OTTAWA, ON (March 11, 2025) – Alexa Vasko scored her first two goals as a member of the Ottawa Charge, boosting her team to a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Frost on Tuesday night at TD Place. The victory extended Ottawa’s season-high home winning streak to three and moved them within five points of Minnesota and Boston in the league standings. Late in the first, Charge captain Brianne Jenner opened the scoring with her second power play goal of the season. Ottawa went ahead 2-0 at 13:41 in the second frame when Vasko scored her first goal of the night, and of the season, adding to the Charge’s momentum. The Frost battled back in the final frame with two goals in a span of 2:13 midway through the period. Following the first by Taylor Heise, Charge goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer left the game due to injury and was replaced by Gwyneth Philips. Claire Thompson capitalized on the first shot on the rookie to knot the score 2-2 at 13:18. Shorthanded with just over four minutes left in regulation, Charge defender Ronja Savolainen made a diving play inside the offensive zone to get the puck to Vasko who was all alone and buried a shot past Maddie Rooney for the ‘jailbreak’ winner. Philips was credited with her third win of the season, making just one save on two shots faced. Maschmeyer had recorded 19 saves, including the 1,000th of her career. Rooney turned away 16 of 19 shots in defeat.
QUOTES
Charge Head Coach Carla MacLeod on losing Emerance Maschmeyer to injury midway through the third period: “It’s part of the game, but it feels like we keep on facing adversity. For us as a group, it continues to form us as a team. We’ve got to do this together. In that moment, we really tried to rally the girls and say let’s win this one for Masch. We’ll get an assessment on her tomorrow. She’s an incredible leader on this team.”
Ottawa’s Alexa Vasko on scoring the jailbreak game winning goal: “It was unfortunate to see Maschmeyer go out, but we have huge confidence in Gwyneth (Philips) and I think we rallied as a group. It showed on the ice today. We have such confidence in everyone on the bench. We’re a family and we would run through a wall for each other. That’s just how we play.”
Charge captain Brianne Jenner about coming back from losing a two-goal lead in the third period: “It’s huge at this point of the season. Our goal is to get a playoff spot, but we also have to figure out how we play our playoff hockey style, and I thought tonight, we had some glimpses of that. We had a balance of calm, but also some desperation and urgency to make plays, especially in the end to kind of seal that win.”
Frost Head Coach Ken Klee: “It was a tight checking game and obviously we were happy to get ourselves back into it after being down two and finding a hard way to score. It was just one of those games. There was an unbelievable play by them in the end, I mean it stings, and we know it’s going to be tight. Our season’s not over and we know the rest of the way we’re going to have to play well to get points and get ourselves where we need to be.”
NOTABLES
Ottawa’s eighth regulation win of the season in their 22nd game ties their inaugural season total in 24 games.
Minnesota outshot their opponent for a league-leading 14th time, despite tying their season-low of 22 shots and setting a new a season-low of two shots on goal in the first period. Ottawa’s two shots in the third period were also their lowest period total of the season.
Emerance Maschmeyer became the first goaltender in PWHL history to surpass 1,000 career saves (1,001) in regular-season action. Her 19 saves tonight brought her season total to 453 in 18 appearances (and 999:47 of action) combined with a league-high 548 saves in 23 games during the inaugural season. Earlier this season, Boston’s Aerin Frankel was the first to surpass 1,000 career saves with her 286 playoff stops included.
Alexa Vasko tallied her first goals as a member of the Charge in 16 games this season with her first career multi-point performance. Her four points are a new career-high, surpassing her two (2G) in 24 games with Toronto last season.
Vasko became the second Ottawa player to score a shorthanded ‘jailbreak’ goal this season following Gabbie Hughes on Feb. 13 in a win against Minnesota.
Brianne Jenner scored her third goal of the season, collecting all of her tallies against Minnesota and two of the three on the power play.
Taylor Heise collected a goal and an assist for her sixth multi-point performance of the season – tied for second most in the PWHL. She is now tied for seventh in league scoring with 19 points (6G, 13A) in 23 games.
Claire Thompson scored her fourth goal of the season and has points in two straight games.
Sophie Jaques picked up the primary assist on Thompson’s goal and puts the pair tied for second in both points (17) and assists (13) among PWHL defenders. Jaques and Heise are both tied for second with nine primary assists, behind Thompson (10).
Brooke McQuigge recorded an assist to extend her point streak to three games (2G, 1A). She is now tied for sixth among rookies with nine points (7G, 2A) in 23 games.
Hughes picked up a primary assist on a Jenner goal for the second time this season. The Lino Lakes, MN, native stays hot against her home state team with nine points (5G, 4A) in seven games since February’s international break.
Jincy Roese tallied her eighth assist of the season which is tied for the team lead and ranks sixth among PWHL defenders.
Natalie Snodgrass, an Eagan, MN, native, recorded an assist for her first point of the season in her 19th game.
Ronja Savolainen recorded her second shorthanded assist of the season, giving her the league lead in the category and tying her with Boston’s Alina Müller (2G) for most shorthanded points.
Zoe Boyd picked up her third assist of the season in her 17th game, tying her inaugural season total in 16 games.
Claire Butorac collected her third assist of the season, a new career-high, after contributing two helpers during the inaugural campaign.
Maddie Rooney allowed three goals for the first time in her last five starts. It was also the first time the Frost surrendered three goals against in six games dating back to Rooney’s shutout victory over Montréal on Feb. 18.
Rebecca Leslie missed a third straight game for the Charge with an upper-body injury.
Britta Curl-Salemme missed her second game of the season for the Frost while serving a one-game suspension.
Minnesota’s second goal at 13:18 of the third period was confirmed following review between the on-ice officials and the PWHL Central Situation Room, initiated by a Coach’s Challenge. The scoring play was initially waved off due to interference on the goalkeeper.
SCORESHEET RECAP
Minnesota 0 0 2 - 2
Ottawa 1 1 1 – 3
1st Period-1, Ottawa, Jenner 3 (Hughes, Roese), 15:59 (PP). Penalties-Thompson Min (interference), 15:46.
2nd Period-2, Ottawa, Vasko 1 (Snodgrass), 13:41. Penalties-Roese Ott (interference), 4:09; Buchbinder Min (slashing), 16:53.
3rd Period-3, Minnesota, Heise 6 (Jaques, Butorac), 11:05. 4, Minnesota, Thompson 4 (Heise, McQuigge), 13:18. 5, Ottawa, Vasko 2 (Savolainen, Boyd), 15:58 (SH). Penalties-Pannek Min (tripping), 0:32; Serdachny Ott (hooking), 4:54; Darkangelo Ott (tripping), 14:12.
Shots on Goal-Minnesota 2-12-8-22. Ottawa 7-10-2-19.
Power Play Opportunities-Minnesota 0 / 3; Ottawa 1 / 3.
Goalies-Minnesota, Rooney 8-5-1-2 (19 shots-16 saves). Ottawa, Maschmeyer 6-7-2-1 (20 shots-19 saves); Philips 3-2-1-0 (2 shots-1 saves).
A-5,851
THREE STARS
1. Alexa Vasko (OTT) 2G
2. Taylor Heise (MIN) 1G, 1A
3. Brianne Jenner (OTT) 1G
STANDINGS
Minnesota (7-5-4-8) – 35 PTS – 3rd Place (Tied)
Ottawa (8-1-4-9) - 30 PTS – 5th Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Ottawa: Saturday, March 15 vs. Boston at 2 p.m. ET
Minnesota: Sunday, March 16 at New York at 7:30 p.m. ET (Little Caesars Arena, Detroit)