Edmonton Puts Itself On The Map With PWHL Takeover
The Toronto Sceptres came away with a 3-2 overtime win over the Ottawa Charge in the first-ever professional women's game at Rogers Place on Sunday.
Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports - Edmonton Puts Itself On The Map With PWHL TakeoverThere's nothing like coming home.
Three members of the Ottawa Charge got that chance on Sunday when they took on the Toronto Sceptres in the Edmonton leg of the PWHL's takeover tour at Rogers Place.
The Edmonton-born Danielle Serdachny and Stephanie Markowski, as well as Emerance Maschmeyer, who hails from nearby Bruderheim, all played their first professional games in their hometown.
"It's a home game for us," Maschmeyer said after the game. "In front of our friends and family and coaches and people we went to school with. I could have never imagined myself playing a pro game here in Edmonton."
The Charge and Sceptres gave Edmonton fans all they could handle in a back-and-forth thriller. Ottawa dominated early, outshooting Toronto 17-2 with a 1-0 in the first period, before the Sceptres answered by flipping the script and evening the shots after two with a 2-1 lead.
"I know that I'll get busy," the netminder Maschmeyer said of her workload. "I knew Toronto would come out in the second and push hard. It's just staying in it, physically and mentally."
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Edmonton fans got a little more than they bargained for on Sunday, as Tereza Vanisova's third-period goal tied the game for Ottawa and sent it off to overtime. Toronto's Daryl Watts played the hero, continuing her star turn with a two-goal night and the overtime winner.
“This is such a cool experience for all of us," Watts said after the game. "It’s not every day that you get to play in an NHL rink - especially this one, it’s so beautiful and the crowd was electric, so it’s hard not to get incredibly excited and pumped up to play in this atmosphere.”
Even if the hometown girls Maschmeyer, Serdachny, and Markowski went home with a loss, the takeover was an unqualified success. Rogers Place reported an attendance of 17,518, and the afternoon was full of homemade signs and competing "Let's Go Sceptres" and "Go Charge Go" chants, as well as some chants of "We Want A Team".
"I think it's really special, it shows how much the game has grown," said Markowski. "Looking up and seeing all those little girls and even boys with all those signs, it shows how far we've gone."
Sunday's game was also an intergenerational affair. Before the game, Former Team Canada head coach and University of Alberta alum Mel Davidson addressed the Ottawa Charge locker room, emphasizing the number of women involved in bringing the game to this point.
"[To see] all the older people who kind of paved the way to make all this happen is really special," Serdachny said. "I know we're going to appreciate this moment far beyond this game, regardless of the win or loss."
Does Sunday's success portend a future PWHL expansion team in Edmonton?
"I wish we had some intel on that," Maschmeyer said with a grin. "Edmonton definitely deserves a team. It's a big hockey city."
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