Hughes scores OT winner to lift Charge past Sirens

OTTAWA - Gabbie Hughes isn’t letting anything stand in her way — even some chipped teeth.

Hughes capped a two-goal effort with the winning score 36 seconds into overtime as Ottawa Charge earned a hard-fought 5-4 overtime win against the New York Sirens. While she left the game victorious, she didn’t leave unscathed.

“I chipped about three or four of my teeth in one of the hits, a stick came up and my cage came up and hit my teeth, so I’m going to go get that fixed tomorrow,” Hughes said.

The second-year player marked up the scoresheet once again, also adding an assist on the night. Hughes now has eight points — including five goals — in her last five outings.

“I’ll be quite honest, in those kind of moments it’s a little bit of black out — you get the adrenalin pumping in those moments, especially afterwards it’s hard to remember," she said. "I remember it almost going in our end and saying ‘I need to make up for this,’ so I hurried up ice and got the puck on my stick.

“My initial thought was pass, and I could hear coach say, ‘shoot it,’ and I did and it ended up working out.”

“The ability of us to get in front of goalies is getting better and better and you couple that with a shooting mentality, that’s what’s helping drive our game here offensively,” Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod said. “You get those moments where you got a puck on a stick of a player her calibre, it’s nice to see her get rewarded for a good decision in that moment.”

While Hughes said her season started slowly, she points to the Feb. 13 mental health awareness game — when Hughes potted two goals and an assist in an 8-3 victory over the Minnesota Frost — as the turning point in her season.

“I kind of gave things a bigger picture of why I’m really playing the sport and who I’m really playing it for is the people back home and Sophie, and to continue to spread that awareness,” she said.

Hughes helped found the mental health awareness organization Sophie’s Squad in 2021 after the suicide of 14-year-old Sophie Wieland.

“That game really put things into perspective and I’ve just been going ever since then.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2025.