TD Place Arena erupted when forward Daryl Watts notched PWHL Ottawa’s first-ever hat trick to secure a 5-3 win over PWHL Toronto on March 23. A wave of hats rained down onto the ice as fans chanted, “End the streak!”
Toronto had put together an 11-game winning streak heading into the matchup, beating every team in the league at least once. It cemented them at the top of the PWHL standings, but Ottawa finally challenged their run of dominance to give themselves some much-needed breathing room in the tight playoff race.
“I thought today we played a complete team game,” Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod said. “It’s something that we have been shooting for the entire season.”
Nearly 8,500 fans gathered in Canada’s capital to watch Ottawa take on the hottest team in the league. Before Toronto embarked on its streak, Ottawa was the last team to beat them.
“It’s tough to beat 9,000 people in the stands and how loud they are,” Watts said. “When we score, it just feels electric.”
Watts showed a hunger for the net early on. With a slick puck drag in the first few minutes, she danced into the slot but couldn’t beat Toronto goalie Kristen Campbell.
The intensity between the rival teams fluctuated on and off throughout the first period, highlighted by alarming shakeups for Ottawa forwards Gabbie Hughes and Becca Gilmore.
Halfway through the period, still hungry for a goal, Watts once again charged towards the opposing net. She barreled straight into Campbell, causing the goalie’s helmet to fly off and sending her crashing to the ice. Watts was subsequently booked for goaltender interference.
Minutes after the ensuing Toronto power play, Watts generated another scoring chance as she redirected a bullet pass from forward Kateřina Mrázová but was brick walled again by Campbell.
Despite both squads’ numerous scoring chances and ferocity, the game remained scoreless heading into the second period.
But nine minutes into the second frame, Toronto forward and league-leading scorer Natalie Spooner broke the stalemate with a top-corner snipe.
Following another chance from Watts which whistled by Campbell’s left post, Toronto forward Hannah Miller dished a cross-slot pass to Spooner, who tucked her second goal of the game just three minutes after her first.
In 19 games this season, Spooner has notched 15 goals and 20 points, leading the league in both categories.
With only 4.5 seconds to go in the second period, Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner found Watts, who finally wired home her first goal of the night.
“It did feel like a big goal,” Watts said. “In the locker room, we were feeling good rather than looking at a two goal deficit.”
Heading into the final period, Ottawa rode that momentum.
Not even 40 seconds in, forward Emily Clark sent the puck in front of the opposing net from behind the goal line. Linemate Hayley Scamurra corralled the puck and fired a backhand that squeezed through Campbell to knot the score 2-2.
“[Ottawa] started pushing and we knew they were going to come out hard in the third and they got that early one,” Spooner said.
Eight minutes later, Mrázová forced a turnover just below the Toronto blue line and sent a pinpoint saucer pass to Jenner, who tapped in the puck for the 3-2 Ottawa lead.
Toronto star forward Sarah Nurse answered a minute later with an unexpected shot from behind the goal line, which ricocheted off Ottawa goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer to reduce Toronto’s deficit to one.
But Ottawa held on the rest of the way to take the win, and Watts completed the franchise’s first hat trick on an empty net.
With only five games remaining in the season, Ottawa sits somewhat comfortably in a playoff spot, five points ahead of PWHL Boston.
Ottawa will have to regain this momentum after a month-long break for the IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championships when they face PWHL Minnesota on April 20 at home.
Featured photo by Andrea Cardin/Freestyle Photography/PWHL.
