CHARGED UP: Ottawa's PWHL players thrilled with new jersey and scheduled game at CTC

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As the only locally grown player on the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge, Rebecca Leslie is certainly no stranger to Canadian Tire Centre.

But while similar sentiments were shared by teammates, nobody else could possibly know what it meant to her to be there Thursday afternoon, five days before the opening of training camp, wearing the freshly unveiled jersey at a media event to formally announce the Charge will play a Dec. 6 game against the Montreal Victoire at the home of the NHL’s Senators.

‘Growing up in Ottawa, it feels so special for me to put on this jersey, to finally have a jersey that represents women’s hockey here in the city,” said Leslie, a 28-year-old forward who played for the Toronto Sceptres last season, then signed as a free agent with Ottawa in June. “I’ve always been a Sens fan and a 67’s fan, but it’s cool to have little girls wearing our jerseys now. I think it’ll be really cool for us players to see fans walking through the streets of Ottawa in our jerseys now.

“There’s a lot of fans that bought jerseys last season, a really cool historic moment for women’s hockey. For them to have those jerseys, they’re part of something special.”

Leslie has played at Canadian Tire Centre before, but this will be different.

“To have my family and friends able to watch me here, and I think just for the community, it’s gonna be really special to see the rink full,” she said. “I was lucky enough to play some big games last year at the Leafs arena and at the (Montreal) Bell Centre. For Ottawa to have that chance, I think will be really fun.”

Filling the 19,153-seat CTC might seem like an overly ambitious goal for the Charge, whose largest attendance at TD Place last season was a capacity crowd of 8,452 on April 27 for what became a 2-0 loss to Montreal.

But had Ottawa gone on to make the playoffs, a one-game move to Kanata was in the plans.

“Things didn’t work out for us exactly that way,” said Erin Thompson, the Charge’s director of operations. “So this season, we just thought it was a no-brainer to give the players a chance to play in this building. It’s going to be super exciting to see our fans come out in those numbers.”

And what are the expectations for those numbers?

“I’m gonna shoot for the stars, right?” said Thompson. “We’re going to get as many people in this building as possible. If we can sell it out, that would be amazing.”

The Charge describes its new home jersey as one that “energizes the ice with its vibrant red base, embodying Ottawa’s unyielding drive, with dark and light grey bands run across the sleeves and waist, adding depth and a sense of momentum, while a bold pop of electric yellow pulses through the design. The overall look captures the energy and intensity that defines the Charge’s fierce presence on the ice. Custom numbers on the jersey incorporate small electrical charges, adding a spark to the back of the jersey.”

Sitting at the podium with teammates Leslie and Zoe Boyd, returning defender Jincy Roese said: “I love it. It’s great. We didn’t know what it was going to look like. So this is as much of a reveal for us as it is for everyone else. I think the yellow is a nice touch with the gray. It’s just awesome. Back for Year 2. Making history again. It’s so special.

Boyd loves the new team name.

“It’s going to be really special because Charge is a great word to describe who we are as a group,” she said. “We’re super electric and we’re going to take charge. I think it’ll be a lot of fun to have that identity for next season.”

The selected colour scheme was really important, explained Thompson.

“We wanted to keep it the same as last year’s, the inaugural season jerseys … what we’re going to maybe call now the retro jersey … to be able to keep that color scheme across the board,” she said. “I think the addition of the yellow stripe along the bottom, is such a classic, classy way to pay homage to that yellow, and just the charge and the electricity that is about the name and our fans that come into the building.”

That will be soon enough.

A total of 29 players will be at the start of training camp on Tuesday, with the final cuts to 23 by Nov. 27.

Two mini-camp games in Montreal against the Boston Fleet and Victoire on Nov. 21 and Nov. 22 will help the Charge finalize its roster leading into the Nov. 30 season opener at Place Bell in Laval and its home opener on Dec. 3 against the Sceptres at TD Place.

“We’re very excited about this season,” said GM Mike Hirshfeld. “We feel like we had a really productive draft and free agent period. The big area that we wanted to focus on was improving our depth on the defensive side and we did that. Drafting Ronja (Savolainen, a 5-foot-10, 168-pound defender from Finland) with our second-round pick, we think she’s going to be huge addition for us.

“We want to add size and grit to our group, and again, I think we accomplished that. (Second overall pick) Danielle Serdachny is 5-foot-9 and plays an imposing game, Ronja will obviously help in that regard. Steph Markowski, our fourth-round pick, has got some physicality to her game as well. So we feel like we’re in a really good spot.”

Hirshfeld is also pleased with the new look “goalie room”, where 30-year-old returning starter Emerance Maschmeyer will be joined by 24-year-olds Logan Angers and Gwyneth Philips, a third-round pick who is slated to start between the pipes for Team USA in Friday’s Rivalry Series game against Charge captain Brianne Jenner and the rest of Team Canada.

“All the things that we wanted to accomplish this off-season, we were able to do,” said Hirshfeld. “That gives us a lot of confidence heading into training camp next week.”

For details on how to purchase the home replica jersey as well as season, half-season and single-game tickets, visit the team’s website.

dbrennan@postmedia.com