'Funny' hometown heroine Rebecca Leslie leads Ottawa Charge to new PWHL heights

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At what point over the winter did anyone imagine the Ottawa Charge would kick off the May 24 weekend by reducing the best women’s hockey player on the planet to tears?

“This one hurts right now,” an emotional Marie-Philip Poulin said after her Montreal Victoire’s season was ended by the Charge at TD Place on Friday night. “And it will.”

Ottawa advanced to the Walter Cup final against the defending-champion Minnesota Frost because it held Poulin — the greatest goal scorer in the PWHL’s brief history and captain of both the Victoire and Canada’s national team — to one goal on 27 shots over the four-game opening-round series.

“We came (up) short … I came (up) short,” Poulin said. “And the power play … A lot of things didn’t come up. It’s pretty fresh right now, and it’s a lot.”

As stunning as Poulin’s lack of production was, who had the only locally grown product ever to wear the Charge jersey scoring what, at this point, has to be the biggest goal in franchise history?

Rebecca Leslie, who had just one goal over 27 games this season, gave Ottawa a lead it would never relinquish at the two-minute mark of the series clincher.

“Becca’s goal, getting us up early, just gave us a lot of confidence,” said Emily Clark, who skated around Poulin on her way to netting the winner in the first minute of the third period. “It kind of allowed us to take a deep breath early on and play our game the whole way through.”

Leslie had three goals in 29 games last season for Toronto, including one in the deciding game of a first-round playoff loss to Minnesota.

But nothing compared to her first shift on Friday, when she broke up a play in the defensive zone and then finished off a 2-on-1 break with Anna Meixner (who, with two points this season, had just one less than Leslie) to get the ball rolling towards an outcome that prevented the series from going back to Montreal for a fifth and deciding game.

“We work hard all year to be in these moments,” Leslie said. “And I think Meixie and I and (third-line centre Katerina Mrazova) have been playing really well this series. We’ve just tried to find a way to produce and be that depth scoring for our team. So, obviously, it felt really special to do that.”

Being a hometown heroine with so many friends and family members among the 8,012 in attendance was pure gravy.

“It’s a dream come true,” Leslie said of playing for the Charge. “I have to pinch myself every day. I grew up a 67’s season-seat member, so I’ve been to a lot of games in this arena, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many fans or it being so loud. I think we all love to represent the city, and we take great pride in it, and to continue playing here in the playoffs is really special.”

Leslie’s point totals in her first season after signing as a free agent with the Charge didn’t properly portray her worth to the team.

“She’s just a composed player,” head coach Carla MacLeod said. “She’s obviously got speed and skill, we knew that coming in, and a veteran experience level. She’s built for this kind of moment. This one tonight, that’s Becca Leslie for me.  She just drives the back post and she’s rewarded.

“I think there are a lot of pieces within her game.  She’s gotten better, she’s leaned into the defensive side of it. She blocked a couple of key shots tonight, too. She just plays a steady game that is required when you’re trying to elevate the team to the next level.”

Said Leslie: “Coming into this season, I just wanted to do whatever I could to bring a Walter Cup to Ottawa. Last year, when we were playing against Ottawa, I would always say that they’re a super hard team to play against, they had a really good culture and a lot of teammates that I was looking forward to playing with, like Clarkie and (Brianne) Jenner and (Emerance Maschmeyer), some players that I’ve grown up looking up to and grown up playing with. I was really eager to come here and play for my hometown.

“It’s a really, really tough league,” Leslie added in reference to her modest offensive totals. “It’s the best league in the world, and you’re playing against the best players every night, so just to compete and impact the team in any way that I can, it was really special.”

Sitting beside Leslie at the interview table, series star Gwyneth Philips chipped in with her unsolicited two cents.

“I also think Becca brings a valuable component off the ice that’s really important,” the Charge goaltender said while turning to Leslie and tapping her on the leg. “So thanks for that.”

Philips was asked to expand on that component.

“She’s just funny,” she said.

Maybe so, but it was Leslie’s on-ice contributions that helped bring a lot of joy to her teammates and sent the Victoire home in tears on Friday.