Captain Brianne Jenner chuckles at the uniqueness of the Ottawa Charge group that assembled at a Preston St. restaurant to celebrate the team’s roster after the final cuts were made earlier this week Read More“We’re kind of like the United Nations. We were laughing because we probably said cheers in eight different languages,” Brianne Jenner said.
“We’re kind of like the United Nations. We were laughing because we probably said cheers in eight different languages,” Brianne Jenner said.
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Captain Brianne Jenner chuckles at the uniqueness of the Ottawa Charge group that assembled at a Preston St. restaurant to celebrate the team’s roster after the final cuts were made earlier this week
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“We’re kind of like the United Nations,” Jenner told Postmedia. “We were laughing because we probably said cheers in eight different languages.”
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Her count is only slightly off, unless she’s including a couple of staff members or customers at the “Little Italy” establishment.
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But the Charge does boast an impressive worldwide collection of individuals, nonetheless.
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Six countries are represented on the team’s 2025-26 roster: Canada (11), U.S.A. (6), Finland (2), Russia (2), Czechia (1), and Austria (1).
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Of the 29 players that were on the team at some point last season, six countries also were represented, with the lone Swede, defender Jessica Adolfsson, suiting up for just one game.
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Had Adolfsson not been among the players released this week, the Charge would be entering the current campaign with players from seven different countries.
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And had Ottawa also kept defender Emma Bergesen, who was the first Norwegian player signed in the PWHL, the number would have been eight.
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Still, less than half of Ottawa’s roster is homegrown and, while seven different countries are represented on the Boston Fleet, the Charge has the distinction of having the most international players in the PWHL overall.
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“We’re still getting to know all our new players, but that’s really kind of the excitement of a new season,” Jenner said of the gelling process “It’s fun. We’re a pretty welcoming group and it’s cool to see all these different kinds of cultures coming together and just being proud to be one in sport.”
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What’s truly unique about this Charge roster is that on Saturday night, when the team hosts the New York Sirens in its season opener at TD Place (7 p.m.), wearing Ottawa jerseys will be the first two Russian players in league history — forwards Anna Shokhina and Fanuza Kadirova.
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Neither player speaks English, but the Charge has lined up an interpreter to make visits and Vita Poniatovskaia, an English-speaking Russian defenceman who attended camp as a free agent, is expected to join the team’s reserve list.
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Jenner relies on Google Translate and the team’s coaching board to communicate with Shokhina and Kadirova.