Ottawa Charge expects second Russian player drafted in PWHL to be a 'superstar'

Article content

Only one Russian ever had been chosen in the PWHL draft before the Ottawa Charge selected two on Tuesday night.

Naturally, Mike Hirshfeld expects much better luck with his picks — especially forward Anna Shokhina — than the Boston Fleet had with Ilona Markova last year.

“We had her as probably the fourth-most talented player in this draft,” the Charge GM said of the team’s second-round pick during a recap of the evening’s events at Ottawa’s new Hard Rock Casino & Resort as Tuesday night turned into Wednesday morning. “That’s how highly we thought of her, so to get her at 13 was really exciting for us.

“We think she’s going to be a superstar in this league and we’re excited to get here and have her show her skills.”

Initially, Boston might have had similar aspirations for Markova, a skilled, then-22-year-old forward the team selected in the seventh round in 2024. But after attending training camp, she was released and returned to play in her homeland.

“Sometimes you swing (and miss) and we swung a couple times last year,” Fleet GM Danielle Marmer said. “I think of Markova, for example, as one of those.”

So why does the Charge believe it hit one out of the park with Shokhina?

Largely because of the homework they’ve done on the 28-year-old, who had 30 goals and 73 points in 42 games with Dynamo-Neva St. Petersburg ‘A’ last season.

Also, the recommendation of Mel Davidson — the former head coach and GM of Canada’s national team — who gave a thumbs up to both Shokhina and her former Dynamo linemate Fanuza Kadirova, the Charge’s sixth and last pick on Tuesday.

“We put a lot of work in on both of them,” Hirshfeld said. “Over the last month, we have talked to both of the players themselves. We have scouted some film that we found of them. We’ve talked to coaches and people who played in that league.

“We hired Mel as a consultant and she started working with us early in the new year. Mel has actually coached them as part of the IIHF international growth program, so she knows both the players really well.

“Fanuza is a very talented player, lots of skill, a goal scorer. We think she’s going to have to deal with the physicality in this league and that’s going to be a learning curve for her. But we think the upside, where we picked her in the sixth round, is incredibly high.”

Hirshfeld said the Charge’s lawyers envision no problems obtaining work visas for the two Russians.

“For us, it was definitely worth a shot bringing them both together,” he said. “They’re definitely not fluent, but they are learning English. But we’re comfortable (with their overseas transition) because of the skill level and the talent level. Our organization has focused on international players for a long time, so we think they’ll fit in really well in our culture.

“There’s people around to support, whether it’s (Finnish defender) Ronja (Savolainen), (Austrian forward) Anna Meixner, and (Czech forward Katerina) Mrazova maras as well. So we feel we have a foundation that will support them as they come to North America.”

Here’s the complete rundown of the Charge’s draft haul that includes two Americans, a Fin and a Canadian:

Round 1, 5th  Pick Overall – Rory Guilday (D), Cornell University (NCAA)

Round 2, 13th Pick Overall – Anna Shokhina (F), Dynamo-Neva St. Petersburg (ZhHL)

Round 3, 21st Pick Overall – Sarah Wozniewicz (F), University of Wisconsin (NCAA)

Round 4, 29th Pick Overall- Peyton Hemp (F), University of Minnesota (NCAA)

Round 5, 37th Pick Overall – Sanni Ahola (G), St. Cloud State University (NCAA)

Round 6, 45th Pick Overall- Fanuza Kadirova (F), Dynamo-Neva St. Petersburg (ZhHL)

Hirshfeld crossed his fingers in hopes that he’d land Guilday, the 5-foot-11 former captain of the Big Red.

“We really like what she brings to the table,” he said of the Chanhassen, Minn,. product. “She’s obviously tall, long reach, tough, clears the front of the net, plays exactly the way we want to play. We think she’ll be a natural (D-partner) with Ronja or Jocelyne Larocque and she’s an incredible person. For us, that’s a home run pick.

“Rory was always a top target for us, so to see her there at five was really thrilling.”

Wozniewicz, an Alberta native who played four years of high school hockey under Charge coach Carla MacLeod, also had the attributes Ottawa was looking for in a big, physical, strong-skating forward.

Hemp, who comes from a family of three hockey-playing sisters, was a team captain, a two-way player and the cornerstone of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Meanwhile, the Charge didn’t think it could pass up the chance to take Ahola as a backup for Gwyneth Philips.

“Sanni was at the top of our list in terms of the goalies in this draft,” Hirshfeld said. “So to see her still available at that point, we were a little bit surprised. We think she’ll be a really terrific backup for Gwyn and again, she comes with international experience, so that’s an important factor for us.”

On Wednesday, the Charge was shut out as the PWHL announced its major award winners.

They were Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin (Billie Jean King MVP and Forward of the Year), Toronto’s Renata Fast (Defender of the Year) Montreal’s Ann-Renee Desbiens (Goaltender of the Year), New York’s Sarah Fillier (Rookie of the Year) and Montreal’s Kori Cheverie (Coach of the Year).

Philips was up for goalie of the year and rookie of the year, while MacLeod was a nominee for coach of the year.

Also named were the First and Second all-star teams

First All-Star team

Forwards: Fillier, Hilary Knight (Boston) and Poulin,

Defenders: Fast, Sophie Jaques (Minnesota)

Goalie: Desbiens

Second All-Star team

Forwards: Kendall Coyne Schofield (Minnesotra), Tereza Vanisova (Ottawa), Daryl Watts (Toronto)

Defenders: Ella Shelton (New York), Claire Thompson (Minnesota)

Goalie: Aerin Frankel (Boston).

Rebecca Leslie was named winner of Ottawa’s Intact Impact Award, which recognizes the player who consistently goes the extra mile to be a great teammate while displaying exceptional leadership, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to their team throughout the season.