Why the Ottawa Charge at the bottom of PWHL standings halfway into season

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It appears the Ottawa Charge are sliding back, rather than surging ahead, in pursuit of a PWHL title shot.

At the midway point of the season, they are tied with the Boston Fleet for fifth place in the sixth-team league, but the Charge sits last in the standings because they’ve played two more games.

Their record through 15 games of the 30-game schedule is 5-0-2-8 (wins, overtime wins, overtime losses, losses) for 17 points, which is just two back of the Toronto Sceptres for the final playoff spot, but also 14 behind the first-place Montreal Victoire.

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Last year, when the schedule was 24 games long, Ottawa also had 17 points (4-0-5-6) at the 15-game mark and finished at 8-1-6-9 for 32 points, three out of a playoff berth and 15 behind top-place Toronto.

This year was supposed to be much different.

“We’re disappointed with how the first half has gone,” GM Mike Hirshfeld said. “But we knew it was going to be a challenge.”

Why? That’s covered in the second item on the following list of reasons that have contributed to the Charge occupying the PWHL basement with just 15 games to salvage their season.

Where is the offence?

Coach Carla MacLeod maintains the team has the potential to score a lot, but the numbers thus far indicate otherwise.

The Charge are last in goals scored with 27 or 1.8 per game.

Boston has the fifth-weakest attack with 30 goals but in two fewer games while the Minnesota Frost leads the league with 45 goals in 15 games.

Most glaringly on the list of offensive underachievers are Gabby Hughes, who still is looking for her first goal and has just two assists in 14 games, and captain Brianne Jenner, who has one goal and five assists in 13 games.

Last season, they were tied for second in team scoring with nine goals, one behind team leader Daryl Watts, who signed with her hometown team (Toronto) in the off-season.

Watts only has one three goals, but 11 points, in 15 games with the Sceptres.

The 33-year-old Jenner had 20 points last season to finish sixth among league leaders. She currently is 37th on the list.

Also coming up short of expectations so far is rookie Danielle Serdachny, who was picked second in the 2024 draft after the New York Sirens took Sarah Fillier first.

While Fillier leads the league with 15 points (five goals), Serdachny has just five points (two goals) after scoring 61 points (22) goals in 40 games last season at Colgate.

But it’s not just those three. In fact, there aren’t many players on the Charge not named (goalie) Emerance Maschmeyer who have been better than anticipated.

How has the schedule hurt the Charge?

With the 2025 world junior hockey championship held in Ottawa. the Charge was locked out of its TD Place home for 37 days.

Hence, they’ve played 10 of their first 15 games on the road with one of their five home dates held at Canadian Tire Centre.

Because PWHL teams travel on commercial flights and because the Charge has had to get to the airport well ahead of flights to the U.S. or catch connections to get to some of their games, their travel days are 8-10 hours in some cases.

That cuts back on practice time, among other things.

While they are 1-0-1-3 at home and 4-0-1-5 on the road, Hirshfeld anticipates his team will gain some traction playing nine of its last 15 in front of its fans.

(Ottawa is listed as the home team for a takeover tour showdown with Toronto at Rogers Place on Feb. 16 in Edmonton).

“When we get back to TD Place,” he said, “we’re going to be in a good spot.”

What’s wrong with the Ottawa power play?

Part of it could be the trade that sent quarterback Savannah Harmon to Toronto, but a bigger part likely is that it doesn’t get enough chances.

After leading the league with a 25% success rate on power plays last season, this year the Charge is dead-last in such opportunities, clicking on just 9.7% of its opportunities with an extra player.

Ottawa also has had just had 31 power plays, an average of just over two per game, while Montreal and New York sit at the top of the category with 50 and 49. That’s a big discrepancy.

Why is Ottawa the most-penalized team in the league?

Just a theory here, but to overcome what was viewed as a shortcoming in Year 1, this season players came to camp with a mandate that they become harder to play against.

It could be that they’ve gone a little overboard to meet the demands through the first 15 games in a league that has changed its grey area of legal and illegal checks.

If there’s a lack of discipline involved, that has to change.

Is the coach’s job in jeopardy?

Some fans on social media have suggested firing MacLeod is the answer — it ain’t happening.

Nobody has offered thoughts on who to replace her with because, quite frankly, this isn’t the NHL where qualified coaches are waiting in the wings to get a chance.

That aside, MacLeod still has the players’ attention and management still believes she’s the right person to turn things around.

“We played well the last two games, obviously we didn’t win, but we played well enough to win,” Hirshfeld said of a 4-1 loss in Montreal that saw the Charge outshoot the Victoire 15-6 in the first period and a 4-2 loss in Toronto where they outshot the Sceptres 32-18, including a 14-2 margin in the third period. “We feel like this is the right team and this is the right coaching staff.

“Everybody has to be better. We need everyone to get going. It’s not one person. We built our team on depth, and we need everyone to contribute and do their roles. The power play has to be better. The coaching staff has to elevate. Everyone needs to elevate. I have to elevate. We just need to be better.”

The Charge returns from the schedule’s second break for a Feb. 13 meeting with Minnesota at TD Place, the first of five home games in a row (counting the one in Edmonton).

Yes, there’s still time a lot of time left to salvage the season, but when they come back they’ll need to hit the ground running.