OTTAWA — Carla MacLeod told you so.
After her team had scored just eight goals while losing six of its last seven Professional Women's Hockey League games, the Ottawa Charge head coach said she wasn't overly concerned about her players' inability to find the net.
And on Thursday night at TD Place, her troops showed that her confidence wasn't misplaced in the slightest as they exploded for an 8-3 pounding of the Minnesota Frost to launch the second half of their PWHL schedule.
"I was in (the media interview room) after last game, and everyone was Debbie Downers because we couldn't score a goal, and now we're all woo-hoo, so excited, because we scored some goals," MacLeod said. "But we don't want to be that. We want to be the group that just is consistent in our effort, but recognizing there's a lot of hockey left to be played.
"The first half, we did a really nice job. We were on the road for 80 or 85 per cent of those games, which isn't easy. And now we get a chance to settle in here and make our home genuinely our home."
Ottawa broke open a 2-2 game with four second-period goals against the reigning Walter Cup champions. Charge leading scorer Tereza Vanisova had the first multi-goal game of her PWHL career with a hat trick, while Gabbie Hughes broke her season-long goal-scoring goose egg with two goals and an assist.
"To have a coaching staff and support staff that still believes in us when bounces aren't going our way, to really push us to believe that they'll come if we just stick to our game plan, was a huge piece of the puzzle," Hughes said.
With just two assists in Ottawa's previous 14 games, Hughes was one of many Charge players who had less-than-sparkling statistics before the drought ended in spectacular fashion on Thursday.
Ottawa's seventh goal came courtesy of captain Brianne Jenner, who was mobbed by her teammates after scoring her second of the season. Mannon McMahon and Victoria Bach also scored for the Charge, while Shiann Darkangelo had three assists.
"The easy thing to do is get frustrated, especially when we don't win," Hughes said. "But what our team really, really drives into us is playing hard and playing for each other, and just sticking to those things is kind of what makes it go away."
Ottawa was in last place before the game and had scored the fewest goals out of all six PWHL teams. With the win, the 6-0-2-8 Charge moved into a tie for fourth place, and they leapfrogged the Boston Fleet on the goal-scoring chart as well.
"It's just nice to see our group be rewarded," MacLeod said.
"This is a group that's been grinding all year and working their tails off all year, and to be rewarded the way that we were tonight is really positive and well earned, and I think that's what we're most proud of — it was earned."
MEANINGFUL MOMENTS
Ottawa's Rebecca Leslie scored her first points for her hometown team in the contest with a pair of assists. She said it was special to have 5,854 fans cheer on the Charge after Ottawa had been blanketed by a foot of snow earlier in the day.
"To see that many people show up for us on a Thursday in a snowstorm just goes to show how great of a community we have here and how supportive our fans are of our team," Leslie said. "It's really, really exciting for us to pull to a win on this type of night."
It was mental health awareness night at TD Place as the Charge and the Frost supported the Do It For Daron and Sophie's Squad youth mental health initiatives, named after young hockey players from Ottawa and Minnesota who died from suicide.
"Today's (goals) were a little special — for Sophie and for Daron," said Hughes, who hails from the state of Minnesota.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2025.
Dan Plouffe, The Canadian Press
