For the fourth time, the Montreal Victoire will be the road team in an opponent’s home NHL building. The Victoire played in front of the highest amount of road fans in the league last season, and it wasn’t even particularly close. After playing Minnesota in their biggest regular season crowd at Xcel Energy Centre in their home opener, they played Toronto at Scotiabank Arena in front of over 19,000 fans. They also faced New York at the home of the Islanders last season. They got their revenge when the Bell Centre set a new attendance record.
For the first time this season they will be on the road, and they will be playing the Ottawa Charge at the home of the Ottawa Senators.
It is the first time that Canadian Tire Centre is hosting a PWHL game. The arena previously hosted two CWHL Clarkson Cups (Montreal played in both, against the Calgary Inferno, winning one and losing one) and a PWHPA All-Star Game before getting a team of their own in the PWHL.
It is Montreal’s first road game of the season. They hosted one of the two PWHL pre-season camps and their first two games were at Place Bell.
Montreal Victoire (0-1-0-1, 2 pts, 5th place) @ Ottawa Charge (1-0-1-0, 4 pts, 3rd place)
Canadian Tire Centre | Kanata, ON | 7:00 p.m. Eastern
How to Watch:
Canada: TSN5, RDS2
Outside Canada: ThePWHL.com
It will be the second of six meetings between Ottawa and Montreal this season. Montreal won the first meeting 4-3 in a shootout. Ottawa beat Toronto 3-2 in their next game, while Montreal lost to New York 4-1.
It will be a unique opportunity for Montreal rookie forward Dara Greig. Her brother Ridly plays for the Senators, and she will play in the arena for the first time. With the Senators having home games on Thursday and Saturday, the Greig family has made their way to Ottawa for the opportunity to see both siblings play professionally in the same arena.
“It definitely will be special for my family to have my brother play and then me play under the same roof,” Greig said, adding that her grandmother will be flying in as well. With the favourable schedule, it will be Ridly’s first opportunity to see his sister play in a long time.
“He never got to watch me play in college, so I think he’s pretty excited to have that, obviously right in his own rink too,” Dara said.
About a month before Dara came to training camp, Ridly didn’t exactly endear himself to Montreal hockey fans with a late hit on Kirby Dach during the pre-season. Of course, Ridly also angered Toronto hockey fans when he took a slapshot into an empty net last season.
“He likes to make enemies on the road, that’s for sure. That’s his style of play so he’s going to do his thing,” Dara said.
He did give his younger sister some guidance.
“His biggest piece of advice is just be confident in yourself throughout the whole process so I’ve tried to hold on to that and be confident and play as confident as I can,” she said.
Through two games, Greig has been on Montreal’s fourth line, averaging around 10:30 of ice time per game. She has made herself noticeable, only eight players have more shots than she does and she had two point-blank chances in the first game, but wasn’t able to beat Emerance Maschmeyer, who she is likely to face again on Friday night.
“In this league, like any league, you need depth scoring,” said Montreal Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie. “So to have a player like Dara a little bit lower on the lineup, she has the ability to play tough defensively but if she’s given the chance she’s going to put herself in the right positions offensively. Right now she slots in on the fourth line, that doesn’t mean that’s her forever position. Right now she’s doing what she needs to do on that line.”
This is Montreal and Ottawa’s last game before an international break. There will be no PWHL games between December 9-16. Montreal’s next game after Friday in Ottawa will be in Toronto on December 21.
