Ottawa Charge head coach Carla MacLeod has been diagnosed with breast cancer, the team announced Sunday.
“Hearing those words was incredibly difficult, but I want everyone to know that I’m going to be OK,” MacLeod wrote in a statement issued by the PWHL club.
“I’m incredibly fortunate to have an exceptional medical team guiding me, and together we’ve built a treatment plan that gives me tremendous confidence in the road ahead.”
MacLeod wrote that while her treatment begins this week, she plans to return to the Charge’s bench this season and also coach the Czech women’s hockey team at the Winter Olympics in February.
However, she will miss the next Charge game on Dec. 2. Assistant coach Haley Irwin will take the reins in her place.
“The FOMO will be real, but I’m incredibly lucky to be surrounded by world-class players, coaches, and staff who will keep pushing our group forward,” MacLeod wrote.
A two-time Olympic gold medallist in women’s hockey as a player, MacLeod has coached the Charge since the PWHL’s inaugural 2023-24 season.
Both the team and the league will support MacLeod throughout her treatment, wrote Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld in the statement.
“Her strength, resilience, and optimism shine through in the most challenging of circumstances,” he wrote. “And we know she’ll approach this next chapter with the same determination she brings to everything she does.”
