Amanda Deluca tries not to look at her phone when she’s on the bench at an Ottawa Charge hockey game. As the PWHL team’s head athletic therapist, she’s responsible for players’ injury prevention and management. If someone gets hurt, Deluca is the first one on the ice. So, clearly, it’s not a super conducive time for doomscrolling or responding to texts.

But sometime between the first and second overtime period of the Charge’s semifinals matchup against the Montreal Victoire on Sunday afternoon, she broke her own rule to fire off a quick text. It was the only way to get ahold of the team’s operations staff who wasn’t with her on the bench at Place Bell arena in Laval, Quebec.

“I said, ‘Look, the girls are sweating a lot. We’re going to start getting some muscle cramping going. If there’s two things you can please find somewhere in Place Bell, it’s mustard and pickle juice,’” Deluca tells Women’s Health. “[The operations staff] had no idea why. And I was like, ‘Please don’t ask right now. I’m on the bench. Just please, find it.’”

Thanks to a brief stop at the concession stand, the Charge were quickly supplied with dozens of mustard packets, a massive jar of pickle juice, and some tiny paper cups. By the fourth overtime period—the longest game in PWHL history—the team’s assistant equipment manager started taping mustard packets to the glass to provide the players easier access between skate changes.

Charge staff wasn’t expecting anyone to notice. After all, Deluca and her team were simply doing whatever it took to help the players feel fresh and stay energized for five hours and 34 minutes. But the move quickly went viral on X.

“There’s very few games I’ve worked in sport that I won’t forget,” Deluca says. “That is definitely one of them.”

Power Packets

So how did mustard become the unlikely hero of a marathon hockey game?

Once overtime was underway, Deluca knew muscle cramps were inevitable. Players were sweating more, which meant they were losing salt in their bodies and would naturally start getting tired and hungry. She remembered a hack she’d learned from one of her professors at York University to prevent muscle cramping: Mustard. (This isn’t Deluca’s first mustard rodeo. The condiment was also present on the sidelines when she worked with the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts on their 2022 championship run.)

From a biological perspective, mustard and pickle juice act as something called a transient receptor potential channel agonist. So, as soon as a player starts to feel a muscle cramp coming on, a small packet of mustard or sip of pickle juice can actually help block the ion channels in the body that cause discomfort and can delay the onset of cramps. Other strong flavors like wasabi can also work in a pinch, Deluca says. In instances of extreme cold like she experienced with the Argos, they used chicken broth.

Concession stand staples aren’t the only fuel the Charge rely on for pre-, mid-, and post-game health boosts. They usually keep a fully-stocked snack table with fresh fruits, vegetables, hummus, and other whole foods both at the arena and the team’s hotel. But once this particular playoff game went into overtime, it was time to call in reinforcements.

The team’s massage therapist and strength coach even started making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and rice cakes with peanut butter and sliced bananas back in the locker room (the potassium in the bananas can also help delay muscle cramps, Deluca says).

“It’s all about those fast, easy, digestible carbs that turn into sugars to get the energy that you need to be able to complete the game,” Deluca explains. Between periods, players would elevate their legs to increase blood flow—and eat up.

Recharging Their Batteries

During a match-up that lasted longer than two normal hockey games, the Charge fought hard, coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the third period to tie the game and take it to the first overtime. In the end, Victoire forward Catherine Dubois scored a dramatic game-winner to even the best-of-five playoff series, 1-1. (You can watch the emotional moment in the video below.)

But there was no time for players to mourn the loss, because game three—and the Charge’s chance to retake the series lead—was just two days away.

As soon as the longest game of their careers was over, players went straight to a mandatory recovery and mobility session followed by a mandatory ice bath to decrease inflammation as much and as quickly as possible. They then boarded their two-hour bus ride back to Ottawa, which stays stashed with Normatec compression boots and Game Ready contrast and compression therapy units.

Monday was another strict recovery day at TD Place back in Ottawa. The Charge brought in extra tubs for contrast baths, in addition to their recovery area equipped with antigravity chairs, Normatecs, and Game Readys. They also had all-day access to Deluca and her team, including physical therapists, massage therapists, and a chiropractor. “My logic was, a team that plays together has to recover together, so we put them all into one area,” Deluca says.

On this particular recovery day, the vibes were high despite the loss—there was an overwhelming sense of pride for what they’d just battled through and an excitement for what was to come.

Stashing The Sauce

By the time their first playoff game at home in Ottawa rolled around on Tuesday, the players had been pushing their bodies to the ultimate limit. If there was even a chance the Charge and Victoire went into overtime again, they needed to be prepared.

The Charge’s team doctors prepped extra ice bags to help players cool off between periods, and their strength coach and nutritionist put together a spread of easily digestible carbs. Keeping the players playing is “a team effort all around,” Deluca says.

Of course, they also had mustard packets on hand again—including some that were lovingly gifted from the fans in attendance.

Mannon McMahon celebrates after her game-winning goal during the third period of the Ottawa Charge playoff game on May 13.

All the careful planning and recovery helped things run smoothly. During the game, goalie Gwyneth Philips stopped all 26 shots that came her way, and forward Mannon McMahon sunk the only goal of the game in the third period for a 1-0 shutout win over the Victoire.

“The support staff was so great these past few days,” McMahon told media afterwards. “They got us everything and more that we could have ever needed.”

The Charge and the Victoire will meet again Friday at 7 p.m. ET. A Charge win will secure them a spot in the PWHL Finals. And rest assured that if a nearly six-hour thriller happens to come their way again, the Charge won’t be raiding the concession stand (or fans’ pockets). They’re keeping a new emergency overtime kit stocked with mustard, pickle juice, honey, and maple syrup—which Deluca is aware “sounds very Canadian,” but she swears by the quick hit of energy. No matter how long the games go, Deluca’s team will be ready with the assist.

“It’s been a tough series, I’m not going to lie. But every day it’s like, ‘What else can we do? How else can we help them?’” Deluca says. “They know they have the potential to do it, so we’ll just help them reach whatever goal they want.”

Amanda Lucci is the director of special projects at Women’s Health, where she works on multi-platform brand initiatives and social media strategy. She also leads the sports and athletes vertical, traveling to cover the Paris Olympics, Women’s World Cup, WNBA Finals, and NCAA Final Four for WH. She has nearly 15 years of experience writing, editing, and managing social media for national and international publications and is also a NASM-certified personal trainer. A proud native of Pittsburgh, PA, she is a graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Follow her on Instagram @alucci.