Ottawa Charge ready for PWHL playoffs after strong five-game finish and outpouring of support

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Aside from one hiccup, the Ottawa Charge has done a good job of containing “The GOAT” this season.

Marie-Philip Poulin did show off her immense talent when she converted three of her five shots for a hat-trick in the Montreal Victoire’s 4-1 victory over the Charge on Jan. 29 at Place Bell in Laval.

But Poulin, widely considered the best women’s hockey player on the planet, had just one goal and one assist in the other five games between the teams.

Keeping Poulin off the board, which the Charge did on three occasions, would certainly help Ottawa get off to a good start when the rivals square off in Game 1 of their best-of-five, opening round PWHL playoff series Thursday night at Place Bell.

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Poulin notched a pair of goals, the first at the 11-second mark of the opening period, when the Victorie clinched top spot with a 3-2 victory over the New York Sirens last Saturday.

That gave her a league-leading 19 on the season and 29 over her 51-game PWHL career.

Poulin scored just once on 18 shots when Montreal was swept by Boston in last season’s playoffs.

Along with being key members of Canada’s national team, Poulin, her spouse Laura Stacey, and Jennifer Gardiner combined for 35 of Montreal’s 77 goals while forming one of, if not the best lines in the PWHL.

Tasked with keeping that unit in check as much as possible over the next five games will be Ottawa’s shutdown line, which consists of Team Canada veteran Emily Clark and Americans Gabbie Hughes and Mannon McMahon.

Having the last line change in the final two meetings of the season at TD Place, Ottawa held Montreal to just three goals, with only one (by Stacey) coming from the big line.

“Obviously, we’ve played with and against a lot of these girls, some of us for a decade now, so obviously there’s a lot of familiarity,” said Clark, who scored two goals in Ottawa’s 3-1 victory at TD Place over Montreal in February, when asked if there’s a “book” on how to play against the Victoire’s top performers. “But yeah, we have coaches and people that specialize in those areas for a reason. We have Pierre (Groulx), our goalie coach, who will prep us with what we need to know. Same with our ‘D’ coach and special teams coach. We’ll be prepared for them.

“We played them six times (in the season) and we get to play them. It’s pretty cool. I’ve never played in a series before. So to be able to play a game and be able to go back to the drawing board and readjust, that’s really fun. So I’m excited for that.”

The Charge was in “playoff mode” down the stretch, winning four of its last five games to qualify for its first-ever post-season berth.

During the five games, Ottawa held opponents to seven goals while scoring 11.

“The playoffs are almost like another season, so we have to take it one game at a time,” said forward Alexa Vasko, who noted the team has been “buzzing” at practice this week. “It’s five games, anything can happen. So whatever happens in Game 1, we move on to Game 2.

“I think we just have to focus on the present and, you know, tackle the task at hand.”

Charge players feel the confidence they currently have will override their post-season inexperience.

“We’ve played the season in five-game chunks, so it’s titled ‘playoffs’ but it’s just another five-game chunk,” Vasko said. “There shouldn’t be any extra nerves. It’s just another five-game chunk, and we’re super excited.”

The excitement poured out onto the street on Wednesday, when Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, city councillors and the public joined members of the team for an event to officially declare Bank Street “Charge Avenue” between Sunnyside Avenue and First Avenue.

“The City of Ottawa has been supporting us all season long, so I think this playoff run is more for them, just so that they can keep supporting us,” McMahon said.

“It just speaks volumes to what the city is to us and just how great they’ve treated us all year long, all season long,” Hughes said. “It was cool to see Ottawa, our ‘Charge Ave’ sign up there, and all the people out there.

“I don’t think our group could be any more ready than we are right now.”