PWHL did Ottawa Charge no favours by booking game for Friday

Article content

Of all the dates on the schedule, the PWHL could not have picked a worse night for the Ottawa Charge to play their first game at Canadian Tire Centre.

Article content

Article content

Coach Carla MacLeod was praising the fans, not criticizing the league, when she was asked about having 11,065 show up for her team’s 2-1 loss to the Montreal Victoire on Friday.

But it’s the timing of the event that left about 8,000 seats empty as Ottawa fell embarrassingly short of PWHL record crowds at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena (19,285) and Montreal’s Bell Centre (21,105) last season.

Article content

“Great … great,” MacLeod said emphatically of the fans’ support after Friday’s game. “Think of it. This market is just flooded with hockey right now. You’ve got the 67’s going, you’ve got us, you’ve got the Sens, we’ve got the World Juniors coming in, it’s Christmas, It’s December …

“All these folks took time and money out of their day to cheer us on at CTC. Unbelievable. We just couldn’t be more pleased with what we had turnout. They tried to carry us through a couple of those periods. We needed them and they delivered. So, you’re never going to get me saying other than we have the best fans in Ottawa, because it’s true.”

Hockey fans in Edmonton might disagree.

They could think they support the Charge better than Ottawa, as they’ve purchased every available ticket in the 18,500-seat Rogers Place for a Feb. 16 neutral-site game in which Ottawa is the “home team” against Toronto.

But that game was also properly scheduled.

It falls during the NHL’s two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Playing at TD Place on Friday was not an option for the Charge, as the 67’s had reservations for what turned out to be a 6-1 win over the Sarnia Sting, but a road game seems like it would have been a solution.

Article content

Article content

Meanhile, it would have been wise for the PWHL to negotiate the CTC game for the same month as the Edmonton game, when the Senators will be out of their building from Feb. 2-21.

Availability is always an issue, but the local NHL arena can’t be booked every night of the season — and just about every other night would have been a better one to have the Charge play its second home game in Kanata.

The sweet taste of revenge

The winning goal was scored by Mikyla Grant-Mentis, who had three assists in six games with Ottawa last season before being released and picked up by Montreal.

“It felt pretty great,” said the 26-year-old Brampton, Ont., native. “Every time I play Ottawa, I think I always have a little oomph under me, but it was nice to get a goal this time.”

Asked if she had any bad feelings with Ottawa after the way things ended last year, Grant-Mentis replied: “I love all the girls.”

Reverse effect

This is not to say Charge players felt let down when they saw they didn’t draw the numbers that Montreal and Toronto had for PWHL games in their rinks last season, but for whatever reason they didn’t have the expected boost of playing before the largest crowd in franchise history.

Article content

MacLeod admitted her players “came out a little bit flat” but didn’t blame the bigger stage as a distraction.

“When you get to this level, they’re all pro … it’s not so much about where you’re playing, it’s that you are playing,” she said. “I don’t think we can lean into any sort of external excuse, I think just internally, we weren’t quite ready to go.”

The ice was “tilted” in Ottawa’s favour during the third period, as MacLeod pointed out, but not dramatically.

The Charge held an 8-5 edge in shots on goal while looking for the equalizer over the final 20 minutes, and that included a span of 2:33 with goalie Emerance Maschmeyer on the bench for an extra attacker.

“We were a little bit on the perimeter tonight, like we were kind of just playing keep away in the zone, versus trying to score a goal,” said MacLeod. “So certainly that’s something we’ll go take a look at and make sure that we’re generating high-end scoring chances.”

Bar out

The Charge did come close to tying the game when Savannah Harmon’s shot banged off the crossbar.

Harmon thought it went in and she raised her arms and punched a fist into the air, and she wasn’t the only one.

Article content

“It sounded like it, but it turns out it wasn’t,” said Brianne Jenner, who was on the ice.

“I had my arms up,” said Maschmeyer, who was watching from the bench. “It was a good shot. But sometimes you have games where it’s bar down, and other days it’s bar out.”

Poulin-ed again

Last season, Ottawa held Marie-Philip Poulin to four assists, but no goals, in four games.

In two games this season, Poulin has beaten the Charge with a shootout goal (low stick side) and scored again (high glove side) Friday on a shorthanded breakaway.

Asked if she thought Poulin would go low stick side again, Maschmeyer replied:

“The game is so quick. In those moments, it’s just trying to read her body language. And every situation is different, whether it’s a shootout versus a break, where she’s coming in with more speed. So yeah, I just try to read whatever she’s giving me.”

Time to regroup

With the PWHL taking an “international break” for its European players to meet other commitments in their homelands, the Charge doesn’t play again until Dec. 17 in Boston. Just three games into the season, it’s a welcome and needed break.

“We have a good opportunity here,” said Maschmeyer. “We have about 10 days to work on our craft as a team. We’ve had some moments of really good success and momentum, and other moments where we’ve kind of seen the last few games what we can work on. So we’re excited to get back on the ice and work on our craft.”

Article content