Ottawa Charge defender Zoe Boyd 'overwhelmed' by love and support from PWHL community

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Ottawa Charge defender Zoe Boyd ranks her team’s 2-1 road win over the Toronto Sceptres on New Year’s Eve as the best game of her life.

Not because of anything she did on the ice, but for who was watching in the stands.

Alongside her dad Jim was her mom Tammy, who suffered a brain injury in a car accident two decades ago.

The Dec. 31 game was the first time Tammy has watched her daughter play hockey.

An eight-minute CBC Sports special, which can be found on YouTube, touches on that experience and the beautiful relationship Zoe and Tammy share.

From it, Zoe has received an outpouring of love, much of it through social media.

“It honestly just means the world to me,” Boyd said Monday after the Charge practiced at TD Place. “I never thought I would get that much support and have that big of an outreach. So to see all the love and support that I’ve been receiving, and my mom has been receiving, and just my family in general, has just been overwhelming. I can’t say how grateful I am.”

Highlights of the video include Zoe and Tammy singing the Alphaville hit Forever Young together at the long-term care facility Tammy calls home, the look of surprise and joy on Zoe’s face when her mom guesses what she does for a living, and Zoe telling Tammy she never could have become a professional hockey player if not for her.

It’s quite touching.

“My hope with this whole special was just to kind of get my story out there, and get my mom some recognition she deserves,” said Boyd, a 25-year-old from Caledon East, an hour outside of Toronto. “If it touched one person or helped even one person with their own life or their own hardships, then that was really my goal. So to see all the comments and everybody reaching out saying they have similar stories, or it meant a lot to them, I feel extremely grateful to have had that platform to be able to share my story.”

Meanwhile, the Charge and Sceptres square off again Tuesday at TD Place with the teams headed in opposite directions.

Ottawa has picked up at least a point in each of its last four games (3-0-1-0) and, with 14 points, shares third place in the PWHL standings with the New York Sirens.

Toronto is last with eight points on just one win and two OT losses since opening the season with a victory over the Boston Fleet.

Along with the above-mentioned victory in Toronto, the Charge defeated the Sceptres 3-2 at TD Place on Dec. 3.

“Every point matters from the beginning to the end,” said Boyd. “We’ve been playing really well lately, and we’re going to keep building and keep going. There’ll be a lot more points to come, that’s for sure.”

The game Tuesday will mark the return to Ottawa of Savannah Harmon and Hayley Scamurra, two original members of the Ottawa PWHL team that were sent to the Sceptres for veteran defender Jocelyne Larocque and forward Victoria Bach the night before the New Year’s Eve game.

Larocque and Bach teamed up for Ottawa’s lone goal in a 2-1 overtime loss to Boston on Saturday.

“It was hard, losing Scams and Sav, they’re great kids, but Joce and Bach have been great adds,” said backup goalie Gwyneth Philips, who was named the third star after stopping 19 of 21 shots on Saturday. “They just joined seamlessly. Great people, great leaders. Joce has been around and is just a great presence in the locker room. Bach has always got a smile on her face and cracking jokes. So it’s a fun change of pace with them, and it’s been great having them on and off the ice.”

Emerance Maschmeyer will be back in the crease for Ottawa on Tuesday, attempting to build on a strong season that has seen her post a 4-0-1-2 record, with 203 saves on 217 shots.

As of Monday afternoon, more than 7,000 tickets had been sold for the game, which is Toronto’s last visit to Ottawa this season.