How a record-long Ottawa Charge trip felt even longer because of the one that walked away

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One day after setting a PWHL goal-scoring record, the Ottawa Charge embarked on what had to be the longest trip to a home game in any hockey league’s history.

As this was being written Tuesday morning, in fact, it still hadn’t ended.

On Friday evening, the team flight to Edmonton for Sunday’s “Takeover Tour” meeting with the Toronto Sceptres was weather-delayed by three hours and the 39-member traveling group didn’t arrive at its hotel until 5 a.m. on Saturday.

Listed as the “home” team for the neutral-site tilt in front of 17,518 fans at Rogers Place, the Charge was beaten by former teammate Daryl Watts, who scored twice including the winner, in the 3-2 overtime final.

On Monday, the team flew out of Edmonton around 11 a.m. local time, but its plane had to turn around a little more than halfway home when Delta Flight 4819 flipped upside down on the runway as it landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The rerouted flights and airport shutdowns created by the crash and the snowstorms across Canada were merely inconveniences, however, as everyone is just relieved all 80 people on board survived.

“Thank goodness there were no fatalities,” Charge GM Mike Hirshfeld said from Edmonton late Monday night. “By no means are we complaining … we’re just thankful everyone survived. But yeah, we were two and a half hours into our flight when we had to turn around and fly back to Edmonton.

“So we flew for five hours and we’re right back where we started.”

Fortunately, the team hotel in Edmonton had enough vacancies to take the Ottawa group back on Monday.

Unfortunately, the Charge will have to stay another night as there were no available flights on Tuesday.

The plan, as it stands, is for the Charge to practice in Alberta’s capital on Wednesday and fly home later that day.

The Charge game at TD Place against the Boston Fleet on Thursday has not been canceled.

“It’s not ideal, obviously,” Hirshfeld said when asked if he’s concerned the players will be drained by the frantically altered schedule. “But we should be fine.”

Why is Watts not still scoring goals for Ottawa?

That question had to be again on the minds of Charge fans who watched the talented winger come back to haunt her former club on Sunday.

Watts, Ottawa’s sixth-round pick in the PWHL’s inaugural draft, had a team-leading 10 goals in 2024.

As a free agent in the off-season, the Charge attempted to retain her services with what’s believed was the best money offer on the table.

But perhaps even more than her desire to play on her hometown team was Watts’ determination to make Canada’s national team, which has Troy Ryan as its coach and Gina Kingsbury as its GM — both of whom hold similar positions with the Sceptres.

Suffice it to say, the 25-year-old Watts has earned herself a trip to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

After scoring just two goals in the Sceptres’ first 13 games, she now has four in the past five.

In her past three games, Watts has three goals and has 20 shots on net.

Through 18 games, her 15 points (six goals) are third most on the Sceptres and has her tied for seventh in the league scoring race.

“She is an incredible talent and we made a determined and strong financial effort to have her come back to Ottawa, but there were other variables that were important to her and we couldn’t compete with,” Hirshfeld said. “Except when it’s against us, we are happy to see her performing so well.”

Who’s carrying hot sticks for the Charge?

That would be the team’s two scorers on Sunday — Gabbie Hughes, who had the lone goal in a first period that saw Ottawa outshoot Toronto 17-2, and Tereza Vanisova who salvaged a point for the team by sending the game into overtime with the only goal of the third period.

Vanisova, who also leads the PWHL with 28 penalty minutes, now has four goals in her past two games and is tied for second most in the league with eight on the season.

Hughes, who scored her first two goals of the season in the past two games, was named the league’s first star of the week of Feb. 10-16.

What lies ahead for the Charge?

A good opportunity to make a move up the standings is what.

Ottawa plays five of its next six games at TD Place, including three in a row starting with Thursday’s showdown against the Fleet, then Saturday against the Montreal Victoire and next Wednesday versus the New York Sirens.

While the Victoire currently has a firm hold on first place with 34 points and the Sirens are in last with 20 points, the Fleet have won three of its past four games and are in a three-team tie for second with 26 points.

The Charge is in fifth with 21 points and has lost both its games against Boston this season.