West coast road trips have historically not been a point of pride for Montreal hockey teams at the professional level, but the Montreal Victoire will have a chance to write their own history with an historic three-game road trip that gets underway Sunday afternoon in Seattle.
As part of the PWHL’s Takeover Tour, Montreal will be playing three straight games, Sunday in Seattle against the Boston Fleet, Wednesday night in Vancouver against the Toronto Sceptres, and wrapping up next Sunday in Denver against the Minnesota Frost.
The Victoire are the road team in all three games, but while the other three teams are coming in and out for one game, Montreal has a rare opportunity to make the West Coast a sort of base for the week. All three games will be held in NHL arenas.
“There’s not many teams who get this opportunity,” said Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie before leaving for Seattle. “We’re looking at it as an opportunity for our team to bond. There’s going to be ups and downs throughout the trip, which is also something you want as a team because you want to live through those moments so that when you get in those situations at the end of the season, you’ve seen it all.”
“Those are the moments I feel we get to spend the most time together,” said Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin about the trip. “We get to be on the road for 10 days all together, traveling, being at the hotel together. We get to enjoy that and we’re going to get to know each other even more, and honestly we’re all very excited and we can’t wait.”
The PWHL’s Takeover Tour will have all six teams take part in nine different games. Montreal will take part in four of the games, the three games on this road trip and they are hosting the Ottawa Charge in Quebec City on January 19. Other markets getting games are Detroit, Edmonton, St. Louis, Raleigh, and Buffalo.
“There’s some things that the players want to do, there are some things that are organized for the players to do, and then they have loved ones and friends in a lot of those cities. It’s great that we can showcase our product in different markets, but then they can also feel like there’s a little bit of familiarity because they know people in all those cities.
“We’re there to win, we’re there to compete, but a big part of it too is getting to know each other more.”
The game in Vancouver on Wednesday night is also a chance for rookie forward Jennifer Gardiner to get a real home game. Gardiner is from Surrey.
“I think I have been waiting my whole life to get to play a hockey game at home,” she said after the game was announced. “When I first got news of a game in Vancouver, I basically started jumping up and down.”
Rogers Arena, the home of the Canucks, will be sold out.
“It’s probably going to be one of the most special hockey games I’ll every play in and it’s really exciting to get to play in front of all my friends and family who are going to be in town. I don’t think any person that is local or that I’ve played with or met or has been very impactful in my journey will miss that game,” Gardiner said.
Montreal Victoire vs Boston Fleet
Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle
Game Time: 4:00 p.m. Eastern, 1:00 p.m. Pacific
How To Watch
Canada: TSN/RDS
Outside Canada: YouTube/NESN
PWHL STANDINGS
| TEAM | GP | RW | OTW | OTL | L |
PTS | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Frost | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 26 | 24 |
| Montreal Victoire | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 17 | 14 |
| New York Sirens | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 23 | 17 |
| Ottawa Charge | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 18 |
| Toronto Sceptres | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 22 |
| Boston Fleet | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 20 |
