OTTAWA 鈥� A year after falling just short of a playoff berth in the Professional Women's Hockey League's inaugural season, the Ottawa Charge have a chance to redeem themselves.
The Charge (12-1-4-11) need just one point to clinch their first-ever playoff spot when they host the Minnesota Frost (8-5-4-11) Wednesday night.
The Frost, the defending league champions, sit four points back of the Charge for the fourth and final playoff spot and will be looking to squeeze back into the playoff picture with two games remaining.
Charge head coach Carla MacLeod says the sting of last year鈥檚 missed opportunity has fuelled her team鈥檚 determination this time around.
"It came down to the last game, in the last period of that game last year, trying to get ourselves into playoffs," MacLeod said. "And we talked about it at practice. We recognize Wednesday is a really important game for us, and then making sure that we're well prepared and we're detail-centric and understanding our game plan and then going out to play."
The Charge still have one more chance to qualify Saturday in their final regular-season game against Toronto if Wednesday鈥檚 game doesn鈥檛 go their way, but their sights are set on Minnesota.
Ottawa has a 3-0 record against the Frost this season and is riding a three-game win streak, but their home record hasn鈥檛 been overly favourable, going 5-1-3-5 at TD Place versus a 7-0-1-6 road record.
"I think we see tomorrow as a must win," captain Brianne Jenner said. "Our mindset in the last little bit has just been it鈥檚 playoff hockey already. That鈥檚 the reality. And so, we need playoff details, we need playoff effort."
That mindset goes back to the break for the women's world championship and with the players who remained behind. Ottawa went into the break feeling good about its game and wanted to keep the momentum going.
鈥淲e kept that energy up throughout the break at practices and that compete level high,鈥� said Ashton Bell, who is coming off a two-goal game in Ottawa's 3-1 win over the league-leading Montreal Victoire on Saturday. "I think there鈥檚 just a different feeling in our locker room right now. We know we can do this, and we鈥檙e at a good place to set ourselves up for success."
The Charge showed the importance of playing to the final buzzer on Saturday. With the team on the penalty kill and time winding down, Ottawa scored short-handed with 13 seconds remaining to beat Montreal and earn an important three points.
Wednesday鈥檚 matchup will be the perfect opportunity for the Charge to show how far they鈥檝e come and what they鈥檝e learned from past experiences.
"It's really sort of the first go at what an elimination game can feel like," MacLeod said. "You know, if we can, if we can approach it that way, and recognize when you're in a place where you could make a statement, or at least, you know, get us to the next round, which would be playoffs 鈥� but I think for us, the biggest thing, and we've done it all year, is making sure that we focus on us."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2025.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
