Ottawa Charge forward Danielle Serdachny didn’t have to wait long before celebrating her first PWHL goal.
Serdachny, selected second overall by Ottawa in the 2024 PWHL draft, had a debut to remember when on Saturday, November 30, at Place Bell during a season-opening 4-3 shootout loss against Montreal Victoire, she experienced the thrill of scoring her first PWHL goal. What made this all the more sweet was that it came with her parents in the stands.
“It was a special moment,” Serdachny said. “I came around the net and, from a bad angle, shot the puck off another player’s skate. They (teammates) were really excited for me.”
In a moment that Serdachny called nerve-wracking, she had a chance to score in the shootout but was denied. “I tried to go low blocker, and I ended up missing,” she said. “The crowd was super into it. There was a lot of energy”
Naturally, Serdachny got the puck, which is in her room somewhere in Ottawa. Eventually, she plans on giving it to her mother.
Prior to being drafted, Serdachny dominated in collegiate hockey, where for five seasons, she starred for the Colgate Raiders, where she would become the team’s all-time leading scorer.
During her tenure with Colgate, Serdachny played 180 games, scoring 81 goals and producing 238 points.
Reflecting on her career with Colgate, Serdachny replied that her favourite memories included “The great success we had and the friendships which will last a lifetime.”
Naturally, Serdachny also mentioned the thrill of playing in the Frozen Four during her fifth and final year.
Unfortunately for the Edmonton, Alberta native, it wasn’t a perfect ending to her collegiate career as the third-ranked Colgate Raiders were eliminated in the NCAA semi-finals by a 3-1 score against the Wisconsin Badgers.
“It’s special what we accomplished,” Serdachny said. “This is something I will remember for a long time, and we should be proud.”
During her collegiate career, Serdachny won quite a number of prestigious awards, including the ECAC All-Rookie Team (2020), along with winning the ECAC Player of the Year in 2021 and 2023, to name just a couple of her many individual honours.
Another special moment for Serdachny occurred in early April when she was playing for Team Canada in Utica, New York. She scored the biggest goal of her life when, at 5:16 of overtime, she scored the gold medal-clinching goal in a 6-5 decision against the United States to win the IIHF Women’s World Championship.
You can bet this particular win felt extra sweet, given that a year earlier, Team Canada, which included Serdachny, settled for silver after getting beaten in the 2023 IIHF Women’s World Championship by the United States.
A few months later, on June 10 at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in Minnesota, Serdachny was selected in the PWHL draft second overall by the Charge.
“Obviously, it was a huge thrill,” Serdachny said. “You never know what could happen.” “I love the city, and the fans are great. The team really gets along. We have really been gelling, and in every game, we’ve been competitive.”
As fate would have it, in the fourth round, Ottawa drafted Serdachny’s lifelong best friend from Edmonton, defenceman Stephanie Markowski.
“I had no idea Ottawa would pick her. I heard her name (at the draft) and I was thrilled. It was such a special moment for us and both our families.”
Both Serdachny and Markowski were familiar with Ottawa’s coach, Carla MacLeod, who coached both of them in 2019 on that magical Team Alberta squad that, in the Canada Winter Games, went on to capture gold.
“Carla is passionate about what she does,” Serdachny said. “She has experience at different levels and is a hard-working coach.”
Serdachny, who grew up idolizing former Oilers forward Jordan Eberle and current Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, started skating at 2.5 years old, and as she put it, “I just started falling in love with it (hockey) more and more.”
When asked what it would mean to her if Ottawa could win a championship in her first year, Serdachny replied, “Obviously, it would be a huge thrill. Bringing home the Walter Cup to Ottawa would be special for the city and fans.”
No doubt the Ottawa Charge management drafted a skilled star player in Serdachny who knows how to win.
