A 3-2 game heading into the third period unraveled into a 6-2 rout in favor of the New York Sirens at Codey Arena in West Orange Friday afternoon in their second and final game of the 2025-26 Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) preseason.
The Sirens came into today’s game eager to prove that they could respond following a 5-2 beatdown Thursday at the hands of their opponent for each of their two preseason games this year and defending Walter Cup champions, the Minnesota Frost.
Respond they did, behind left-wing and 2024 first-overall draft pick Sarah Fillier’s four points and two-point performances from off-season acquisition and center Kristin O’Neill, 2025 ninth-overall pick and right-wing, Anne Cherkowski, and 2025 third-overall pick and center, Casey O’Brien. On the other hand, Minnesota’s center and 2023 first-overall pick Taylor Heise led the Frost with two points (both assists).
A Highly Competitive Start
The game started with pace, as both teams skated and moved the puck fast around the ice. The first quality scoring chance came for Sirens right-wing Taylor Girard when she received a pass in the slot and shot just high and wide of the net.
The Sirens got on the scoreboard first, 3:33 into the game. Sirens center and former Ivy League Player of the Year Kristin O’Neill went to the net with her stick on the ice, received a pass from Sirens right-wing, Paetyn Levis and snapped the puck past the Frost’s goalie, Maddie Rooney, to give the hosts an early 1-0 lead.
The rest of the first period was physical and fast, highlighted by Frost left-wing Madison Mashuga’s thunderous hit on Sirens’ center Kayla Vespa along the half-boards in the defensive zone, but no more goals were scored.
Teams Trade Blows in Middle Frame
A two-minute penalty taken by Girard was killed off by the Sirens. Then, after the penalty had expired, Sirens’ defenseman Lauren Bernard was alert and broke up a pass to the backdoor. Just two minutes inside the second period, Vespa took a two-minute penalty for hooking and the Frost capitalized. Good passing from the defending Walter Cup champions led to defenseman Lee Stecklein firing a slap shot past Sirens’ goalie Kayle Osborne at 2:42 with Heise and right-wing Grace Zumwinkle picking up assists.
Then, three minutes later, Frost left-wing Abby Hustler received a pass from Heise near the left face-off dot where she unleashed a blistering wrister over Osborne’s shoulder to give the Frost a 2-1 lead at 5:07. Heise and defenseman Brooke Becker picked up the assists.
At 6:02 gone by in the second period, the Sirens were exhibiting good puck movement in the offensive zone when defenseman Jaime Bourbonnais made a nifty backhand pass over to off-season acquisition and defenseman Jincy Roese at the blueline. Roese then took a low wrist shot through traffic that was tipped in by 2024 fifth-round pick and center Elle Hartje.
Hartje’s game-tying goal was the first of what would be five unanswered goals for the Sirens in regulation. With just over four minutes remaining in the period, Cherkowski received a pass at the backdoor from O’Brien which she wristed into the net. Fillier picked up the secondary assist.
With 45 seconds left in the period, Minnesota’s Claire Butorac took a two-minute minor for hooking. Then, as the second period wound to a close, Heise took a minor for high-sticking, giving the Sirens one minute and 15 seconds of a 5-on-3 woman advantage to begin the third.
Sirens Come Out Singing in the Third
No, that isn’t a typo. It started with great puck movement and positioning from the hosts in the defensive and offensive zones. Beginning the period on a 5-on-3, the Sirens’ Czech 2025 first-overall draft pick Kristýna Kaltounková made a clever cross-ice pass to Fillier, who then rifled a wrist shot over Marlene Boissoneault’s right shoulder (who had replaced Rooney in Minnesota’s net at the start of the third), which gave the Sirens a 4-2 lead.
Five minutes into the period, though, Osborne had to make a big save when she stopped Hustler on a breakaway with her blocker.
