OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Emily Clark was just hoping for a shorter overtime.
After experiencing quadruple overtime in her team’s tough semifinal series, the Ottawa Charge forward was eager to put an end to things early.
Clark did just that, scoring at 2:47 of overtime Tuesday night to lead the Charge to a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Frost for a 1-0 lead in the Professional Women’s Hockey League best-of-five championship series for the Walter Cup.
“I had an opportunity the shift before with some speed and the puck kind of rolled off my stick and, you know, I was just trying to shake that off,” Clark said. “And I just had in my mind that if I have another opportunity I was just going to try to use my speed and get it to the net. Obviously, happy with the result.”
Game 2 is Thursday in Ottawa, where the Charge are 3-0 in the playoffs. The Frost have never won Game 1 of a playoff series in four attempts.
Minnesota also lost the first game of their semifinal series to Toronto and came back to win three straight.
“We know it’s gonna be a tight series,” Frost coach Ken Klee said. “They’re a good team. We know goals are gonna come at a premium and, obviously, they got one more than us tonight.”
In the extra period, Clark came down the wing and wired a shot past Nicole Hensley, who finished the game with 17 saves.
The game required extra time after Gwyneth Philips had a rare miscue early in the third period, leading to the Frost’s tying goal. Philips, who stopped 25 shots, mishandled the puck while attempting to play it, turning it over to Katy Knoll. Knoll quickly fed a pass to Klara Hymlarova, who buried the wide-open chance to tie the score 1-1.
“You know, those little missteps are going to happen,” Charge coach Carla MacLeod said. “That’s the reality of sport. That’s the reality of hockey. There’s little mistakes that can occur, but she doesn’t let it faze her, and we know that about her, too.”
With 6:08 remaining in regulation the Charge were set to go on the power play but officials then reviewed an incident that saw Rebecca Leslie cross check Mellissa Channell-Watkins. It was initially assessed as a major but then downgraded, creating offsetting minors.
“I was definitely freaking out a little bit,” admitted Leslie, as she waited for the call. “I was disappointed, and don’t like to be in those situations. So, just glad it was a minor and we killed it off.”
Leslie had brought the crowd to its feet midway through the second period when she beat Hensley high glove side to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead.
Moments earlier the Frost had been generating a number of chances on the power play, but Philips was solid. As the penalty was expiring the Charge were able to clear the puck with Jocelyne Larocque making a cross-ice pass to Tereza Vanisova who dropped a pass to Leslie.
Hensley couldn’t get a clear view of the shot, partially screened by teammate Lee Stecklein.
“I think that this league is unbelievably hard to score in, and I think you work all season to try to put yourself in opportunities to score goals,” Leslie said. “And those are some pretty big goals for me, and I think it does help my confidence a little bit.”
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AP Women’s Hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
