First PWHL "Battle of Ontario" Goes To Ottawa

PWHL Ottawa dominated the first road game of the season beating Toronto 5-1 in the opening edition of the PWHL's "Battle of Ontario."

The "Battle of Ontario" took to the ice for the first time at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto this afternoon. Ottawa managed to leave the building with a 5-1 victory. A tidy defensive response in the third period helped the team earn their victory in PWHL history.

Toronto was fresh in tune with their schedule, playing their last game three days ago against Minnesota, where they fell to a score of 3-1. Ottawa, on the other hand, had to wait 11 days between games due to their match against Boston being postponed on January 10th due to weather problems.

While they had a longer than usual pause, head coach Carla MacLeod had no worries for their match against Toronto.

“They’re young, they’re pro athletes, they don’t worry about rust,” she said. “These women are elite athletes. This is their job, they come to work and they are excited to do that. Sometimes the best thing you can do as a coach is to get out of their way.

With the crowd against them to start the game, Ottawa managed to prevent any shots from getting to goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer. In the first 12 minutes, the team managed to allow zero shots on net.

But a couple of quick mistakes by Toronto would soon bite them. A couple of quick penalties against Toronto players Jesse Compher and Blayre Turnbull gave Ottawa a 1 minute and 44 second 5 on 3 opportunity.

Katerina Mrazova, who scored in the season opener, buried a rebound to give the away team some much needed momentum on the road. Ottawa still had a power play left over from the Turnbull penalty, giving them, another shot with the extra attacker. Shortly after, Gabbie Hughes snuck into the left of Kristen Campbell, and put the puck in the back of the net. 48 seconds apart, Ottawa had managed to come out with a 2-0 lead halfway through the first period.

Toronto started to get some pucks on net and had to wait 12 minutes until they could get a shot on Emerance Maschmeyer. With seconds trickling down, Daryl Watts took an high pass from Zoe Boyd in stride and ripped a shot past Campbell with 15.8 seconds left on the clock. Ottawa would finish the period on a comfortable 3-0 lead.

Early on in the second period, Toronto came out with pace. The home team wanted to rebound from a first period performance where they only put five pucks on net. A rush chance by Toronto would see Maschmeyer stop a couple of great chances with her right pad, but forward Natalie Spooner would bank a shot off of Maschmeyer and into the net. 

While both teams had to manage the long change during the second period, Maschmeyer saw Natalie Snodgrass in the distance. The netminder sent a pass from goal line to far blue line, landing on the stick of Snodgrass. Snodgrass would fire a shot through Erica Howe, who had replaced Campbell following the first period, putting Ottawa up 4-1. 

Maschmeyer is not shy to join the offensive side of the game, despite being a goaltender.

“I try and get my feet up ice when I’m playing the puck just so I can see what’s coming at me,” she explained. “I saw that they were all changing and saw the opportunity to get the puck up quick.”

Toronto would ramp up the pressure in the second period, but Ottawa was able to match their energy in all three zones. Maschmeyer did come up clutch with a couple of key saves, but Ottawa would prevent secondary opportunities from becoming too dangerous. Ottawa would also move the puck around as a five-player unit in the offensive zone, while keeping Toronto in their defensive zone. Toronto would outshoot Ottawa 14-11 in the middle frame, but Ottawa went into the intermission with a 4-1 lead.

In the third period, Ottawa would lock down defensively. They only allowed five shots against in the final period, while giving Toronto little-to-no chances. With 8:26 left in the third, a four-pass play would create Ottawa’s best goal of the night. Emily Clark would drop it off for Savannah Harmon, who found Mikyla Grant-Mentis down low. She would find Gabbie Hughes on the backdoor, scoring her second goal of the game.

Ottawa would close it out and would finish the game with a 5-1 win in the first game of the "Battle of Ontario." Standing tall with a 24 save performance, Emerance Maschmeyer would land the second star of the game.

“Masch is a world-class goaltender,” said MacLeod. “We’re fortunate that she’s in Ottawa, whether it be the assist because she’s a great puck handler, that’s the skill set she possesses.”

Gabbie Hughes would earn the first star of the game, with two goals on the night. Captain Brianne Jenner, Hughes' linemate, has loved the addition of Hughes for Ottawa this season.

“She’s a great player for us, a great pickup,” she said. “She plays really hard and bring a lot of energy on and off the ice, we’re lucky she’s on our team.”

Ottawa improves to a record of 1-0-1 in their new season. They will return home for their next game against Minnesota on January 17th.