The Minnesota Wild offseason report cards are well underway, and now it’s time for PWHL Minnesota to have a turn. Each player on the team for the 2023-24 inaugural season will get a grade. It will be based on overall season performance but broken down into regular season and postseason grades, which will be combined for a final grade.
We’ll start with the position that helped carry this team through its ups and downs and really pulled through in the postseason: the goaltenders. Nicole Hensley was the main starter, but she rotated with Maddie Rooney, and they were both key in the playoffs. We’ll start with the Minnesota native Rooney.
Rooney Solidifies Herself
Rooney has always been a solid goaltender through high school, college, and the Olympics. However, the start of her professional career took a different path than many of her teammates. She attended the first-ever PWHL draft back in September 2023, but she was not selected. She was later invited to PWHL Minnesota’s training camp, and the rest is history. They elected to sign her as a free agent, and she went on to help them win it all.
The regular season was up and down. She started her season in net with a win, but then things bounced around with wins and losses. She never lost her form and just kept working as hard as she could to help her team win. She had a great save percentage (SV%) of .915 in her ten games played throughout the season.
Her goals against average (GAA) was a bit high at 2.08 but not horrible as she faced 246 shots and only let in 21 of those. She finished the regular season with a record of 5-3-2 with two shutouts. Overall, for someone who started undrafted and became one of the staters, she earned an A for her regular season. While there’s always room to improve, she showed she can do that in just one season.
Rooney Helped Save Postseason
PWHL Minnesota barely made it into the postseason, and many believed they wouldn’t make it past the first round or even win a game. They played PWHL Toronto, the number one team, who picked PWHL Minnesota as their opponent and had superstar Natalie Spooner. They quickly went up two games to none. However, Rooney stepped up her game and helped them get through not just one but all three elimination games.
She played in five games during the postseason, four against PWHL Toronto. She lost Game 2 but went on to win the next three. Then, she played in Game 1 against PWHL Boston. She struggled against PWHL Boston but carried them against PWHL Toronto, with a .948 (SV%) and a 1.12 (GAA).
She had her struggles but overcame them against PWHL Toronto. While it wasn’t all on her shoulders, a big chunk of their winning that series was. Her teammate Hensley took over against PWHL Boston, so both goaltenders carried their team. She earned an A for her postseason performance mainly because they likely wouldn’t have made it past PWHL Toronto without her.
Rooney’s Final Grade
Rooney earned an A for her regular season and also for her postseason, so her overall grade is an A. She had her fair share of not-great play, but she stepped up when her team needed her the most, so she earned the A. She does have some areas that need improvement, which is why she didn’t earn an A+ despite having the first-ever Walter Cup on her resume.
Her grade also isn’t any lower because she overcame many of her struggles during the season and continued to push no matter the situation. She made sure she did whatever was best for her team, whether from the bench or on the ice. She’s a great player who found her way to being one of the best goaltenders in the league, regardless of whether she was drafted or not. She’s still on contract for PWHL Minnesota and hopefully will continue that strong play next season.
