The Ottawa Charge are in La Belle Province this week for a final tune-up before the second PWHL season officially begins later this month.
Instead of a traditional pre-season, the PWHL organized two round robin style mini-camps, with the Montreal Victoire hosting the Charge and Boston Fleet. Meanwhile, the New York Sirens, Minnesota Frost, and Toronto Sceptres are all playing each other in Etobicoke, Ont., this week.
The Charge are scheduled to play Boston on Thursday, before taking on the Victoire on Friday. Ottawa will also open the regular season with a road game against Montreal on Nov. 30.
The team’s first game in the nation’s capital isn’t until Dec. 3, when TD Place will play host to the Sceptres, the Charge’s cross-province rival.
This week’s mini-camp is the last chance for players to impress head coach Carla MacLeod, who will be finalizing a roster that has several holes up front compared to last year’s squad.
Most notably, the Charge lost star forward Daryl Watts to Toronto in free agency this off-season. Last year, Watts led the team in goals as part of a breakout season that helped her nab a spot on Team Canada in this year’s Rivalry Series against the U.S.
While starting goalie Emerance Maschmeyer is slated to return in net, the Charge will also need to find a replacement for backup goalie Sandra Abstreiter, who was named best goalie at this past year’s world championship but is not listed on the team’s training camp roster.
Three goalies have a shot of completing Ottawa’s duo in net, including Gwyneth Philips, who the Charge took with the 14th overall pick in this year’s draft. Logan Angers, a 24-year-old from Winnipeg, Man., signed with the Charge over the summer after concluding six years of collegiate hockey at Quinnipiac University.
While Allie Lehmann was also invited to training camp, despite not having a contract with the team.
In an interview posted on the team’s website, MacLeod said the training camp battles for roster spots are “across the board.”
“We want to increase the level of competition,” said MacLeod. “We’ve got to become tougher to play against. We gave up too many goals last year.”
“It’s going to be an element of competition in training camp. It’s one thing to bring the compete. It’s another one to embrace the compete. That’s a harder thing sometimes.”
