While there are no games this week on the PWHL schedule, teams including the Ottawa Charge remain hard at work looking to improve their odds of winning the next time the puck drops on a regular season contest.
Specialty teams continue to be the main focus for the Ottawa Charge, as they kick off their week of practices at Carleton University ahead of their road trip to face off against the Boston Fleet. This will mark their first meeting with the Fleet since defeating them in the shootout back on April 24th.
The Charge have spent a lot of time in practices over this young season focused on speciality teams, especially now with the addition of the “No Escape Rule” introduced ahead of the season. This new rule will make it more difficult on the defending team and really challenge each player to hone their defensive skills.
When it comes to Ottawa, the player advantage has been an opportunity for the club early in the season, having gone 2/7 with the advantage through the first three games. Conversely, they’ve given up three goals, as well as a jailbreak goal, in fourteen penalty kill situations. Coach MacLeod has spoken multiple times following practices about the importance of staying out of the box while maximizing their chances with the advantage. The season is still early, but they’ve struggled in both departments. They have been unable to generate much offence from the power play and continue to make frequent trips to the penalty box. Neither is a recipe for more wins this season and their first trip to the postseason.
Of course, it will take time for the new additions to find their rhythm. Players like Anna Meixner, Mannon McMahon and Stephanie Markowski have all looked great early on, but all players take time to adjust to the level of play in the PWHL.
Danielle Serdachny, another new addition, along with Hayley Scamurra and Gabbie Hughes are just three examples of players on this team who love driving to the net and can open up lanes for the likes of Katerina Mrázová, Tereza Vanišová and Emily Clark, who are all creative goal scorers.
Once they’re able to open up more lanes and battle for secondary scoring chances, they should see more success on the power play. At the same time, staying out of the box will be key. Giving up seven power plays in one game will make it tough to stay in games, especially in such a competitive league. This team was built this past offseason to be bigger and more physical to play against, and while they’ve achieved that goal, it’s now a situation of learning to use those attributes to your team’s advantage and winning games.