The Ottawa Charge win their sixth straight game with a 2-1 shootout over the Boston Fleet in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,452 fans Sunday afternoon at the Scotiabank Centre in the heart of downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia.
HALIFAX, N.S. – When Nova Scotia native and Boston Fleet forward Jillian Saulnier was asked whether she would want to play for a Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) franchise in Halifax, she chose her words very carefully.
The Ottawa Charge edged the Fleet 2-1 in another shootout Sunday, Jan. 11 at the Scotiabank Centre, marking a second sold-out Takeover Tour game in the heart of downtown Halifax, with 10,452 fans in attendance.
"It's a tough question to answer," Saulnier, 33, told reporters following Boston's loss in her hometown. "I feel like my heart is in Boston right now. I live where my feet are; I think that's what I'll go with right now."
Boston head coach Kris Sparre and those in attendance at the post-game press conference chuckled at the politically correct – and honest – response from the local Olympic gold medallist.
But undoubtedly being in the Halifax arena, normally host to the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads, brings back undeniable and emotional memories for Saulnier.
"There was a (women's) worlds here in (2004) and that... sparked the fire in me," Saulnier said of being inspired by Canada's National Women's Team, which topped rivals the United States 2-01on the very same ice Saulnier and her PWHL colleagues skated on this past week.
"I sat behind the net, the teacher gave me tickets... and that was my real 'wow' factor," she said. And now, Saulnier and her fellow PWHL icebreakers are skating the way for the next generation of women's hockey stars.
"I think that's what it comes down to," she said, " seeing those little girls in the stands, thinking like, 'okay we're their 'wow factor,' and I think we owe it to them to continue to do what we do, and that is to continue to have fun, work hard and play with heart – and that is something that is a blessing that we get to do every day for a living."
She continued, "I spent a lot of time looking in the stands and reading the signs, and probably shouldn't have and don't want to say that in front of my coach," Saulnier said, again inciting knowing smiles and laughs. "But it was definitely a really special day."
"Ultimately, the goal is obviously to win, and we're not very happy with the loss because we're competitive and we want to win every single game."
Although Boston opened the scoring just over three minutes into the opening frame, with Susanna Tapani potting her fourth goal of the second off a point shot from Hadley Hartmetz, it was Ottawa that ultimately led the charge in Halifax, so to speak, skating to their sixth straight victory with two-time Olympic gold medallist Brianne Jenner tying it up in the third period after a scoreless second frame.
The 1-1 tie forced the Takeover Tour game into overtime for the second straight time in PWHL test city Halifax, with Ottawa maintaining control through most of the extra frame, but Boston was able to force the shootout.
This also marked the second straight shootout in Halifax, with fans of all ages on the edges of their seats as they cheered on some of the best women's hockey players in the world, with many holding up signs encouraging the league to bring a team to Nova Scotia, a province that not only loves its hockey, but already supports professional womens sports, including the Halifax Tides FC soccer squad.
Jenner, who has played alongside Saulnier on Team Canada, scored on one of two shootout chances, while Kateřina Mrázová secured the game-winner for the Ottawa Charge.
Ottawa goaltender Sanni Ahola earned her first PWHL win, stopping three of five Boston shots during the shootout and making 31 saves overall. Boston netminder Aerin Frankel made 17 saves total.
Jenner was just named to the Canadian roster for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, along with Charge teammates forward Emily Clark and blueliner Jocelyne Larocque. No Canadian players from the Boston Fleet were named to the national Olympic team.
"We were fighting it a little bit in the first and the second," Jenner said of the PWHL match-up in Halifax. "It just gave us a bit of a wake up call. I think were all playing a little bit too soft and not engaging in battle, and that kind of lit a spark, and we tried to take it one shift at a time, and Mrázová made a good pass and I just tried to put it up on net."
As for playing in a neutral location like Halifax as part of the Takeover Tour, Ottawa Charge head coach and former National Women's Team player Carla MacLeod gave a sincere thanks to those who took part in the sell-out crowd, including Nova Scotian and national icon Anne Murray. The always personable former player and role model wore a T-shirt donning a photo of the musical legend, who greeted the PWHL team and read the starting line-up in the Charge dressing room prior to the game.
Murray had her two grand-nieces Isla and Anna, "both young hockey players in the locker-room with her," according to the PWHL game notes.
As for Saulnier, despite losing her first PWHL game in her hometown, she still looks at the experience as a victory for Nova Scotia, and for all of the little hockey players with big dreams.
"I do feel like after the game I still felt like a winner because the amount of smiles and cheers going on... (because)... I know every little girl left that rink happy and inspired, and I think to me that's a win."
NOTES (source: PWHL):
– Halifax sold out both of its Takeover Tour games with a combined attendance of 20,890 fans at the Scotiabank Centre.
- The first Takeover Tour game in Halifax also went to a shootout, with the Montreal Victoire topping the Toronto Sceptres 2-1 on Dec. 17.
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