PWHL Ottawa is working to “build a best-in-class organization that is a huge part of this community,” says general manager. The team may have been built quickly, but it's also being built to last.
PWHL Ottawa is working to “build a best-in-class organization that is a huge part of this community,” says general manager. The team may have been built quickly, but it's also being built to last.
The last time I went to a professional women’s hockey game in Ottawa, I was 15. It was the Clarkson Cup final between Les Canadiennes de Montreal and the Calgary Inferno, with the latter achieving an upset victory over the league leader. A CBC article numbered attendance at 4082. I trekked to the Canadian Tire Centre with a friend who was also into hockey; it was only after I had bought the tickets that I discovered she meant men’s hockey. Such a qualifier hadn’t really occurred to me.
A little under eight years later, I spent January 2nd at TD Place for PWHL Ottawa’s first ever game amongst a sold out, then-record-breaking crowd of 8,313 (this record was re-broken in Minnesota’s NHL-sized rink on Saturday and hopefully will be again and again by season’s end). I could write about the booming cheers and applause that accompanied introductions, goals – both ones that went in and under the net – and the team congregating at centre ice to send off the crowd. What really stood out to me, however, was the fandom on display.
It didn’t take long for cheers of “Let’s Go Ottawa” to overtake the rink. The crowd would taper off, but a chorus of little girls would continue until the crowd picked it up again. They were not only cheering for Ottawa but against Montreal – including Canada’s captain Marie-Philip Poulin being booed in its capital for likely the first time ever – which was slightly offset by the contingent of Montreal fans who had found their way into the arena. There were 'oohs' when a hit was laid, 'aahs' when a shot just missed the net, and backseat playmaking from the stands.
When I checked viewership numbers for the YouTube livestream while waiting for the women’s washroom – the line winding around the concourse – during the second intermission, the total stood at 14,000; when I got home close to midnight, the total view count was at 89,000 (TSN and RDS also broadcasted the game, though their figures are yet to be released).
In the end, it was Montreal who emerged victorious after Laura Stacey tied the game late in the third and Ann-Sophie Bettez clinched the game winner in overtime. While the home team obviously would have wanted to take home three points, the mood after the game was high.
“I think you’d be remiss to walk into an evening like tonight and be worried about the scoreboard,” said head coach Carla MacLeod. “If it happens again and we get to fill a barn again, we’re going to be pretty lucky because that fan base was just like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
Yet, there was a distinct possibility this game was not happening. Stan Kasten, a member of the PWHL advisory board, told reporters before the game that Ottawa “wasn’t necessarily on our opening list of cities,” but that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was the first to advise them to consider it.
While Kasten didn’t divulge why Bettman suggested this city, talking to girls and women who have been involved in hockey in Ottawa illustrates the solid foundation.
“I think Ottawa is one of the best places on earth: half the city works for the government and everyone’s good people,” said PWHL Toronto goalie and Ottawa native Erica Howe. “They go to work, they want to pay their mortgage, and they really want to watch sports and be part of that community.” She personally experienced this close-knit community while growing up playing hockey in the city.
When it comes to sports teams in the sprawling city, location will always be a topic. You’d be hard-pressed to have a conversation about the Senators that doesn’t bring up the distance to the Canadian Tire Centre or the potential of LeBreton Flats. PWHL Ottawa doesn’t have that issue, with their rink nestled just south of downtown.
“I think the location is amazing where they are,” said PWHL Boston forward Jamie Lee Rattray in an interview with THN. “The facilities there are amazing for them, so I think it will just continue as the year continues and I don’t expect anything less.” Rattray grew up in Kanata and was a member of the Ottawa Lady Senators from 2006 to 2010, and played at TD Place for a Rivalry Series game in November 2021.
Location within the city itself isn’t the only factor at play. “I think it’s a great city that adopts the underdog a little bit,” added Ottawa’s general manager Mike Hirshfeld.
As an Ottawa expat in Toronto, I can tell you firsthand about the chip on your shoulder that comes with growing up in the nation’s capital. I’m allowed to complain about Ottawa, not you! Rattray also pointed to the proximity to Montreal and Toronto as ripe for rivalries.
According to Anne Alary, an assistant coach for the Junior Elite 'AA' East Ottawa Stars, Ottawa also has a “pretty strong” girls' minor hockey base. This is relatively new.
“As I was growing up – I’m a [1996-born] – girls hockey started to become bigger in Ottawa,” explained Rebecca Leslie, an Ottawa born forward playing for PWHL Toronto.
This sentiment was echoed by other women whom I spoke to. Alary grew up playing hockey before having to switch to ringette at 12, though she did get to join the Ottawa Raiders for the 2002-03 season. Meghan Button grew up in a hockey family but she herself did not play until she was an adult. "It wasn’t something that girls played,” she told me. Her daughter Cassidie now plays U-15 house league for the Kanata Girls’ Hockey Association, which Button pointed out did not even exist until she was a teenager.
Leslie and Howe both cited playing boys hockey growing up before playing for the Ottawa Lady Senators in their teenage years.
“I think there’s just so many more opportunities for girls to play girls hockey,” Leslie said. “You don’t have to play with boys anymore, you can just get going with girls right away.”
“It started as a trickle effect, where at the beginning a couple of people I knew were playing hockey and then there were more and then there were more,” explained Button. "By the time I was in university, there was a girls hockey team. And it was phenomenal to see that girls are playing hockey, but also girls were good at hockey.”
While the city may have come with good bones, the PWHL Ottawa team has also put in significant work to become a part of the community.
“I’m a builder at heart,” explained Hirshfeld, who previously worked in investment business and was executive director for the NHL Coaches’ Association before being recruited by Jayna Hefford.
To build this team, Hirshfeld and his staff have forged relationships around the city and mobilized their networks, including Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, the American ambassador David Cohen, and mayor Mark Sutcliffe. Hirshfeld also credited Erin Thompson, the team’s director of business operations, for the connections to local hockey associations she has fostered over 20 years as a hockey parent.
Ottawa’s other professional hockey team chipped in as well, the most visible moment being captain Brianne Jenner and her alternates dropping the puck before the Senators’ game on December 29th. At the game, the trio were met with significant cheers and applause, a precursor to last Ottawa's home opening fanfare.
“They’ve been huge supporters,” said Hirshfeld of the Senators. “I look around, and I’m not sure some of the other teams in the PWHL got as much support as we got.”
“Growing the game of hockey in the Ottawa-Gatineau region is one of the core values of the Senators organization,” wrote the Ottawa Senators in a statement to THN. “It has been our pleasure to support PWHL Ottawa’s efforts as they begin their inaugural season and we will continue to look for opportunities to collaborate in the future.”
According to Hirshfeld, PWHL Ottawa will be involved in the Sens Skills event on January 28. Hirshfeld also emphasized their engagement with women players from previous generations.
“There are so many former female players that wanted to help us,” he said. “We probably have 25 former players from the Ottawa community who have gone out on our behalf and tapped into their network.”
This includes Shelley Coolidge, who dropped the puck for the ceremonial face-off on opening night. Coolidge has been a critical builder of women’s hockey for decades, including stints at Hockey Canada and as the first coach of the University of Ottawa's women’s hockey team. She has also contributed to the development of players across generations including PWHL Ottawa's head coach Carla MacLeod, whom Coolidge met while officiating in Alberta when the now-coach was a young player. She got to know her better through coaching camps and clinics in the province and continued to follow her career. When MacLeod was named head coach, Coolidge reached out to offer her support
Coolidge recruited others, and soon there was a cascading effort from those involved in women’s sports.
“Within a short period of time,” she said, “we had so many engaged people that really want to see this succeed and know there’s so much value in this opportunity for the athletes.”
“All of those things helped us get a foothold and a presence in the market,” explained Hirshfeld. “People were able to hear our story and hear what we’re trying to accomplish, and then when they heard the tickets were for sale everyone got behind it.”
Hirshfeld is conscious that they must be proactive in giving back to the community to sustain this engagement going forward. He pointed to planned events at the children’s hospital, goalie Emerance Maschmeyer’s role as honorary president of the Association Hockey Féminin Vallée de Gatineau, and the work of their players’ foundations.
“We can't just ask people to come and pay and come and see our games,” he said. “We have to be out there.”
Of course, there is the game itself. When challenged on the lack of team names and logos in the pre-game press conference, Kasten emphasized that their main goal was getting the hockey right.
From the conversations I’ve had – both with those in attendance and those who streamed the games; with hockey aficionados and casual viewers, I can confidently say they’re on the right track. Hirshfeld echoed this sentiment.
“What’s so exciting for our product is every single person I’ve talked to who was at that game on Tuesday night says they want to come back and watch more of that because they enjoyed it so much.”
PWHL Ottawa may have been built quickly, but women's hockey in Ottawa has been building for years. If Ottawa’s home opener is any indication, professional women's hockey in the nation’s capital is here to stay.