Communication is key for Ottawa Charge and nobody does it better than coach Carla MacLeod
With Carla MacLeod as coach, the Charge couldn't be in better hands. She could win with a team of journalists.
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Without question, the best move the Ottawa Charge has made in its brief history was the hiring of Carla MacLeod.
Professional coaches all know their sport, inside and out, but the best ones are also excellent communicators.
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Communication is key for Ottawa Charge and nobody does it better than coach Carla MacLeod Back to video
Among the good coaches Ottawa has had over the past 36 years (the period we’ve been covering sports in the capital), there is no better communicator than MacLeod.
She could win with a team of journalists.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Now it’s true, PWHL Ottawa didn’t have enough W’s last season, the first year of the loop’s existence.
The team finished three points out of the playoffs with eight wins, nine losses, one overtime victory and a league-high six OT defeats.
But betting against the Charge and MacLeod in Year 2 would likely not be a wise decision. The team couldn’t be in better hands.
With training camp at TD Place starting Thursday morning, we had a chance to chat with MacLeod — who has just returned from her side gig as head coach of the Czech women’s national team — as Charge players reported for medicals on Tuesday.
The following is an edited version of that conversation.
What do you anticipate being the biggest difference in Year 2?
MacLeod: “First and foremost, we know what we’re walking into. It was a steep learning curve last year. You go in doing your best … all of us did, staff, players, league, everyone … but we didn’t know anything. When we walk into Year 2, we have an understanding of what this league looks like and what it’s going to take to be successful. So I just think there’s a lot of excitement around the potential of Year 2, just having a knowledge base that’s different.”
What’s the biggest lesson you learned?
MacLeod: “For me, it was looking in the mirror (and saying) ‘What do we need? What did I miss on? What did our staff miss on?’ With that, it was just recognizing the pace of the league, how fast it moved. I hadn’t coached in that kind of pace … limited practices, compared to what we’re used to at the university level and even at the international level … so there was a lot of new for me that I didn’t anticipate, that I’m better prepared for now, and ultimately, that our staff is better prepared for.
“I think the margin of difference is so minuscule in this league. Sure, you look at it now you’re like, of course it was, but you didn’t know it until you started to live it. It was a bounce here, or a goal there, or a blocked shot here, or a whistle there. Recognizing the depth of detail that you need to go to … and it’s not that we didn’t know that, but you didn’t have a lot of time. Everything was new. So there’s a foundational piece that’s unique now in Year 2, there’s a core group here that understands what we want our style to go and what it’s going to take differently.
“The personal reflection was inevitable when you fall short of your goal and you’re in the role that I’m in. You have to make sure that you can be better. And then, I’m so proud of our franchise … the leadership from (GM) Mike Hirshfeld is exceptional, and I think over the off-season here, we really invested in trying to ensure our staff is in a better spot, to ensure our players are coming in better informed, and just really elevating our franchise.
“I’m really, really excited about the work we’ve done to kind of see it in action.”
Did all those overtime losses haunt you over the summer?
“No, none of this haunts me. And I think that’s the reality. You signed up for the sports and you’re going to live these days and these moments. To me, it’s a privilege, we had to reflect pretty quickly and, to me, that’s the silver lining of that misstep, in essence.
“It just shows you that, okay, there’s going to be lots of ways to get points in this league, and earning every single point does matter. So it’s not about building this season, it’s about starting at the right starting point, that we’re competing, and we’re setting the level and the tone every game. It’s not a ramp-up league. It’s a you-got-to-go-now league because it’s going to come down to a point or two.”
What will be the identity of the team?
MacLeod: “We were working towards it last year, too — No. 1, we want to be a team and utilize our roster and make sure that we’re giving players an opportunity because, when you utilize a team, you can play at a certain level of pace, and that pace is what we need. We need to be relentless in our defending and that’s where we mis-stepped a little bit last year. We weren’t hard enough to play against. So as coaches, we’ve got to make sure we better build that out in practices. We better build that out in our video teachings. And then obviously, let it fall on the players to play it and love playing that way. In this league, because it’s so close, you have to have a defensive component that is one that’s difficult to play against.’
How did the off-season play out?
MacLeod: “In those really early days after not making our way into playoffs, there’s a lot of emotion amongst everyone. There’s a lot of disappointment, a lot of rawness as far as what went wrong and why, and all those variables. I think those moments are important, because you have to be able to live it, to learn from it, and I think as we progress through the summer, we were able to really differentiate between what were some core pieces that we know we can get better at, and what was some of the emotional pieces that just had to come out. So we really leaned into those core pieces.
“A big focus for us was the communication side of it. And it’s not just from coaches to players or management to players. It’s from players out too, and how are we communicating in our dressing room. The work of this group has done in the off-season, from an off-ice perspective, a team-building perspective, has been really impressive. I know we’ve done it as a staff as well.
“Then you get into the summer, and you obviously leave (the players) alone for a little while, because they need that. But they’re all invested in growing their own game and making sure they’re fit and ready to come back. And then the last 4-6 weeks, we’ve been able to lean into who we want to be, and what are we looking to be, and try to lay a foundation so that we get here now to this day, which has like the countdown calendar for Christmas.
“Right now, we’re ready to go. We’re not learning names. We’re not learning who people are. We’re connected already.”
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