Charge Down to Game 5 After Gritty CTC Victory
Ottawa Charge force a decisive Game 5 in the Walter Cup final with a 2-1 home win over Montreal Victoire.
The Ottawa Charge kept their championship hopes alive Wednesday night at the Canadian Tire Centre, gutting out a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Victoire to force a deciding Game 5 in the PWHL's best-of-five Walter Cup final.
After dropping the first two games on the road in overtime heartbreakers, the Charge were staring at elimination when they arrived for Game 3 on Monday. They saved their season with a thrilling win that night, then backed it up Wednesday to make it two straight wins at the CTC and send the series back to Laval for Saturday's decider.
The home crowd at the arena was a difference-maker. The Charge have now discovered what teams know: winning at home in an elimination series matters. Montreal came in as the conference's top seed and expected to wrap this up on enemy ice. Instead, they're heading home with everything to prove.
Game 5 on Saturday afternoon in Laval will determine the PWHL champion. For Ottawa fans, it's the kind of moment that defines a city's relationship with a new team—the kind of sudden-death matchup that people will be talking about for years, whether the result breaks hearts or breaks open the champagne.