Ahead of the start of the inaugural 2023–24 season, Ottawa announced that Jenner would serve as team captain, with Clark and Jincy Roese serving as alternate captains.[10] The first game in franchise history took place on January 2, 2024, when Ottawa hosted PWHL Montreal at the TD Place Arena. The game set a new attendance record for a professional women's hockey game at 8,318.[11]Hayley Scamurra scored the first goal in franchise history to give the hosts a 1–0 lead; however, Montreal would go on to win in overtime with a 3–2 score.[11] Ottawa secured its first win at its second game, a 5–1 win against PWHL Toronto on January 13.[12] Its first win at home came on January 23, also against Toronto.[13] Ottawa would go on to miss the inaugural PWHL playoffs, eliminated from contention with a 5–2 loss against Toronto in the last game of the season.[14] However, despite missing the playoffs, Ottawa led the PWHL in attendance during its inaugural season.[15] Ottawa's finish meant they were awarded the second overall selection in the 2024 PWHL draft.[16]
The 2024–25 season marked a major breakthrough for the team in their second PWHL campaign. Finishing third in the regular season with a 12–2–4–12 record, they surged into the playoffs and upset the top-seeded Montréal Victoire in a dramatic semifinal series that included a four-overtime thriller. Led by rookie goaltender Gwyneth Philips, who posted a stellar .952 save percentage and was named Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP,[17] Ottawa advanced to their first Walter Cup Final. Despite taking Game 1, the Charge fell to the Minnesota Frost in four tightly contested games that all ended in overtime. The season showcased Ottawa’s rise as a gritty, defensively strong contender with a bright future.
Future
On November 7, 2025, Ottawa City Council approved the proposal to demolish TD Place Arena and build a new arena as part of the Lansdowne 2.0 redevelopment project. This plan garnered much criticism from the Charge and the PWHL due to a significant reduction in seating capacity from 8,500 to 5,850 seats.[18] In comparison, the average fan attendance for Charge home games during the 2024–25 PWHL season was 6,768, rising to 8,348 for weekend regular season games.[19]
PWHL executives Jayna Hefford and Amy Scheer delegated to city council on October 29th regarding their opposition to the plan.[20] In an interview with the Ottawa Citizen, Scheer stated that they had "been having conversations for well over a year talking about capacity being an issue with both the Mayor and OSEG". Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe argued that increasing the capacity of the new arena would not be economically viable as the team is expected to outgrow it in short time. He suggested relocating to a larger arena in the metropolitan area, such as the Canadian Tire Centre, but the league and fanbase has been adamant that the team remain in the central part of the city.[19]
Uniform worn by PWHL Ottawa in the league's inaugural seasonInaugural logo as PWHL Ottawa
Like all charter PWHL franchises, Ottawa operated without unique branding for the league's inaugural season—the team wore a league-wide jersey template that featured the city's name diagonally on the front, and was known as PWHL Ottawa.[21] The team did have its own colour scheme, featuring red and grey. The league registered a trademark in October 2023 for the name Ottawa Alert, seemingly in homage to the early 20th-century women's "world series" champion Ottawa Alerts.[22] However, Ottawa was ultimately given the name Charge when franchise names were unveiled by the PWHL in September 2024. The name Charge references Ottawa's motto, "Advance—Ottawa—En Avant".[23]The Hockey News reported that other names in contention for Ottawa included Advance—another clear reference to the motto—and Guard.[24] In addition to the Charge name, the league unveiled the team's logo, an in-motion unfinished circle that references "OC" initials; yellow was also added to the team's colour scheme.[23]
↑Kennedy, Ian (November 23, 2023). "PWHL Releases Jersey Designs". The Hockey News. Archived from the original on November 14, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
↑Ibrahim, Abdulhamid (January 2, 2024). "PWHL sorting out missing pieces like team names and logos as it goes along". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on January 18, 2024. Retrieved January 18, 2024. However there are some missing pieces, such as names and logos for the six teams. "I don't, I don't," PWHL advisory board member Stan Kasten said Monday on whether he has a timeline for those key elements to be included.
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