NEW YORK AND TORONTO, ON —The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) today announced the May SupraStars of the Month, presented by AIRSUPRA® (albuterol/budesonide) Inhalation Aerosol. The award recognizes three forwards, two defenders, and one goaltender at the conclusion of each month, determined as the players who most excelled on ice throughout the PWHL. Forwards are selected regardless of position.
The SupraStars of the Month, presented by AIRSUPRA, for the month of May have been recognized as: Emily Clark (F – Ottawa Charge), Taylor Heise (F – Minnesota Frost), Britta Curl-Salemme (F – Minnesota Frost), Lee Stecklein (D – Minnesota Frost), Sophie Jaques (D – Minnesota Frost) and Gwyneth Philips (G – Ottawa Charge).
EMILY CLARK, F, OTTAWA CHARGE
Clark charged into the spotlight by scoring at 2:47 of overtime to win the first PWHL Finals home game ever for Canada’s first Walter Cup Finalist. Her short-side tally from the left-wing circle was Clark’s second consecutive winner; in the prior contest, Clark’s third-period tally gave Ottawa enough breathing room to survive a late Montréal rally and collect a 2-1 triumph that sent the Charge into the Finals. Clark’s two game-winners topped all 2025 playoff competitors and matched her total of winners during the regular season. Her three total playoff goals placed Clark in a tie for second behind the league-leading four compiled by Stecklein. Spanning the finale against Montréal and the first three games of the Finals, the 29-year-old from Saskatoon, Sask., produced three goals and 18 shots. No other PWHL player had reached those totals over any four-game span of either postseason. Clark finished the playoffs with a plus-3 rating that shared the team lead with Jocelyne Larocque and placed the two Charge players in a tie for third behind three members of the Frost: Liz Schepers and Grace Zumwinkle, who were plus-4 and Mellissa Channell-Watkins, who led the league at plus-5.
TAYLOR HEISE, F, MINNESOTA FROST
Heise was an offensive force in the Frost’s first-round elimination of Toronto, collecting all seven of her playoff points (1-6—7) and playing a role in all three game-winning goals. She had two assists in Minnesota’s 5-3 Game 2 triumph, setting up a go-ahead goal by Michela Cava in the second period and the winner by Jaques at 13:47 of the third. In Game 3, Heise’s three assists included one on Cava’s game-winning tally, helping Minnesota to a 7-5 triumph. It was her sixth multi-assist performance of the combined regular season and playoffs – the highest total among all PWHL players. In Game 4, Heise set up the goal by Kendall Coyne Schofield that launched the Frost’s comeback from a 2-0 deficit before scoring the winner at 16:00 of overtime in the 4-3 triumph. The goal came on her sixth shot, which topped both teams in the contest and tied the career playoff high she had set in Game 4 against Toronto last May. Heise tied for second in 2025 playoff scoring, following her inaugural Playoff MVP campaign of eight points (5-3–8) in 10 games, which tied for the overall lead. Through two seasons, no player has more playoff points than Heise’s 6-9—15 in 18 games.
BRITTA CURL-SALEMME, F, MINNESOTA FROST
Curl-Salemme scored the tying and winning goals in Game 2 of the PWHL Finals, becoming the first player in PWHL history to score two such goals in a playoff game. The rookie scored her first goal of the contest with just 16 seconds remaining in regulation play, then tallied at 16:24 of overtime to complete her third career multi-goal game. All three multi-goal games have come on the road, including her first two goals of the regular season, Dec. 7, 2024 at Toronto, and her final two goals of the regular season, in the 8-1 victory at Boston May 3 that put the Frost into the playoffs. The two-goal output in Game 2 also stood as the first multi-point performance of Curl-Salemme’s postseason career. Two of her three playoff goals were scored on the power play, making her the only skater to net multiple power-play goals this postseason. Curl-Salemme became the fourth player in PWHL history to score multiple goals, including the game-winner, in a single playoff game. The others are Frost teammates Heise (May 17, 2024 at Toronto) and Cava (May 11, 2025 against Toronto), and Toronto’s Julia Gosling (May 7, 2025 against Minnesota). Curl-Salemme was the first to accomplish the feat with an overtime winner.
