Ottawa Charge: How OT heartbreak in the PWHL final could turn into a good thing
The worst thing about the Professional Women's Hockey League playoffs is the length.
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The growing number of followers this fine creation of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter is attracting would much prefer a best-of-seven series to these best-of-fives.
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More is always better when it's something good, right?
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Members of the Walter Cup-finalist Ottawa Charge and Minnesota Frost might agree, but for a different reason than entertainment value.
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One of the teams is going to be on the brink of elimination after Game 3 on Saturday (5 p.m. ET) at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
It almost seems unfair, doesn't it?
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Speaking of which … How quickly things change.
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The Charge was 15 clicks of the clock from taking firm control of the championship series when — faster than you can say Britta Curl-Salemme and Google search why so many loving souls at TD Place left the edge of their seats to stand and shower big No. 77 with such hate — the Frost reversed the tide.
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Yes, it appears the defending PWHL champs were packing the momentum when the teams boarded a shared charter flight on Friday, headed to the Twin Cities for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday.
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But is that really the case?
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Ottawa was the second-best team on the ice in its 1-0 Game 1 victory, but the Charge was dominant in a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 2.
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Maybe it was the smell of blood that had the Charge looking like hungry sharks as they circled the Frost for more than 57 minutes on Thursday until finally moving in for a successful strike with an extra-rare goal by defender Jocelyn Larocque.
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That lead likely would have held, too, had Tereza Venisova's third penalty of the night with 37 seconds left not overextended Ottawa's short-handed units after they had completely smothered Minnesota's potent power play the rest of the night.
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'This was a much better game for us than our first game,' Charge captain Brianne Jenner said afterwards. 'We can take a lot of confidence from the way we played. We got back to our style.'
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Larocque mentioned there were a 'lot of good things' the Charge could take from Game 2's disappointing outcome.
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'Similar to our (four-) OT loss in Montreal, there were a lot of positives,' she said, referring to the opening-round Mustard Marathon loss to the Victoire, which was also Game 2 in the first round. 'And look at how we responded in the next game. I do not see it being different here.'
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