Ottawa are a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team based in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario. They are one of the six charter franchises of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). Ottawa plays its home games at

TD Place Arena TD Place Arena, originally the Ottawa Civic Centre, is an indoor arena located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, seating 9,500. With temporary seating and standing room it can hold 10,585. Opened in December 1967, it is used primarily for sports, inc ...

History

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 The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Coaches' Association, was named the team's general manager and TD Place Arena was announced as its home venue. On September 15,

Carla MacLeod Carla Rae MacLeod (born June 16, 1982) is a retired member of the Canadian national women's hockey team. Through her paternal grandmother, MacLeod is related to former Montreal Canadiens legend Maurice Richard. Playing career MacLeod was born ...

, former member of the Canadian national team and the head coach of the Czech women's national team, was announced as the first head coach. Each PWHL team was permitted three signings during the free agency period ahead of the

2023 PWHL Draft The 2023 PWHL Draft was the first draft in Professional Women's Hockey League history, and took place on September 18, 2023, at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Taylor Heise was the first pl ...

. Ottawa signed the league's first three players when it agreed to terms with Canadian national team players Emily Clark,

Brianne Jenner Brianne Alexandra Jenner (born May 4, 1991) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and a member of Canada's national women's hockey team, currently affiliated with the Toronto chapter of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association ...

, and

Emerance Maschmeyer Emerance Maschmeyer (born October 5, 1994) is a Canadian ice hockey goaltender for Team Bauer, playing from the Montréal hub of the PWHPA. She is a member of Canada women's national ice hockey team (Team Canada), with whom she won the 2021 IIHF ...

on September 5, 2023. Each of the three players signed a three-year deal with the team, through the 2025–26 season. The team selected 15 players in the league draft held on September 18; with its first pick, Ottawa selected American Savannah Harmon. On October 17, the team announced that

Haley Irwin Haley Lyn Irwin (born June 6, 1988) is a Canadian ice hockey player. She was a member of the 2009–10 Hockey Canada national women's team and played for the Calgary Inferno and Montreal Stars of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) and pla ...

and Cassea Schols would be assistant coaches and Pierre Groulx would be the team's goaltending coach. The team colours—and jerseys—were officially announced on November 14, 2023 as red, "storm", and white. Ahead of the start of the 2024 season, Ottawa announced that Jenner would serve as team captain, with Clark and Jincy Roese serving as assistant captains. The first game in franchise history took place on January 2, 2024, when Ottawa hosted

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

at TD Place Arena. With 8,318 fans in attendance, the game set a new record for attendance at a professional women's hockey game.

Hayley Scamurra Hayley Scamurra (born December 14, 1994) is a women's ice hockey player who currently plays internationally for the USA Women's Ice Hockey team, and previously played for the Buffalo Beauts of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). Before joining ...

scored the first goal in franchise history to give the hosts a 1–0 lead; however, Montreal went on to win the game in overtime by a score of 3–2. Ottawa secured its first win in its second game, a 5–1 win in Toronto on January 13. Its first win at home came on January 23, also against Toronto.

Team

Current roster

Reserves

Draft history

The

was held on September 18, 2023, using a "snake draft" format with the selection order reversing after each round. Ottawa made the following selections:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:PWHL Ottawa PWHL Ottawa Ice hockey clubs established in 2023 Professional Women's Hockey League teams Women's ice hockey teams in Canada 2023 establishments in Ontario Ice hockey teams in Ottawa