Ottawa PWHL team begins second half of the season needing a win

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In her likeable, easy-going manner that has drawn comparisons to the way Ted Lasso guides his fictional soccer team, Ottawa PWHL coach Carla MacLeod has joked that to get her squad ready for a game, she “yells and screams and kicks a garbage can with my heels on” before the players take the ice.

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“That’s the inspiration they need,” she cracked a few weeks ago.

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Being quite good at her job, MacLeod has no doubt spent countless hours of late trying to come up with other, much different ways to get her team on a winning course.

Having dropped seven of its past eight games with only one of the defeats fetching at least an overtime point, Ottawa officially starts the second half of the season at TD Place on Wednesday night against New York in what is getting close to a must-win situation.

Thorough 12 games, Ottawa is in last place with 13 points, at least partly because it is 0-4 in overtime games.

In games decided in regulation, the locals are 3-5.

New York has 16 points with a 2-4 regulation-time record, but also having won four of six in extra time.

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Boston holds down the final playoff spot with 18 points.

Still, despite its standing, there remains tremendous faith and belief that Ottawa will right the ship under MacLeod, who is about as opposite to a yeller, screamer and garbage-can-kicker as you will find.

“I’ve been really fortunate to be coached by incredible mentors and coaches along the way, and maybe the only sort of nod I can give myself is I was smart enough to pay attention,” said MacLeod, who played for Wally Kozak, regarded as one of the best technical coaches in the world. “That guy knows more about hockey than I’ll ever dream of knowing and he always just made every moment a teaching moment. Like, it was never a worry, it was just here is what we can learn from that moment and that stuck with me.

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“I played for Mark Johnson with the Wisconsin Badgers in my university days and you’re not going to meet a more calm man. His dad is ‘Badger’ Bob Johnson. Go read up on Badger Bob. He made the game fun for everyone.

“Mark recently reminded me as a coach, your team is a reflection of you. So what do you want to see from them? If you get worked up and you’re yelling and screaming, guess what’s going to happen. Your crew is probably going to follow that lead.

“And then (former women’s national team coach) Mel Davidson, who is just a consummate, professional and detail-oriented. These people, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn from, and I still use them. I still call them and I talk to them. So I’m trying to be my best version of all of them when I’m behind the bench and it’s not lost on me that it’s a privilege for me it is to be behind the bench. And we’re in it together.

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“So if things aren’t going quite right for us on the ice, it’s not because of our players. It’s because collectively as a group, we got to figure out what the solution is, and we go to a Wally Kozak moment … how do we learn from it, how do we get better? That’s all you can do in this game.”

Admittedly, MacLeod has also learned a little something from Lasso, the brilliant character played by Jason Sudeikis.

“I hope I have a little more knowledge of the sport than Ted has,” said MacLeod, referring to Lasso’s background as an American football coach who knew virtually nothing about soccer when he took over AFC Richmond. “I think what Ted Lasso has done for probably the sport community is just reminded everyone that if you’re a human first, great things can happen. It’s very rarely about the X’s and O’s. It’s more how do you make people feel.

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“I remember that as a player. I was at my best when I felt like I was believed in. And so I think what that show has done, and I’m a big fan of it as well, is just reminded us all that if you go with a person first, it’s amazing what can happen to the player. They do it in a really great fashion and he’s a really comical guy, so he draws you in. But yeah, I think it was a friendly reminder to all the sporting community of what coaching could and should be.

“I don’t know why else you’d be in the industry,” added MacLeod, who also is the coach of the Czech women’s national team. “If you don’t want to invest in people, this is the wrong career choice for you. And if you don’t enjoy trying to help others be better again, probably have to go find something else to do. So that’s the payoff for me, is just the opportunity to get to know others, and I’ve learned over my time, it doesn’t matter if you actually speak the language or not, you can still forge a connection.

“That, to me, is what gets me excited come to the rink every day.”

dbrennan@postmedia.com

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