OTTAWA 鈥� The Ottawa Charge felt like they beat themselves Tuesday night.
The Charge (4-0-2-4) struggled to match the Toronto Sceptres' intensity and effort and ultimately fell short in a 4-2 loss.
Toronto (3-0-2-5), which sits last in the Professional Women鈥檚 Hockey League, came in looking like they were determined to get back into the thick of the standings and Ottawa was lucky to have it as close as it was.
And that was only because of Emerance Maschmeyer, who faced 38 shots.
鈥淟ike, if we don鈥檛 have Masch in that, we鈥檙e in some trouble,鈥� said Charge coach Carla MacLeod. 鈥淚t鈥檚 that simple.鈥�
MacLeod gave Toronto full credit for its effort.
鈥淭hese teams are so even, but we weren鈥檛 even tonight with Toronto,鈥� said MacLeod. 鈥淭hey outplayed us. They deserved that win.鈥�
Despite playing well Toronto has struggled this season to come up with the 鈥淲鈥� after 60 minutes.
鈥淚 think they just got rewarded,鈥� said Toronto coach Troy Ryan. 鈥淚t still probably was 60 minutes of the whole roster playing the right way, so it鈥檚 just nice that they got rewarded on a night like that.鈥�
The Sceptres outshot Ottawa 14-5 in the opening period, but the score was 1-1.
Ottawa (4-0-2-4) opened the scoring early in the first with a power-play goal after a Toronto turnover allowed Victoria Bach, now riding a three-game point streak, to backhand a pass to Mannon McMahon out front.
Toronto tied the game midway through the period when Daryl Watts found Sarah Nurse at the side of the net. Nurse redirected the puck in mid-air to Hannah Miller in the slot for her fourth of the year.
鈥淲e get to see that every day in practice,鈥� said Toronto鈥檚 Maggie Connors, of Nurse鈥檚 skill. 鈥淪he鈥檚 like an unbelievable player, so it鈥檚 just awesome when everyone else kind of gets to see that. We see it all the time.鈥�
Ottawa admitted they went into the locker room and spoke of the need for adjustments. While there were individual efforts to get things back on track, the squad was unable to rally back as a group.
鈥淭here was an adjustment made at times,鈥� said MacLeod. 鈥榃e started to try to get pucks in deeper and stuff like that, right. Nobody鈥檚 going out there to not do the job, but we have to find a way to get the job done and that鈥檚 the next step for us.鈥�
The Sceptres continued to press and were rewarded at 8:46 of the second when Connors beat Maschmeyer from just inside the blue line.
Once again Ottawa managed to tie things up. Ottawa caught a break later in the period when the teams were battling behind the net and Toronto鈥檚 attempt to clear the puck deflected off goaltender Kristen Campbell鈥檚 skate to make it 2-2. Campbell made 20 saves.
But Ottawa couldn鈥檛 escape from a giveaway in the third period. Ronja Savolainen lost control of the puck at the top of the slot midway through the third and Blayre Turnbull picked it up and beat Maschmeyer, with what proved to be the winner. Emma Maltais added an empty-net goal to secure the 4-2 win.
The game was Savannah Harmon鈥檚 first back in Ottawa since being traded to the Sceptres and while she was excited to get this one behind her, it felt a lot better leaving with the victory.
鈥淲e had a job to do tonight, and we were excited for this game, and we got the three points,鈥� she said. "It was fun.鈥�
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2025.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
