Larocque ‘Charge’-ing into PWHL finals against Montreal

Ste Anne’s Jocelyne Larocque is back playing for a championship, as her Ottawa Charge upset Boston 3-1 to advance to the PWHL Walter Cup finals.

The Charge got a double-overtime winner from Michela Cava, who tapped home a back-door pass to set off massive celebrations from the 11,000 who were in attendance at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa in game four May 10.

“You can’t look past these moments,” head coach Carla MacLeod said after the game.

“You need to be excited, you need to be happy about the outcome… You want to take that moment and celebrate, but at the same time, it’s not lost on us, our raceboard has six wins on it. We’re just at three. There’s a lot of work yet to be done.”

Ottawa lost in the league finals last season, but had to make major roster changes due to the PWHL expansion draft.

The Charge took a 2-0 lead in game four before Boston, which finished 18 points ahead of their semi-final opponent, stormed back to take a 3-2 lead. Brooke Hobson responded for the home side before a scoreless third and first overtime set the stage for Cava’s heroics.

“We got that T.V. time-out shortly thereafter that third one and we used it as a primary time-out in all honesty,” MacLeod said.

“We just said, ‘hey look, this is still a hockey game, there’s half a game left.’ I’ve talked about it before, there’s moments in series like this, there’s always going to be momentum shifts. They did their job and shifted the momentum and it was our job to put a stop to it and got back to our game.”

Kati Tabin’s top-seeded Montreal Victoire team had their winner-takes-all game five against Minnesota set for May 11 postponed “due to player safety concerns related to illness,” according to a league news release.

The Oakbank foward’s team came out on top 2-1 the next night, setting up an all-Canadian final for the league.

Team Canada legend Marie-Philip Poulin was the hero yet again, scoring the game winner early in the third period.

“It’s very special,” Poulin said after the game.

“Obviously, you work so hard for these moments. We knew it would never be easy. Obviously, taking Minnesota—who were two-time champs—was going to be a battle, and we did it. We’re happy right now, but we’re not done yet. We want to get to work here, and we’re excited to get going on the 14th.”

Montreal will have home ice advantage in the best-of-five final. Games will be every other day beginning May 14. The final is a re-match of the league’s Winnipeg Takeover Tour game earlier this season.

No Canadian team has won the Walter Cup since the league began in 2023.

The PWHL also announced it would be expanding again May 13, adding Las Vegas and Hamilton to their ranks.