes met briefly.
Amber rolled her shoulders and moved her neck from side to side.
Alysa drank from her water bottle, before putting her mouth guard back on.
Of course it would go to overtime.
Five minutes into overtime, Ottawa struck.
The play began with a turnover near the blue line.
Savannah Harmon intercepted a Minnesota pass and quickly fed the puck to Alysa in the neutral zone.
The moment Alysa touched it, the entire arena stood up.
She accelerated through center ice.
Emily Clark sprinted down the right wing.
Minnesota’s defense scrambled.
Amber chased hard from behind.
Alyssa crossed the blue line.
Amber nearly caught her.
Alysa faked a shot.
The goalie shifted.
Amber bit.
In that very tiny opening, Alysa slid a perfect pass across the slot.
Time slowed down.
Clark hammered the puck into the net.
The arena erupted.
Ottawa players poured onto the ice in celebration.
Amber slowed to a stop near the blue line, catching her breath.
Across the chaos, Alysa looked up.
Their eyes met again.
She lifted her eyebrows slightly.
Amber smirked.
Game one belonged to Ottawa.
But the series was far from over.