At 9:23, O’Brien received a pass from Cherkowski inside the offensive zone on the half-boards. O’Brien then took Frost defenseman Ava Rinker with her and slipped a pass down the wing for Fillier. Fillier picked up the puck glided towards goal and flicked a wrist shot into the twine above Boissoneault’s left shoulder to make it 5-2. Casey O’Brien picked up the primary assist and Anne Cherkowski, the secondary.
With about seven minutes left, Fillier completed the hat trick. The second-year winger took advantage of open space vacated by the Frost’s defense, went to the net and one-timed a pass from O’Brien into the net with her backhand. O’Brien had the primary assist while the secondary went to Sirens’ defenseman Allyson Simpson.
That cemented a 6-2 regulation victory, but because it was a preseason game, the game went into a five-minute 3-on-3 sudden death overtime and shootout.
Halfway through the overtime period, Fillier came in down the right wing and wristed a shot off the post. Not long after, Kaltounková sniped a wrist shot, from the top of the face-off circle, off the post and in to end the overtime.
In the shootout, the first two shooters for each team missed, but the third shooter for Minnesota, Hustler deked to her backhand and slipped the puck between Osborne’s five-hole. The third shooter for New York, O’Neill deked Boissoneault and had an opening around the netminder’s pad, but Boissoneault came up with the save. The shootout concluded with Roese sniping into the bottom left corner of the net.
HEAD COACH GREG FARGO
On his team’s performance.
What was good today was we dressed a few more vets. I thought we were able to establish our pace of play shift after shift. It wasn’t like we’d have a good shift, put some pressure on them and then be absorbing it. We were on our toes today and we were on top of them pretty well. Some of the goals that we scored were the result of what happened a shift or two prior.
On the Siren’s top forward line.
They were playing fast. They played well in transition…and again, they were successful but also what led to some of their sucess was what had happened before they touched the ice. The play of the other lines, making good changes when it’s in the offensive zone and then, you get a fresh Fillier, O’Brien and Cherkowski and it’s hard to handle, so I thought we were really good up and down the lineup today for the second game of the year.
On how the Sirens’ bottom six forward group played.
They did an excellent job as well. The Hartje line (third) and the Vespa line (fourth), there’s small degrees of separation there. I feel like they both did exactly what we wanted them to do: they were hard on pucks, they made sure that we got out (of our zone) and we got (into their zone). The Hartje line scored a big goal in the second period to tie it up after going down. I thought that was a pivotal moment for us. We were a little bit sleepy early in the second so, that was a nice momentum swing there. Like the other two lines, if those were to stay together, they could build some chemistry.
CENTER KRISTIN O’NEILL
On Sarah Fillier’s game.
What I see from her game is it’s so multi-faceted. She doesn’t have just one way to beat people. That’s why she’s so dangerous. She has a wicked shot, she’s very fast, she can be physical, she can be gritty, she can be all those things and I think when a player is so good at multiple things, it’s really hard to defend.
On adjusting to the speed of the game.
I think just having one game under your belt is important for the speed of the game and for all the new players even the veteran players—they’ve gone months without playing games so just getting your feet under you, realizing how fast the game is and it’s going to be, is really important and realizing how fast the puck moves and how little time you have out there are all adjustments that you have to make on the fly, so we did a really good job of making those adjustments today.
On reuniting with former college teammate Micah Zandee-Hart.
Micah and I go way back. We were co-captains at Cornell for three years…I’m really grateful to have her embrace me and welcome me here. She was the first person I talked to when I made this transition to New York and I couldn’t be more grateful to have her as our leader and the person everyone looks up to in this room.
On whether a clean slate can work to the Sirens’ advantage this year.
Definitely, it’s a new team. Like you said, everyone is so new. All the teams are very new. It’s a pretty clean slate for most people, so I’m not looking back, just looking forward, so I’m really excited for that.
Both the Frost and Sirens finished their preseasons with 1-1 records. Greg Fargo’s team will now have a week to prepare for their season opener, which will be north of the border on November 22 against last year’s Walter Cup Finalists, the Ottawa Charge.
