Charge returning to Walter Cup Final with double OT win over Fleet

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Charge are returning to the Walter Cup Final for a second straight season.

Michela Cava scored at 1:12 of the second overtime to earn Ottawa a thrilling 4-3 win over the Boston Fleet. The Charge won the best-of-five semifinal series in four games.

Ottawa lost last year’s final to the Minnesota Frost.

The Charge will meet the winner of the Montreal Victoire-Frost series, which will be decided with Monday’s Game 5.

Sarah Wozniewicz, Rebecca Leslie and Brooke Hobson also scored for Ottawa. Goaltender Gwyneth Philips made 43 saves.

Shay Maloney, Megan Keller and Sophie Shirley scored for the Fleet. Aerin Frankel made 29 saves.

After losing the first game, Ottawa went on to win the next three. Boston had not lost three straight games all season.

Cava scored the winner redirecting a Katerina Mrazova shot.

The Fleet failed to capitalize on the power play when Brianne Jenner was called for holding after taking down Jill Saulnier with just over five minutes remaining in the first overtime when she had a chance to break in alone.

Both teams generated a few good chances in the third period but neither Frankel nor Philips could be beat.

The two teams combined for five goals in the second to tie the game 3-3 after 40 minutes.

Ottawa took a 2-0 lead early in the period. Jenner fired a sharp-angle shot from below the goal-line that deflected off Leslie’s skate as she battled to the crease. The play was reviewed, but the goal stood.

The Fleet then scored three straight in a span of 1:33 to take a 3-2 lead.

Maloney grabbed a Haley Winn rebound and raised it over Philips’ outstretched right pad. Then, 41 seconds later Keller tied the game with the Fleet’s first power-play goal of the series.

Shirley then stunned the crowd when she buried a Saulnier rebound to give Boston the lead.

Ottawa tied it 3-3 at 12:12 when Frankel bobbled a Fanuza Kadirova shot. Hobson grabbed the loose puck for her first of the series.

The Charge opened the scoring at 6:38 of the first on the power play. Michela Cava threaded a cross-ice pass to Kadirova, who hammered a one-timer toward the net, where Wozniewicz got a stick on it to tip the puck past Frankel for a 1-0 lead.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2026.

Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press