Hometown glory – Ottawa Charge forward Rebecca Leslie on playing home ice

Back in September 2023, Rebecca Leslie walked up to the stage in Toronto at CBC Headquarters to accept her role in the future of professional women's hockey.  

With tears in her eyes – out of pride and some trepidation – she was drafted to the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) to play forward on the Toronto Sirens after a lifetime of dreaming of that very moment.  

How things change in a season.  

For 2024-2025, Leslie has left Toronto and headed home to suit up for Ottawa Charge as the only Ottawa-born player to play for the national capital team.  

It's a fitting place for the young CAA Member to be after a career that has seen her play at the top tier at Boston University and for the now-defunct Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). (Read more about Rebecca in From hockey dream to rink reality: Rebecca Leslie in CAA Magazine.)  

To talk about the past year and what the future holds, Rebecca sat down with hockey super fan (and CAA President and CEO) Jeff Walker as part of the CAA Magazine Coaches Clips series. 

You're kind of a unique person because you're actually from Ottawa. I think you're the only Ottawa-born player in the league.  

There's a few of us in the league. I had three players from Ottawa on our team last year in Toronto. But I'm the first Ottawa-born player to play for Ottawa.  

What will it feel for you to come out on the ice for Ottawa versus playing for the Toronto team last year?  

It's going to be really special to play in front of my friends and family who've supported me throughout my career. And then also just to play in this arena where I grew up going to Ottawa 67's games. It's going to be a dream come true for sure.  

What's your superpower on the ice?  

I think that my skating and my passing are kind of two skills that I've really focused on throughout my career. But I also wanted to bring some leadership to this team. I've played in numerous leagues, and I've been around for quite some time now in women's hockey, playing in the WWHP, the CWHL and now the PWHL. So, to bring that experience to some of our younger players and some of the players who haven't played in the league before, I think that will be important, too.  

One of the other questions I have for you is about training camp. What do you like about training camp? What don't you love about training camp?  

Training camp is all about getting back together with the group. For me this year with the new team, some new faces, girls from Europe that I've never played with, I'm just kind of getting comfortable with the team and the systems that [head coach] Carla [MacLeod] uses here in Ottawa. And then also just so excited to get back onto the ice with the girls. It was a really long off-season.  

What did the off-season look like? 

I mean, I was fortunate enough to coach two camps this summer in Ottawa and I never went to female coach hockey camps when I was growing up. So, I thought that was really special to be able to interact with the girls in the community. I think that the little girls can really see themselves playing in this league. They can continue to dream of playing beyond university level. I think that's only going to increase the calibre at the minor hockey level, but then also into university and colleges.  

What would you say to a young girl dreaming of a career on the ice? 

I would just say to dream big and have fun while doing it.  

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