The Ottawa Charge fell 5-1 to the Minnesota Frost in an emotional game at TD Place on Tuesday.
Three quick first period goals gave the back-to-back champions the edge they needed to beat the Charge, who they bested in four games in the 2025 Walter Cup finals.
This was the Charge’s first game since their head coach, Carla MacLeod, was diagnosed with breast cancer this past Sunday and had to miss Tuesday’s game to start treatment.
“She’s been vulnerable in sharing her story,” said assistant coach Haley Irwin, who filled in for MacLeod.
“She’s shown so much strength and courage behind the scenes for us.”
Many fans sported pink clothes and breast cancer awareness ribbons to show support for the head coach.
“You look around and you start to see fans roll in and all the pink that’s there, and Carla deserves that,” Irwin said.
Signs with messages like, “Charge up for Carla” and “Puck Cancer” were on full display as part of a Charge engagement campaign.
The game got off to a bad start for the Charge as 24 seconds in, Kendall Coyne Schofield fired a weak shot that got past the pads of goaltender Gwyneth Philips.
Just three minutes later, Frost forward Dominique Petrie finished a wide open rebound off Denisa Křížová’s initial shot, and Grace Zumwinkle soon added another goal to the Frost’s tally to make it 3-0.
“It was a s—- start,” said Charge forward Emily Clark. “There’s no sugar coating that, and that’s on us as players.”
The Charge’s playoff MVP goalie allowed three goals on six shots in the first seven minutes.
“There was a quick look at the other coaches in that moment,” Irwin said of thinking about pulling Philips early.
“We just weren’t performing and it was so early in the game, so I figured at the TV timeout we could reset ourselves.”
It was a quieter second period, despite many quality scoring chances from the Charge, including two-on-ones, rebounds in front of the net and high-danger shots that were saved by Nicole Hensley.
Early in the third period, Schofield got her second goal of the game after dangling herself into a breakaway.
Minutes later, the Charge finally got a power play breakthrough, as rookie defender Rory Guildway crushed a one-timer slapshot for her first PWHL goal.
“It was really fun to score in front of our home crowd with these girls beside me,” Guildway said. “Sometimes you just gotta rip it, and in that moment, I wasn’t thinking about much else.”
The Charge tried to press back late, but Schofield added an empty net goal to complete her first-ever hat trick.
Hensley capped a strong game for the Frost, stopping 35 out of the Charge’s 36 shots.
Irwin says that the team needs to start on time.
“We weren’t really moving our feet, and you know, there’s no excuse for it,” she said.
Frost head coach Ken Klee said that he supports MacLeod in her battle with cancer.
“You put the hockey game aside and just care for her as a person,” he said.
“No matter what, she wants to see a great hockey game. She wants to see these ladies put on a great show, whether it’s our team or her team.”
MacLeod has told media that she intends to be back behind the bench, as the Charge start a five-game road trip against the Toronto Sceptres at the Coca-Cola Coliseum on Thursday.
Featured photo by PWHL
