Québec City Clash Between Ottawa and Montreal Has Significance in Standings for Both
When the Montreal Victoire meets the Ottawa Charge at the Videotron Centrein Québec City, it will give fans a look at one of the more interesting rivalries in the PWHL. But for the teams, three important points are on the board.
For Montreal (10 GP, 20 pts), their recent results have been more than encouraging. They’ve been getting the secondary scoring they didn’t have last season, especially from Abby Boreen (five goals, two assists, seven points).
After scoring two goals in a win against her former team, the Minnesota Frost, Boreen said, “I love this group here. We have something really special and [I’m] very happy to be here. I can't wait to keep going with them. I love playing here, our fans are the best in the league.”
With a key injury to forward Laura Stacey, Boreen was elevated to the top line with Marie-Philip Poulin and Jenn Gardiner, and didn’t look out of place at all. She recorded her first multi-goal game of her PWHL career, and her first power-play goal of the season.
“I wanted to do well [playing on the first line], but my line mates made it really easy for us, and I loved our game tonight. We had a lot of chances and possessions down low, and a lot of shots on net."
Boreen just happens to have the exact same stat line as her famous center, Poulin, and both are heating up at an important stretch of the season.
The injury to Stacey appears to be day-to-day, but it seems to be serious enough to keep her out for a few games at least. In her absence, the depth of Montreal’s roster will continue to be tested.
Claire Dalton is another player who has taken a step forward already this season, with three goals and three assists in her first ten games. Last season, she totaled nine points in 20 games played. The former Yale standout has shown a knack for timely goals, and the third line with Dalton, Mikyla Grant-Mentis and Alexandra Labelle has been dangerous.
After the Minnesota game, coach Kori Cheverie said, “I thought that was our closest to a 60-minute performance all year. I was really happy with that because we need to remember and have those experiences through the season so that when playoff time comes, we have that opportunity at that time.”
"The hard part is, you can’t win a Walter Cup now, but you could probably lose one in terms of getting far behind. So for us, it’s always pushing ahead, it’s always thinking, that was great, but we’re not satisfied, and that’s the mentality that we have and more people send me that screenshot than I’m looking at, so it’s great, but it’s only standings, and right now, there’s so much left to be played. We just keep trying to move forward.”
Ottawa (10 GP, 14 pts) has experienced more ups and downs in the first third of the season, but have to be satisfied that they’re currently sitting in a playoff spot at fourth overall. They’re holding off fifth-place Boston (12 pts) and sixth-place Toronto (11 pts) and have already won three one-goal decisions, gaining them important points that will be crucial down the stretch.
The issue for the Charge is that they’ve over-relied on the superb goaltending of Emerance Maschmeyer, who currently holds a 2.12 GAA and a .933 save percentage in eight games played. Backup Gwyneth Philips has a serviceable .900 save percentage, but lost both of her starts (one in overtime). The questions last season for Ottawa centered around Maschmeyer’s workload and whether she was worn out at the end and couldn’t nudge the team over the finish line and into the playoffs.
After their loss to Toronto last week, coach Carla MacLeod said, “If we didn’t have (Emerance) Maschmeyer in net, we’re in trouble. It’s that simple. These teams are so even but we weren't even tonight with Toronto. They outplayed us. They deserved that win. For us, it was just an execution piece. There's a lack of energy in our feet and then there's a lack of execution.”
MacLeod spoke about breaking the season into three sections of ten games. The Charge played unevenly in their season-opening five, but reeled off four wins in a row before losing to the Sceptres.
“We just had a really strong five-game phase. We did a really nice job with the bulk of that being on the road early. For us, it’s a reset moment of, ‘how do we go into this next five?’ You’re growing in your first ten games, but in your next ten, you really have to make sure you know what your identity is, and start to establish it because those final ten is a push.
“That’s kind of how the season works. So for us, it’s about recognizing, the last five games, we made some gains, areas we definitely know we can better in, and now how do we implement that in the next five. So that next phase of development is, let’s establish our identity so that when teams face us, they know exactly what they’re going to get.”
The Victoire and the Charge face off at 1 pm Eastern on Sunday.