PWHL Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod sat down with The Hockey News' Alex Adams. Here's that conversation.
PWHL Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod sat down with The Hockey News' Alex Adams. Here's that conversation.
When we think of drafts, we think of the general managers who make big decisions with big stakes. But in the end, it won’t be them who shape the future star players: it’s the players' coaches. Following the whirlwind of the PWHL draft, the head coach of PWHL Ottawa, Carla Macleod, sat down with The Hockey News for an exclusive interview.
Here is the interview:
How involved were you in the draft process?
Well, I'm smart enough to know when I should speak and when I should listen. I was able to ask questions and try to get a better understanding of who these players were that we were looking at. I did a lot of listening in those early meetings to make sure that I was getting the information that we needed. And then obviously, as we get closer and closer to the draft, our staff and (general manager) Mike Hirshfeld started working a little bit more, looking at our roster and where we felt we needed to go. Mike has said from the onset, he wants to be collaborative, and this was certainly a collaborative effort.
Describe your connection to (Ottawa draft picks) Danielle Serdachny and Stephanie Markowski from coaching them in 2019 at the Canada Winter Games.
I think it's really a fun story and maybe not too known. When we drafted them, Mike Hirshfeld didn't even know that they'd grown up together in Alberta and played their junior hockey together. At the end of the day, they were selected for their hockey presence and what they're able to do on the ice and who they are as people. But when we connected those dots for Mike after he smiled. I had the good fortune of working with both of those girls in particular at the 2019 Canada Winter Games, which were home games for us with Team Alberta. Both Danielle and Stephanie were big pieces of our team and we were able to upset a few teams and ultimately win that event. To see them reconnect is really special. When we announced that we drafted Stephanie, I could hear the Serdachny family jump up and cheer. It's neat to see these moments occur for families and players and certainly our organization is thrilled to have both.
What do you remember about Danielle Serdachny and Stephanie Markowski when you coached them at the 2019 Canada Winter Games?
They're just dominant players with incredible personalities. And I look at Danielle and she was our captain that year and it was her mission to really keep us going in the direction we needed to go. I think she had a primary assist on every important goal we had in that event, so she's just so driven. She's always trying to get better and that's what I have really grown to appreciate about her since and throughout her college career. She's just a diligent worker, and with a high-end skill set. It's a pretty nice combo. And then you look at Stephanie Markowski, who had a really great career at Clarkson University and transferred to Ohio State to help them win a national championship this year. She is a workforce on the backend and she’s got a grit to her which is also balanced with a nice skill set. With both these girls, I think it's a little bit of an Alberta trait to have the grit. If I'm being honest, we're a little bit used to that sort of roll-up-your-sleeves and do-what-you-need-to-do to get the job done. And I think both girls bring that and it's going to help us as we move forward.
Describe how you and Mike Hirshfeld were joking that you didn’t draft a Czech player this time (Carla MacLeod is the Czech National coach).
When I sit there and watch the draft, there are moments where I could throw my Czech cap on when I see those women be drafted into this league. Couldn't be prouder of them.
How excited are you to have so many PWHL quality defenders battling for spots on the blueline?
I think for us we are always trying to build at every position. That's why drafts are fun. We're thrilled to add Ronja Savolainen, Stephanie Markowski, and Madeline Wethington. We've been able to add some D there that have had great careers to this point on all different levels. You saw as each of them stood up there with the stick (on the draft stage) last night, some solid size women that will hopefully be tough to play against. We’re just getting trying to always get ourselves to be a little bit better and we're thrilled at what we're able to do (at the draft).
You and Mike have talked a lot about culture. How excited are you to bring in some players through the draft that can be culture setters for you?
There isn’t a franchise on the planet, never mind in our own league that's not focusing on culture and making sure you're bringing in the right people. We’re really thrilled with the women that we've got already in Ottawa. We take a lot of pride in how forward thinking they were and how thoughtful they were in trying to establish great environment for themselves and their teammates too. When bringing in the seven players in the draft, we also vetted and checked each player out prior to the draft to make sure that we feel they could align and bolster what we're doing here. They all understand the community that's been cultivated [in Ottawa] from a fan base perspective and I can't wait to play in front of all those fans.
The season won’t start for a while, but how does bringing in Gwyneth Phillips change how you plan to use your goaltenders next season after playing Maschmeyer the majority of the games last year?
The variables of last year aren't just black and white like us playing Maschmeyer and not playing Abstreiter. Those aren’t the only variables. You have to understand that there are nuances that go into those decisions and there were variables that factored into it. Obviously we've learned from the league last season; we know this internally too, that it's unfair to think you can ride one goalie all season especially when we're going to add games to the season next year. There's an opportunity there that where we know we need to find a way to make it work between both goalies and our plan is to make that work. Obviously, Gwyneth is a great goaltender and she's going to be able to work with [goalie coach] Pierre Groulx on a daily basis, which is only going to continue to develop her. And the goaltender workload is certainly a piece that isn’t lost on us.
* This interview has only been edited for clarity and length.