SOPHIE JAQUES, D, MINNESOTA FROST
Jaques’ only point of the PWHL Finals was an unforgettable one – an assist on the Katy Knoll goal that won Game 3 at 9:57 of the third overtime. That was a contest in which Jaques received 43:23 of ice time, second only to Stecklein, who led all skaters with 44:55 in the contest, and tied a season high with seven shots – a figure Jaques also reached in the regular-season opener against New York on Dec. 1, 2024. Jaques finished the playoffs as the PWHL leader among defenders with 25 shots on goal, eight more than teammate Claire Thompson. A finalist for league Defender of the Year honors with Thompson and Toronto’s Renata Fast, Jaques had 2-5—7 in her eight playoff games – including the winning goal of Game 2 at Toronto, which she scored with just 6:13 remaining in regulation play. Jaques finished tied for second among playoff scorers, joining her Frost teammate Heise (1-6––7) at one point behind Stecklein, the PWHL’s leading postseason point-getter. Spanning the regular season and playoffs, defenders contributed a league-leading 89 points (23 goals, 66 assists) to the Minnesota attack, and Jaques provided 29 of those points with a 7-15—22 regular season that preceded her stellar PWHL Playoffs.
LEE STECKLEIN, D, MINNESOTA FROST
Stecklein had points in five of her eight playoff games, scored on four of her 12 shots on goal and finished the postseason with 4-4—8 to become the first defender in PWHL playoff history to top the scoring charts. Alongside Jaques (2-5–7), Thompson (0-6–6) and Channell-Watkins (1-4–5), Stecklein led a Frost blue line that produced a combined 26 playoff points. In her defensive role, she also tied for second with 15 blocked shots, trailing only the 17 blocked by Ottawa’s Ashton Bell. Stecklein was one of six Frost players who made PWHL history by winning a Walter Cup in the same season in which they contributed to a gold medal victory at the IIHF Women’s World Championship; in April, Team USA captured gold in Czechia with 16 PWHL players on the roster, including Frost players Coyne Schofield, Curl-Salemme, Heise, Zumwinkle, Kelly Pannek and Stecklein. Stecklein also became one of 16 members of the Frost who are now two-time Walter Cup champions. The Roseville, Minn., native also is one of the eight Frost players who hail from “the State of Hockey,” joining Heise (Lake City), Pannek (Plymouth), Schepers (Mound), Zumwinkle (Excelsior), Claire Butorac (Andover), Maggie Flaherty (Lakeville) and Maddie Rooney (Andover).
GWYNETH PHILIPS, G, OTTAWA CHARGE
Philips capped an outstanding rookie season with a courageous performance in the PWHL Playoffs, earning the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP Award. The 24-year-old from Athens, Ohio, backstopped the Charge through a playoff in which every one of the team’s eight games was a one-goal decision. In the opening round, Philips and the Charge held the Montréal Victoire – the second-highest scoring team during the regular season – to one goal over the concluding two games of the series. She led all playoff goaltenders with a 1.23 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage, posted four postseason wins, including one shutout, and did not lose a game in regulation throughout the playoffs. Her 635:25 of action represents the most playing time seen by any goaltender in PWHL playoff history, surpassing the 580:58 by Boston’s Aerin Frankel during the 2024 PWHL Playoffs. With the playoff MVP award secured, Philips now waits to learn whether it will have company in her trophy case. She is a finalist for the PWHL Rookie of the Year Award, along with Sarah Fillier of New York and Jennifer Gardiner of Montréal, and also is a finalist for the PWHL Goaltender of the Year Award along with Frankel and Ann-Renée Desbiens of Montréal.
About the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL)
The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprised of six teams in Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto, each with rosters featuring the best women’s hockey players in the world. Launched on Jan. 1, 2024, the PWHL has broken multiple attendance records and holds the worldwide all-time record for a women’s hockey game. In 2024, the PWHL was recognized by Sports Business Journal as the Sports Breakthrough of the Year and received the top position in the first-ever Canadian edition of the Harris Poll, which ranks companies’ reputations. Visit thepwhl.com to purchase tickets and merchandise, and subscribe to the PWHL e-newsletter to receive the latest league updates. Follow the league on all social media platforms @thepwhlofficial.
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