Day two of the PWHL's preseason is in the books with the Ottawa Charge and Minnesota Frost each picking up a win.
Day two of the PWHL's preseason is in the books with the Ottawa Charge and Minnesota Frost each picking up a win.
The Ottawa Charge took a lopsided 6-1 win over the Boston Fleet, and the Minnesota Frost earned a comeback overtime 4-3 win against the New York Sirens on day two of the PWHL preseason.
In Montreal, it may have looked like Ottawa's offense carried the load in their win over Boston, but it was actually Emerance Maschmeyer's continued strong start to the year in net. Maschmeyer stopped 36 of 37 shots she faced, including keeping the game tied 1-1 in a first period where the Charge were outshot 14-3.
Shiann Darkangelo opened the scoring for Ottawa before Lexie Adzija scored against her former team to tie it up.
In the second period Ottawa started their run with goals from Stephanie Markowski, Anna Meixner and Emily Clark. Ottawa continued their push in the third period with goals from Katerina Mrazova and Mannon McMahon.
“We just settled in. It’s our first game, so first period, I think there was lots of nerves for the new players," said Ottawa Charge assistant coach Hayley Irwin. "Even the returning players hadn’t played a game in a long time. We just stuck with it, so when the second period came along, we had our feet under us.”
Minnesota Takes Second Win
Minnesota, the reigning Walter Cup champions will exit the preseason with a 2-0-0 record after beating New York 4-3 with the overtime winner going to Mae Batherson, her second goal of the game.
Batherson opened the scoring in the game followed quickly by a response from Brooke Hobson in the opening frame. After Brooke McQuigge scored for Minnesota, Paetyn Levis and Elle Hartje scored to give the New York Sirens a 3-2 lead heading to the third. Mellissa Channell-Watkins scored the tying goal for Minnesota in the third before Batherson ended things in OT.
“I didn’t particularly like our start today, New York came out flying and they had us on our heels," said Frost head coach Ken Klee. "I am proud of our group for weathering the storm a little bit. We got a couple of big saves from Nicole Hensley and then we righted the ship.”