In a Saturday matinee, the Ottawa Charge visited the Vancouver Goldeneyes at the Pacific Coliseum. Ottawa came in with a 5-5-1-8 record (26p and 45.6p%) sitting at 5th in the standings while Vancouver was 5-1-3-9 (20p and 37.0p%) in 7th. Both teams were coming off a regulation loss to New York and Boston respectively. The Charge started Gwyneth Philips in goal, while the Goldeneyes went with Kristen Campbell.

Vancouver had a strong first minute to the gate, getting two quick shots to the net, but they were unable to get a quick one off Philips. Despite a Rebecca Leslie penalty early giving Vancouver a powerplay, the opening eight minutes were sludgey low event hockey featuring a meager 4 shots between both teams (all Vancouver). Ottawa started to generate some offensive momentum in the eighth minute before the Goldeneyes launched a counterattack that led to two chances from Hannah Miller and Mellissa Channell-Watkins, but the score remained even. Ronja Savolainen ripped a shot from the point in the sixteenth minute for Ottawa’s first decent look of the game, but no one was home to act on the rebound. Going the other way, the Goldeneyes ended up with a 2-on-0 behind the defense, but squandered the chance by fumbling the puck into the corner. Both teams traded penalties inside the final two minutes until the buzzer rang out with a 0-0 tie. Vancouver led in shots 12-3.

At the end of the second period the Goldeneyes took too-many-players on the ice penalty that quickly became a 5-on-3 for the Charge. Despite the advantage. Fanuza Kadirova had the only decent look on the powerplay, but Campbell was up to the task. Back at even strength, the game once again slowed to a defensive crawl. Sarah Nurse had a quality chance in tight in the seventh minute following a brutal Charge turnover, but wasn’t able to finish. Anna Segedi and Sophie Jaques continued to apply pressure for the Goldeneyes, but the score remained even. At 10:47, the Goldeneyes would go back to the power play following an interference by Savolainen. The power play was largely uneventful, but Tereza Vanišová made a great solo effort back at even strength; however, she couldn’t get it to go. After eight uneventful minutes, the Goldeneyes had numbers in transition in the eighteenth minute, but couldn’t get the puck to the net again. Mannon McMahon would take a tripping penalty at 19:10 to put the charge back on the woman advantage. Kadirova finished a chance in tight fifteen seconds into the advantage. After another bloated and pointless review in the situation room for goalie interference, it was confirmed on the ice. The charge held the 1-0 lead into the intermission despite being outshot 9-5 in the period.

In the opening minutes of the third period Rebecca Lesie both killed a Goldeneyes’ scoring chance and sprung herself on a partial breakaway; however, Campbell kept the score at 1-0. Vancouver responded with numbers in the third minute, but couldn’t create anything meaningful. Miller had a tremendous open look in the fourth minute as the game opened up, but Philips stood tall, preserving the Charge lead. Izzy Daniel was sent to the box at 4:11 for an illegal body check. The Charge would not score on the advantage, but Jaques would send them back to the advantage at 6:48. Vanišová created a scoring chance in transition shorthanded, but wasn’t able to score a jailbreak. However, Gabbie Hughes took a boarding penalty off the ensuing faceoff to bring the womanpower to 4-on-4. Despite the extra open ice, neither team created any high danger opportunities. In the eleventh minute, Nurse showcased her elite skill by cutting through three charge defenders and popping a nifty wrist shot off Savolainen’s knee and past Philips for the equalizer. In the thirteenth minute, Vancouver had another great opportunity in a 2-on-1, but Philips kept the score knotted at one. The Goldeneyes kept the puck in the zone and a well placed shot from Jaques made it past Philips to give Vancouver their first lead of the afternoon. Ottawa attempted to push the play for the following three minutes, but struggled to claim the zone until the eighteenth minute. Sarah Wozniewicz created the equalizer with a well placed wrist shot after a solo effort in transition. Vancouver led third period shots 12-8. 

The overtime period started with Vancouver retreating to their zone to set up a zone entry. Vanišová had the first solid chance of the extra period, but Philips kept the game alive. Claire Thompson had the next look halfway into the period following a line change, but couldn’t finish it. Rebecca Leslie did, putting a puck past Campbell to collect the 3-2 win for the Charge.

Overall, this felt like a poor performance from both teams across the board. Ottawa’s offense wasn’t running well aside from Kadirova and Leslie, but their defense mostly did a good job preventing the Goldeneyes from doing any major damage. On the other side, Vancouver’s possession play continues to be good, but aside from tremendous individual efforts from Nurse and Jaques, they seemed out of sync, which has been a problem for them all season. Coach Idalski has been less than stellar with this roster, and their playoff hopes continue to dim with each game that they don’t fix their garish power play.

• Christian