A magical tic-tac-toe passing play capped a special night for PWHL Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner in a 4-0 victory over PWHL Minnesota.
Ottawa forward Tereza Vanišová strode into the Minnesota zone while Jenner and Daryl Watts converged toward the opposing goal. Vanišová dropped the puck to Watts who redirected the pass onto Jenner’s blade in one smooth motion.
Dozens of hats cascaded down to the ice at TD Place Arena moments after Jenner flipped the puck over the shoulder of Minnesota netminder Nicole Hensley to complete her first-ever PWHL hat trick.
In a night of many firsts, Jenner may have picked up another; in her long and illustrious hockey career, she said she couldn’t remember ever producing a shower of hats.
“I don’t know if that’s ever happened, maybe back in college,” Jenner said.
Jenner’s trio of goals wasn’t the only show of brilliance, as Ottawa goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer stopped all 35 shots from the high-flying Minnesota squad for the shutout.
Jenner and Maschmeyer, alongside Ottawa forward Emily Clark and Ottawa stalwart Ashton Bell, won gold representing Canada at the IIHF Women’s World Championship. The tournament put PWHL hockey on pause for nearly a month.
Also representing their countries, Ottawa defender Savannah Harmon and forward Hayley Scamurra took home silver representing Team USA in the tournament. Forwards Kateřina Mrázová and Vanišová, defenseman Aneta Tejralová, alongside MacLeod behind the bench nearly brought Czechia the bronze, but fell to Finland in a shootout.
Forward Akane Shiga represented Japan in the tournament and goaltender Sandra Abstreiter played between the pipes for Germany.
Despite a tough grind against top competition, Maschmeyer said the tournament helped keep players sharp.
“It was a little bit easier transitioning back,” Maschmeyer said. “There’s nothing like game reps, so people that went to worlds stepped up in those first few minutes and everyone else caught up really quick.”
With Ottawa holding the fourth and final PWHL playoff position and PWHL Boston close behind, entering into the final stretch of the season with a win against Minnesota is huge.
However, topping Minnesota was never a sure thing. In the first period, Minnesota fired eight unanswered shots on the Ottawa goal through the early minutes of play.
“[Ottawa] looked like a team that hadn’t played in three weeks,” said Minnesota head coach Ken Klee.
Minnesota star forward Taylor Heise was key in keeping the puck trapped in Ottawa’s zone for most of the first frame.
But with less than three minutes to go, Hensley left her crease to retrieve a cleared puck behind the Minnesota net. In a shocking series of events, Hensley failed to control the bouncing puck, which trickled through her skates in front of the empty frame where Jenner pounced to claim the lead for Ottawa.
Despite being vastly outplayed in the first, Ottawa somehow came out of the dressing room to start the second period with a 1-0 lead.
Only four minutes into the period, a second Minnesota blunder ended with another puck in their net. While gliding behind her team’s net to collect the puck, Minnesota blueliner Maggie Flaherty caught an edge and slammed into the end boards. In the ensuing chaos, Clark sent the puck out front to Jenner, who beat Hensley from the slot.
Over half way through the frame, Vanišová connected on a 2-on-1 with Bell for an easy tap-in. Ottawa took a commanding 3-0 lead and carried it into the third.
Ottawa didn’t make the same mistake this time. As Watts’ redirected pass found Jenner’s stick, she made no mistake in roofing the puck over Hensley’s shoulder for her third marker of the night, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
Even after having a night to remember, Jenner shrugged it off.
“I was lucky to have a few land on my stick,” she said.
Ottawa’s playoff hunt continues against Boston on April 24 at TD Place.
Featured photo by Andrea Cardin/Freestyle Photography/PWHL.
