With their Walter Cup Final debut seemingly seconds away from beginning with a loss, the Montreal Victoire delivered one of their most dramatic wins of the year, defeating the Ottawa Charge 3-2 in overtime on Thursday night at Place Bell to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
The hero was Abby Roque, who scored twice including the overtime winner 2:29 into the extra frame. Maggie Flaherty fired a point shot into traffic which was deflected into Roque’s face mask and into the net.
Roque’s big night was the reward for a player who has become one of Montreal’s most reliable contributors in every situation.
Head coach Kori Cheverie praised her impact after the game.
“She plays in every situation for us — power play, the kill, and five-on-five,” Cheverie said. “You put her around the net in a big moment, and she’s done that for us quite a few times this year. I’m really happy that she’s found the back of the net because she’s doing a lot of really good things.”
The Victoire’s resilience was on full display in the final seconds of regulation. Trailing 2-1 and with Ann-Renée Desbiens on the bench for an extra attacker, Montreal appeared to suffer a crushing blow when Laura Stacey went down in obvious pain after a collision with Ottawa’s Gabbie Hughes. Place Bell fell silent as Stacey was helped off the ice by her teammate and partner, Marie-Philip Poulin.
But instead of folding, the Victoire rallied.
With just 2.1 seconds remaining, Poulin threw the puck towards the net, and Nicole Gosling lunged to poke the loose puck past Gwyneth Philips, tying the game and igniting the crowd.
“I just saw the puck sitting there and took a nice little whack at it,” Gosling said. “I wasn’t sure if it was the goal horn or the buzzer. I was like, ‘How much time is left? Is it actually a good goal?’”
In another dramatic twist, Stacey returned for overtime to chants of “Stacey! Stacey!” from the Place Bell faithful. She made an immediate impact, screening Philips on the winning goal and earning an assist.
Roque said the team was motivated by Stacey’s determination to come back.
“It was definitely a crazy sequence of events,” Roque said. “When Stacey goes down, I think everybody knew we wanted to put our best foot forward for her. Obviously, it was a heroic move by her to be back out there.”
Montreal had earlier tied the game midway through the third period when Roque buried a setup from Nadia Mattivi, who was playing her first postseason game after joining the lineup on a 10-day contract.
Although Ottawa controlled long stretches of the game and received two goals from Rebecca Leslie, the Victoire showed the poise and persistence that made them one of the league’s top teams.
Backstopped by Desbiens’ 23 saves and fueled by a home crowd that sounded louder than the announced attendance of 5,062, the Victoire found a way when it mattered most.
Game 2 is set for Saturday at Place Bell, with puck drop scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. TSN and RDS will broadcast the game in Canada, while it will be available on YouTube and ION Television in the United States.
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