double-OT winner – Michela Cava scored 1:12 into the second overtime to eliminate the Boston Fleet and send Ottawa to a second straight Walter Cup final.
A goal in the second overtime didn’t just end a semifinal—it snapped months of momentum for the Boston Fleet, who fell 4-3 Sunday in Ottawa as the Ottawa Charge advanced to another Walter Cup final.
Ottawa’s Michela Cava. a midseason acquisition. went scoreless for a time in her new colors before finally delivering at 1:12 into the second overtime. punching the Charge’s ticket with a winner that followed a series where Boston repeatedly threatened but couldn’t finish when it mattered most.. The Fleet had been outshooting Ottawa in Game 4 and. across the four-game series. still held a major shot advantage. yet were sent home.
Boston entered the semifinal after a strong regular season finish, placing second with 62 points and avoiding a three-game losing streak.. But that steadiness didn’t carry into the postseason. when the Fleet dropped three straight to close their series and ultimately ended their season on Sunday’s double-overtime defeat.
After the loss. coach Kris Sparre described the emotional aftermath in plain terms: a sense of emptiness. and disappointment that the team wanted more than it got.. Sparre. along with alternate captain Jamie Lee Rattray. fought back tears while addressing the media. but both emphasized that Boston had given its best throughout the series.
Rattray said the sting was immediate, while pointing to how close the matchup was over four games.. She cited the number of chances created by Boston and noted that nothing in the final result felt far removed—making the elimination harder to process.. Sparre echoed that message by framing the loss as something the team absorbed collectively rather than something driven by a single moment.
The Fleet now face what Sparre called an uncertain future that likely includes major roster changes as the PWHL continues expanding.. While adding more teams can be a benefit for the league. Sparre said expansion also creates challenges—particularly for a first-year coach who spent much of the season building a play style and trying to establish team culture.
Sunday’s game itself turned repeatedly on power-play opportunities and responses after early breaks.. For the fourth straight time in the series, Ottawa scored first.. With the Charge on the power play. Fanuza Kadirova fired a one-timer from the point that beat Fleet goalie Aerin Frankel low on her glove side. with Sarah Wozniewicz stationed outside the crease and credited with the goal.
Boston kept pressing in the opening period, controlling play and outshooting Ottawa 15-8, but the Fleet continued to run into goaltending and defensive structure anchored by Gwyneth Philips. Even after Rebecca Leslie doubled Ottawa’s lead early in the second period, the Fleet refused to stay behind.
Shay Maloney got one back at 5:19, sparking a late second period swing.. Haley Winn initiated the sequence with an offensive zone faceoff win. carried the puck in. and Maloney crashed the net to knock home a rebound for her first playoff goal.. Boston then found another equalizing moment as Megan Keller scored at the six-minute mark on a power play with a one-timer from the circle.
Keller’s strike was notable because it reflected a skill Boston had leaned on earlier in the regular season—one that opposing teams adjusted to over time and largely slowed down late in the year.. In the playoffs. it took on added weight: Boston finished scoreless on its previous 12 power-play attempts. but converted once in Sunday’s game to keep its comeback alive.
Before that momentum could settle, Sophie Shirley added another payoff just 52 seconds after Keller’s goal. She cleaned up a rebound to give Boston a 3-2 lead, only to see Ottawa respond again when Brooke Hobson tallied from the rebound and tied the game at three apiece at 12:12.
By the time the third period arrived. Boston carried offensive pressure through two periods with 31 shots. but managed only six in the final frame.. Even with two power-play opportunities in the third. the Fleet couldn’t find separation—helping send the game into overtime. the fourth time during the regular season that these teams had needed extra time against each other.
In the locker room before the first overtime. Rattray said the team’s energy stayed calm. driven by confidence in the plan.. That sense of belief quickly collided with the reality of sudden death when Cava beat Frankel back door to end it in the second overtime.. For Boston, disbelief was the overriding emotion; for Ottawa, it was celebration.
Sparre said he was proud of the group’s willingness to battle back, even as the final result slipped away.. And Rattray summarized the paradox of hockey at its most unforgiving: the team’s effort produced a “darn good” product on the ice. yet hockey can still feel brutally hard—exactly the way it did in Ottawa on Sunday.
PWHL semifinals Ottawa Charge Boston Fleet Michela Cava Walter Cup finals women’s hockey
A double-OT winner sounds dramatic, but I can’t help wondering how Boston had all those chances and still couldn’t finish. If you keep threatening and it doesn’t show up on the scoreboard, that’s not “bad luck,” that’s a problem.
Sarah Johnson, I get the frustration, but the article kind of lays out the story: Boston had a shot advantage and kept pressing, yet Ottawa’s goalie/defense and timing mattered most late. In a four-game series, the “chances created” stat doesn’t help if the conversion rate drops right when you’re actually in crunch-time.
This was one of those postseason games where everything feels tense until it suddenly isn’t. Michela Cava knocking in at 1:12 into the second OT is exactly the kind of momentum-shift headline you remember, and Sarah Johnson plus Michael Brown are both right that it still comes down to who makes the last play.
Love how Boston “threatened but couldn’t finish.” That’s the sports equivalent of doing everything except the one thing you actually came to do. Sarah Johnson, I’m sure the emptiness coach Kris Sparre talked about is real, because that had to sting.