How Ted Lasso inspired belief for Ottawa Charge players

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It sounds cliché, but, shining individual performances aside, the Ottawa Charge has uncovered its best self by coming together as a team.

And the timing couldn’t be better.

By defeating the Montreal Victoire on Friday night at TD Place, the Charge would advance to the Walter Cup final against the defending champion Minnesota Frost, which eliminated the Toronto Sceptres in the other PWHL semifinal on Wednesday.

Ottawa would have home-ice advantage in a best-of-five for the title against Minnesota based on a higher regular-season finish than the Frost.

Dropping Game 4 of its showdown with the first-place Victoire wouldn’t be the end of the world for the Charge, which took a 2-1 series with Tuesday’s 1-0 victory in the nation’s capital.

But the importance of putting an opponent out when it’s down gets amplified when the foe is led by the trio of Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Jennifer Gardiner — the best line in the world of women’s hockey.

Avoiding a decisive game in Montreal on Sunday evening can be accomplished if the Charge continues to minimize their damage and keep doing what it has done in winning six of its past eight games.

“Ted Lasso is on to something,” head coach Carla MacLeod said when asked how — after two seasons of more lows than highs — the Charge was peaking with its first foray into the playoffs. “I know a lot of people sort of fluff over it just because it was such a great, fun show, but the level of belief is a critical piece. And, as a player, when you believe in yourself and one another, I can just tell you, great things can occur. It allows you to go through adversity better as well. I think that’s where we sit as a team. We’re not being wavered by what the game is doing. We realize, if we’re down a goal, we can get a goal back. If we’re up a goal, we can work to go get the next one. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,  but the energy is consistent, and I think that’s the most important component.

“We’ve never strayed from what we believe was going to help us be successful, and we understood that in any process, there’s going to be ebbs and flows,” MacLeod added. “I have to give a lot of credit to our room. We’ve faced the adversity head-on. It’s not always easy, but, if you don’t lose sight of what the end goal is and if you believe in the people around you, it’s unbelievable what can transpire.”

Through almost 10 periods of play on the road in Games 1 and the overtime marathon that was Game 2, Ottawa held Poulin, Stacey and Gardiner to two goals, including one on the power play.

With the last line change at TD Place in Game 3, the Charge turned off Montreal’s power source completely despite allowing that line to combine for 14 of the visitors’ 26 shots on goal.

While goalie Gwyneth Philips has been outstanding throughout the series, Ottawa’s shutdown five-player unit of forwards Gabbie Hughes, Emily Clark and Mannon McMahon and defenders Jocelyn Larocque and Ashton Bell was instrumental in Tuesday’s victory.

That group will again be hopping over the boards when Poulin’s line is on the ice in Game 4.

What makes Hughes, Clark and McMahon so good at containing the other team’s best line?

“Grit,” Larocque said. “Grit and their skating ability. Mannon and Clark, the way they pressure as wingers, it’s like the other teams have got to be scared. And Gabbie is just so sound, she knows exactly where to be. Her positioning is so great. And, when she battles, it’s tough to get around. They’re just such a solid group of three. And then Bellsie and I just try to keep up.”

Larocque and Bell not only kept up, but also passed all their teammates in ice time during Game 2, playing a remarkable 56:01 and 50:19, respectively.

“Let’s just say rest and recovery has been at the forefront and the priority for myself and the entire team,” Larocque, a 36-year-old veteran and stalwart on Canada’s national team, said when asked about managing the heavy workload. “But, no, honestly, my body’s feeling better than I expected.

“In all the overtimes, when you’d sit, your body felt so heavy. But, when you’re out there, you just want to do everything you can to help the team. I’ve always said I love playing a team sport because you can rely on each other to give you motivation. And, anytime I stepped on that ice, I felt I had to play my best to help the team win.”

Bell has thrived since being teamed with Larocque after the latter was acquired in a trade from Toronto.

“Going up against that first line is a battle,” said Bell, a 25-year-old from Deloraine, Man. “But I think Joce is incredible to play with. She keeps me so calm and composed back there. She’s one of the best defencemen in the world.

“And I think our first lines match up very well and have canceled each other out.

“It’s being aware of where they are on the ice,” Bell added of the game plan against the dynamic duo of Stacey and Poulin, who became a wedded couple in September 2024. “We know their tendencies. We know that they like to look for each other. So it’s just playing solid defensively, not letting them get at Gwyn, and just picking up sticks and early boxing out and making sure we get back to pucks quickly in the D-zone and get them out as quickly as possible going north.”

The biggest hit of the series thus far came in the third period of Game 3, when Stacey drilled Bell just after she passed the puck. Hughes retaliated by hitting Stacey, and Bell tried to regain her bearings as the other two skated to the penalty box.

“I didn’t know it at the time that (Hughes came to her defence), but watching it back, obviously that’s a good teammate and friend,” said Bell, who played with Hughes at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and is her roommate now.

Bell is also close, away from the rink, with Stacey.

“She’s one of my best friends and someone I look up to,” said Bell, who heard from Stacey after the game. “She sent me a nice, sweet message.”

Larocque says there’s no doubt Montreal’s big line is getting frustrated by its inability to score more.

“And that’s great. It motivates us,” she said.

MacLeod disagrees.

“I don’t think they’re frustrated. I think they’re competitors, and I think they rise in these moments,” she said “This is what they’re built for. I think for us, it’s just a matter of continuing to do what we’re trying to do, and recognizing how dominant they have been all season and how prolific they are as players. I don’t think you would ever count them out or think that they’re not going to bring their best game in the big moments. They’ve proven time and time again that that’s exactly how they’re built. So we have to be prepared for that and excited again at the opportunity to try to do what we can against them, recognizing they’re high-level competitors, and they’ll bring it Friday.”

Rookie defender Stephanie Markowski, who has also raised her play, insists the Charge is focused on the movement.

“At times you definitely look at the big picture, and you think of the Walter Cup,” she said, “but we’re trying to treat every game as its own and kind of adjust our game plan for the situation at hand.”

Nervousness, she added, is not a factor.

“I would say for us, it’s more excitement,” Markowski said. “This series, we were picked (by Montreal as a first-round opponent), so I feel like we had that underdog mentality. We came in excited and ready to go. There’s almost a calmness about our group. We’re just excited to get going.”