Overview
- The postseason opens with No. 4 Ottawa visiting No. 2 Boston under a rule that lets the top seed choose its first-round opponent.
- No. 1 Montréal selected No. 3 Minnesota, the back-to-back champion that Montréal swept in four regular-season games.
- Both semifinals are best of five, and the winners advance to a best-of-five Walter Cup Final.
- Montréal’s Ann‑Renée Desbiens led the league in goal with 19 wins, a 1.11 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage, while Boston leans on standout netminder Aerin Frankel.
- Minnesota boasts the league’s top three scorers in Kelly Pannek, Taylor Heise and Britta Curl‑Salemme, and Ottawa enters as the only playoff team with a losing record with eight of its nine wins in overtime.