Canadian national team members Brianne Jenner, Emerance Maschmeyer and Emily Clark have all signed with the PWHL's Ottawa franchise.

Ottawa's PWHL franchise made the first official splash in free agency signing a trio of Canadian national team members in Brianne Jenner, Emmerance Maschmeyer, and Emily Clark.

All three agreed to three year contracts through 2025-2026. Salary terms will not be disclosed per the PWHLPA.

“We are thrilled with the three players we have signed as the inaugural players for the Ottawa franchise,” said Mike Hirshfeld, general manager of PWHL Ottawa in a league press release. “We truly believe that we have signed three incredible hockey players. As important to us, we are focused on making Ottawa a best-in-class organization in the PWHL, a place where players want to come and play. Building a culture is important to us and we believe these three players are incredibly well-respected and will help us to lay the foundation of the type of organization we aspire to be.”

Jenner, 32, who hails from Oakville, Ontario, spent last season in the PWHPA scoring 19 points in 20 games with Team Sonnet. Jenner has two Olympic gold medals and three World Championship gold on her resume, including being named MVP at the 2022 Olympics.  Following her NCAA career at Cornell, Jenner spent four seasons playing with the CWHL's Calgary Inferno winning a pair of Clarkson Cup titles.

“This is a dream come true,” said Jenner. “I'm thrilled and honoured with the opportunity to help build a franchise in Ottawa and help establish a culture and atmosphere here that will be a foundation for years to come. I couldn't be more excited to get to Ottawa and become a part of the community."

“It is an honour to welcome one of this generation’s greatest players to Ottawa and we are thrilled that she will be joining us as an inaugural member of our franchise,” said Hirshfeld of Jenner. “Her accomplishments to date are incredibly impressive and we are excited to watch her lead our team over the next few seasons. We strongly believe her leadership and work ethic will lay a foundation for all of our players and our entire franchise and create the type of team culture and commitment that we believe is extremely important.”

Maschmeyer, 28, played 10 games last season with the PWHPA's Team Scotiabank posting a 2.83 GAA and .922 save percentage. The Alberta product and Harvard graduate spent three seasons in the CWHL prior to joining the PWHPA and has seven World Championship medals (2 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze) including being named the 2016 Best Goaltender, and also won an Olympic gold with Canada.

“It is an absolute honour and privilege to be one of the first-ever players signed to the PWHL,” said Maschmeyer. “It’s important to recognize that I wouldn’t have reached this point of signing a professional contract without all the determination of the women and pioneers of the game who came before me. I am thrilled to be joining the Ottawa organization as we build a strong-charactered, Championship caliber team.”

“We believe Emerance is one of the top goalies in the world and believe she is heading into the best years of her career,” said Hirshfeld. “We are excited to have her on our team. In doing our research, people around the game were unanimous about all the intangibles she brings to the table like a positive, infectious personality, an amazing teammate, and a leader. She will be an important part of the culture we are trying to build in Ottawa.”

Ottawa's third signing is 27-year-old forward Emily Clark whose international remume with Team Canada includes an Olympic gold and silver and seven IIHF Women’s World Championship medals (2 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze).

The Wisconsin alumni was second in PWHPA scoring last season behind only Marie-Philip Poulin scoring 23 points in 20 games for the Secret Cup champion Team Harvey's.

“I couldn’t be happier to be a part of the PWHL Ottawa franchise and I am looking forward to building on the strong women’s hockey history in the nation’s capital,” said Clark. “Having played there before, it was evident that the fans are passionate and that this is a hockey city. This is a dream come true and I cannot wait to get things started in Ottawa!”

“We are absolutely delighted to have Emily join Ottawa as one of our inaugural franchise players,” said Hirshfeld. “We love her complete 200-foot hockey game and strongly believe she is only getting better as a player and is heading into the prime years of her career. As important to us, in performing our due diligence, everyone we talked to raved about her as a teammate and a leader and we believe she will be an integral part of the culture we are trying to build in our locker room.”

With the signings, Ottawa's free agency period is now complete, and the team can prepare for the September 18 PWHL Draft where Ottawa holds the 5th and 

Agreements during this time. The 2023 PWHL Draft is scheduled for Sept. 18 where Ottawa holds the fifth and eighth overall picks.