Ottawa Charge beat the Montreal Victoire 3-2 in Game 1 of PWHL semifinal series

LAVAL, Quebec (AP) — Shiann Darkangelo broke a third-period tie, Gwyneth Philips made 31 saves and the Ottawa Charge beat the Montreal Victoire 3-2 on Thursday night in Game 1 of the PWHL semifinal series.

Darkangelo took a pass from Emily Clark, and beat goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens with a wrist shot from the right side at 9:17.

“Clarky made a great pass out to me and kind of made my job easy to get the puck on net — and in back the net,” Darkangelo said. “Just try to hit the net there, and good things happen.”

Charge captain Brianne Jenner had a power-play goal and Ashton Bell also scored.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Sunday in Laval.

Regular-season champion Montreal elected to face third-place Ottawa instead of fourth-place Minnesota.

“We don’t need external motivation,” Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod said. “We’ve come into this playoffs confident in what allowed us to get to this point. It’s not about who we’re playing or where we’re playing. It’s that we are playing, and we’re playing Ottawa Charge hockey right now.”

Maureen Murphy and Marie-Philip Poulin had power-play goals for Montreal. Desbiens stopped 24 shots.

“It’s tough. Hockey is tough,” Montreal forward Laura Stacey said. “I had to take a deep breath before coming in here, because it hurts. Losing hurts, especially in the playoffs when you want it that bad.”

Jenner opened the scoring on a power play at 4:54 of the first period, and Murphy tied it on a power play with 7:47 left in the period.

Bell put Ottawa back on top at 5:07 of the second, and Poulin tied it on a power play at 7:12 of the period.

“We have a lot of respect for them and a lot of respect for the way that they play,” Jenner said. “But at the same time, we’re confident. When we bring a solid 60 minutes, we have a great chance of beating any club.”

AP Women’s Hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Ottawa Charge's Shiann Darkangelo, second right, celebrates her goal over the Montreal Victoire with teammates during the third period of a PWHL hockey playoff game in Laval, Quebec, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ottawa Charge's Rebecca Leslie (second right) and Jocelyne Larocque (23) battle for the rebound in front of Montreal Victoire goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens (35) during second period PWHL playoff hockey action in Laval, Que., on Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Montreal Victoire's Marie-Philip Poulin (29) and Ottawa Charge's Tereza Vanisova (13) battle for the puck during second period PWHL playoff hockey action in Laval, Que., on Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips (33) stops a shot by Montreal Victoire's Kristin O'Neill (43) during the third period of a PWHL hockey playoff game in Laval, Quebec, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ottawa Charge's Shiann Darkangelo, right, celebrates her goal over the Montreal Victoire with teammate Jocelyne Larocque (23) during the third period of a PWHL hockey playoff game in Laval, Quebec, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Saudi warplanes have reportedly struck on Friday forces in southern Yemen backed by the United Arab Emirates, a separatist leader says.

This comes as a Saudi-led operation attempts to take over camps of the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, in the governorate of Haramout that borders Saudi Arabia.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE rose after the STC moved last month into Yemen’s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra and seized an oil-rich region. The move pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, a group aligned with the coalition in fighting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen accused the head of the STC of blocking a Saudi mediation delegation from landing in the southern city of Aden.

The STC deputy and former Hamdrmout governor, Ahmed bin Breik, said in a statement that the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces advanced toward the camps, but the separatists refused to withdraw, apparently leading to the airstrikes.

Mohamed al-Nakib, spokesperson for the STC-backed Southern Shield Forces, also known as Dera Al-Janoub, said Saudi airstrikes caused fatalities, without providing details. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim.

Al-Nakib also accused Saudi Arabia in a video on X of using “Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda militias” in a "large-scale attack " early Friday that he claimed sepratists were able to repel.

He likened the latest developments to Yemen’s 1994 civil war, “except that this time it is under the cover of Saudi aviation operations.”

Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout who was chosen Friday by Yemen's internationally recognized government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate, refuted STC claims, calling them “ridiculous” and showing intentions of escalation instead of a peaceful handover, according Okaz newspaper, which is aligned with the Saudi government.

Earlier on Friday, al-khanbashi called the current operation of retrieving seized areas “peaceful.”

“This operation is not a declaration of war and does not seek escalation,” al-Khanbashi said in a speech aired on state media. “This is a responsible pre-emptive measure to remove weapons and prevent chaos and the camps from being used to undermine the security in Hadramout,” he added.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen demands the withdrawal of STC forces from the two governorates as part of de-escalation efforts. The STC has so far refused to hand over its weapons and camps.

The coalition's spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Friday on X that Saudi-backed naval forces were deployed across the Arabian Sea to carry out inspections and combat smuggling.

In his post on X, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, said the kingdom had tried “all efforts with STC” for weeks "to stop the escalation" and to urge the separatists to leave Hadramout and Mahra, only to be faced with “continued intransigence and rejection from Aidarous al-Zubaidi," the STC head.

Al-Jaber said the latest development was not permitting the Saudi delegation's jet to land in Aden, despite having agreed on its arrival with some STC leaders to find a solution that serves “everyone and the public interest.”

Yemen’s transport ministry, aligned with STC, said Saudi Arabia imposed on Thursday requirements mandating that flights to and from Aden International Airport undergo inspection in Jeddah. The ministry expressed “shock” and denounced the decision. There was no confirmation from Saudi authorities.

ِA spokesperson with the transport ministry told the AP late Thursday that all flights from and to the UAE were suspended until Saudi Arabia reverses these reported measures.

Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war for more than a decade, with the Houthis controlling much of the northern regions, while a Saudi-UAE-backed coalition supports the internationally recognized government in the south. However, the UAE also helps the southern separatists who call for South Yemen to secede once again from Yemen. Those aligned with the council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990.

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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

Southern Yemen soldiers of Southern Transitional Council (STC) at a check point, in Aden, Yemen, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo)