# Ottawa Charge

The Ottawa Charge (French: Charge d'Ottawa) is a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, that competes in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). They are one of the league's six charter franchises. The Charge play home games at TD Place Arena.

## History
### Founding and inaugural season

On August 29, 2023, it was announced that one of the PWHL's first six franchises would be located in Ottawa. Michael Hirshfeld, former executive director of the National Hockey League Coaches' Association, was named the team's general manager, and the Arena at TD Place, its home venue. On September 15, Carla MacLeod, a former member of the Canadian national team and the head coach of the Czech women's national team, was named Ottawa's first head coach. Each PWHL team was permitted three signings during the free-agency period, ahead of the 2023 PWHL Draft. Ottawa signed Canadian national team players Emily Clark, Brianne Jenner, and Emerance Maschmeyer on September 5, 2023. Each signed a three-year deal lasting through to the 2025–26 season. Next, 15 players were selected in the league's September 18 draft, with Ottawa's first pick being American national team member Savannah Harmon. On October 17, it was announced that Haley Irwin and Cassea Schols would be assistant coaches and Pierre Groulx would be the goaltending coach.
The team colours—and jerseys—were officially revealed on November 14, 2023, as red, 'storm' grey, and white.
Ahead of the start of the inaugural 2023–24 season, Ottawa announced that Jenner would serve as team captain, with Clark and Jincy Roese serving as alternate captains. The first game in franchise history took place on January 2, 2024, when Ottawa hosted PWHL Montreal at the TD Place Arena. The game set a new attendance record for a professional women's hockey game at 8,318. Hayley Scamurra scored the first goal in franchise history to give the hosts a 1–0 lead; however, Montreal would go on to win in overtime with a 3–2 score. Ottawa secured its first win at its second game, a 5–1 win against PWHL Toronto on January 13. Its first win at home came on January 23, also against Toronto. Ottawa would go on to miss the inaugural PWHL playoffs, eliminated from contention with a 5–2 loss against Toronto in the last game of the season. However, despite missing the playoffs, Ottawa led the PWHL in attendance during its inaugural season. Ottawa's finish meant they were awarded the second overall selection in the 2024 PWHL draft.

## Season-by-season record

Key of colors and symbols :
| Color/symbol | Explanation |
| † | Indicates League Championship |
| * | Indicates Regular Season Championship |
Year by year results :
| Season | GP | RW | OW | OL | RL | Pts | GF | GA | GD | Finish | Playoffs |
| 2023–24 | 24 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 32 | 62 | 63 | -1 | 5th | Did not qualify |

## Team identity

Like all charter PWHL franchises, Ottawa operated without unique branding for the league's inaugural season—the team wore a league-wide jersey template that featured the city's name diagonally on the front, and was known as PWHL Ottawa. The team did have its own colour scheme, featuring red and grey. The league registered a trademark in October 2023 for the name Ottawa Alert, seemingly in homage to the early 20th-century women's "world series" champion Ottawa Alerts. However, Ottawa was ultimately given the name Charge when franchise names were unveiled by the PWHL in September 2024. The name Charge references Ottawa's motto, "Advance—Ottawa—En Avant". The Hockey News reported that other names in contention for Ottawa included Advance—another clear reference to the motto—and Guard. In addition to the Charge name, the league unveiled the team's logo, an in-motion unfinished circle that references "OC" initials; yellow was also added to the team's colour scheme.

## Players and personnel
### Current roster

    As of January 10, 2025
| No. | Player | Pos | S/G | Age | Acquired | Birthplace |
| 9 | Jessica Adolfsson | D | L | 26 | 2024 | Linköping, Sweden |
| 12 | Victoria Bach | F | L | 28 | 2024 | Milton, Ontario |
| 26 | Emily Clark (A) | F | L | 29 | 2023 | Saskatoon, Saskatchewan |
| 27 | Shiann Darkangelo | F | L | 31 | 2024 | Royal Oak, Michigan |
| 22 | Taylor House | F | L | 26 | 2024 | Joliet, Illinois |
| 17 | Gabbie Hughes | F | L | 25 | 2023 | Lino Lakes, Minnesota |
| 19 | Brianne Jenner (C) | F | R | 33 | 2023 | Oakville, Ontario |
| 23 | Jocelyne Larocque | D | L | 36 | 2024 | Ste. Anne, Manitoba |
| 37 | Rebecca Leslie | F | R | 28 | 2024 | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 18 | Mannon McMahon | F | R | 23 | 2024 | Maple Grove, Minnesota |
| 94 | Anna Meixner | F | L | 30 | 2024 | Zell am See, Austria |
| 32 | Lucy Morgan | G | R | 23 | 2024 | Mandan, North Dakota |
| 16 | Kateřina Mrázová | F | L | 30 | 2023 | Kolín, Czech and Slovak Federative Republic |
| 92 | Danielle Serdachny | F | R | 23 | 2024 | Edmonton, Alberta |
| 8 | Natalie Snodgrass | F | R | 26 | 2023 | Eagan, Minnesota |
| 13 | Tereza Vanišová | F | L | 29 | 2024 | Strakonice, Czechia |
| 10 | Alexa Vasko | F | L | 26 | 2024 | St. Catharines, Ontario |
| 21 | Ashton Bell | D | R | 25 | 2023 | Deloraine, Manitoba |
| 3 | Zoe Boyd | D | L | 24 | 2023 | Caledon East, Ontario |
| 6 | Stephanie Markowski | D | R | 23 | 2024 | Edmonton, Alberta |
| 71 | Jincy Roese (A) | D | L | 27 | 2023 | O'Fallon, Missouri |
| 88 | Ronja Savolainen | D | L | 27 | 2024 | Helsinki, Finland |
| 2 | Aneta Tejralová | D | L | 29 | 2023 | Prague, Czechia |
| 35 | Logan Angers | G | R | 25 | 2024 | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| 38 | Emerance Maschmeyer | G | L | 30 | 2023 | Bruderheim, Alberta |

### Reserves

    As of January 10, 2025<ref name="jessica-adolfsson-signed">
| No. | Nat | Player | Pos | S/G | Age | Acquired | Birthplace |
| 33 | | Gwyneth Philips | G | R | 24 | 2024 | Athens, Ohio |
| 5 | | Samantha Isbell | F | L | 27 | 2024 | Thunder Bay, Ontario |

### Team captains

* Brianne Jenner, 2023–present

### Head coaches

* Carla MacLeod, 2023–present

### First-round draft picks

* 2023: Savannah Harmon (5th overall)
* 2024: Danielle Serdachny (2nd overall)