A sellout crowd of over 15,000 caught the best of the best in women’s hockey over the weekend at the Canada Life Centre as the Professional Women’s Hockey League made its Winnipeg debut.
Fans were rewarded for their attendance with twelve seconds of bonus hockey as the Montreal Victoire and Ottawa Charge battled on the ice. Ultimately, it was the Charge who came out on top as Rebecca Leslie netted the overtime winner on a power-play that carried over from the third period.
Local audiences also got treated to a homecoming on both sides of the ice. Ottawa defender Jocelyne Larocque, who hails from Ste. Anne, had nearly 300 family and friends in attendance for the game. Meanwhile, forward Katie Tapin of Winnipeg started the game for the Victoire, receiving one of the loudest greetings of the night from the crowd on hand.
The game was the crown jewel in a weekend of events across Winnipeg for the PWHL. The league hosted a hockey operations career panel at the University of Manitoba as well as youth hockey clinics.
Manitoba is the sixth province to host a PWHL game as the Takeover Tour continues to Calgary and Edmonton in the first week of April.