DULUTH — The state of Minnesota doesn’t get to celebrate professional sports titles very often, but a trio of former Bulldogs have made it possible now in back-to-back years.

Maddie Rooney, Maggie Flaherty and Michela Cava won a second consecutive Professional Women’s Hockey League Walter Cup championship with the Minnesota Frost on Monday — Memorial Day — via a 2-1 overtime victory over the Ottawa Charge before 11,024 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Minnesota is now 2-for-2 as PWHL champions having won the league’s inaugural title a year ago over Boston in five games. It took four games this year, with all four games of the best-of-five series going to overtime tied 1-1.

“I saw the crowd go up in the air first, their hands in the air,” Rooney said of the game-winning OT goal by Liz Schepers, the former Ohio State Buckeye from Mound, Minnesota. “There might have been a rule that we were supposed to stay on the bench (as the goal is confirmed) so I was stutter-stepping. What do I do? It was so awesome.”

Rooney, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist from Andover, went 5-0 in her five postseason starts, getting the call for Games 2-4 after the Frost fell behind 1-0 in the championship series. The Bulldogs’ star goaltender from 2015-2020 won three straight overtime games, including 38 saves in Ottawa to tie the series on May 22, 36 saves in the triple-OT win on Saturday and 34 on Monday to clinch the Walter Cup.

Rooney finished with a .932 save percentage and 1.75 goals against average in the postseason. Ottawa goaltender Gwyneth Philips was named postseason MVP for her .952 save percentage and 1.23 GAA, having to make 100 more saves in the playoffs than Rooney.

Congrats to former Bulldogs Maddie Rooney, Michela Cava and Maggie Flaherty on back-to-back PWHL titles with the Frost! pic.twitter.com/s9iMk9rFbu

— UMD Women’s Hockey (@UMDWHockey) May 27, 2025

Cava, who played two seasons at UMD from 2014-16 after two seasons at Connecticut, finished the postseason with three goals and two assists. She had four goals and four assists a year ago in the playoffs.

Flaherty, a Bulldog for five seasons from 2018-23 who grew up in Lakeville, was part of the Frost defensive group that held Ottawa to four goals in four games. The Charge featured three of Flaherty’s former teammates at UMD in Gabbie Hughes, Mannon McMahon and Ashton Bell. There were six total Bulldogs with Ottawa this year, including Katerina Mrazova, Jocelyne Larocque and Charge assistant coach Haley Irwin.

Minnesota has won back-to-back PWHL titles now as the No. 4 seed, getting into the postseason on the final day of the 2024-25 regular season.

“So proud of this group for the roller coaster we’ve been on the last two years barely getting into playoffs,” Rooney said. “But we came out on top in front of family and friends, which was so special. That on-ice celebration is something I’ll never forget. I’m really proud of this group.”

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.