“Frost” is the new nickname of the pro women’s hockey team formerly known as PWHL Minnesota, which won the inaugural league championship last spring. Nine days after winning the title, the league — which owns all the teams — fired general manager Natalie Darwitz, who put the roster together, hired staff and secured Xcel Energy Center as the game site. Darwitz reportedly lost a personality clash with Coach Ken Klee, who had the backing of captain Kendall Coyne Schofield and several key players.
Melissa Caruso, a Massachusetts native who worked 15 years in administration for the American Hockey League, succeeds Darwitz. The Frost opened training camp Thursday, three days after Darwitz, a three-time Olympic medalist, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
After the opening practice at Tria Rink in St. Paul, Caruso — shorter and quieter than Darwitz — and Klee, a 6-foot-1 former NHL defenseman, fielded questions from about 20 reporters. Minnesota opens the season Dec. 1.
“I just kind of came in with an open perspective, open mind, and I did my best to try to get to know everyone and get a read on the situation,” Caruso said. “Ken was very supportive off the hop, and I’m really appreciative of that. He worked hard to get me up to speed up to this point.”
Klee addressed Darwitz’s dismissal briefly.
“In pro hockey, things happen,” he said. “Some unfortunate things, and some things out of our control. So we’re looking forward, excited to get the season going. … There was some stuff brought up, but again, I don’t think we need to worry about that or go into it. A lot of it was after the fact. We had an unbelievable locker room. We had an unbelievable group, unbelievable staff. If we didn’t have those things, we wouldn’t have won, to be honest with you.”
Given Caruso’s administrative background — she never played hockey — Klee expects to take a bigger role in player personnel. The club also hired three college and amateur scouts, including former Gopher and U.S. Olympian Dani Cameranesi Brodzinski in the Upper Midwest. Darwitz did much of the college scouting herself.
“It’s just working with Melissa,” Klee said. “More than anything, we’ll be working together and helping each other to create the best team we can together.”
Multiple media reports suggested Coyne Schofield, whom Klee coached with the U.S. National team, urged league officials to remove Darwitz. Coyne Schofield held sway as the player who approached Billie Jean King and L.A. Dodgers owner Mark Walter about funding the league. In Coyne Schofield’s first comments addressing the matter, she termed the reports “false narratives” and said her teammates knew the truth.
“It was difficult to see,” she said of Darwitz’s departure. “Decisions were made that were not the decisions that were made by us players. Those were league decisions. We’re here to play hockey and defend our title.”
Pat Borzi
Pat Borzi is a contributing writer to MinnPost. Follow him on Twitter @BorzMN.
