The Montreal Victoire ended their three-game, 10 day road trip with a 4-2 loss on Sunday at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado against the Minnesota Frost.
The game, which set an American record for professional women’s hockey with a crowd of 14,018, was Montreal’s third straight game in the PWHL Takeover Tour over the last week, with previous stops in Seattle and Vancouver. Montreal ended the trip with four of a possible nine points.
“It’s been a challenge for our group, but I think they were ready for it and we had the right mindset going into it,” said Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie. “We knew that it would bring challenges on, and I really like the way that our team responded throughout everything that we’ve been through. We’ve had some adversity on this trip, and you almost want that as a team, to go through those moments and learn early on. Then close to playoffs, you come out of it knowing exactly what to expect of it and how to get over small little hurdles. I was really happy with the entire overall road trip.”
The Victoire opened the scoring early with a big play by the fourth line. Dara Greig started the counter attack, got around the defender to create an odd-woman rush and made a perfect feed to a driving Catherine Dubois, who made no mistake and shot it past Frost goaltender Maddie Rooney.
It was the first goal of the season for Dubois, Greig’s first point as a professional, and it happened on Montreal’s first shot of the game, 2:33 into the frame.
Greig et Dubois étaient PRÊTES!
— Victoire de Montréal (@PWHL_Montreal) January 12, 2025
Greig and Dubois were READY! pic.twitter.com/xMHHB32Psi
Minnesota tied the game at 1-1 at the midway point of the period. Taylor Heise won the faceoff back to Britta Curl-Salemme, who fired a shot past Elaine Chuli.
The second period started off with a Montreal power play, but it was quickly overshadowed by an injury to forward Laura Stacey. Stacey went along the boards, battling with a puck with Frost defender Lee Stecklein. Stacey fell awkwardly and struggled to get off the ice before hobbling down the hallway to the Victoire locker room.
Here is the clip of the Laura Stacey injury pic.twitter.com/AjJ05NBo1V
— Jared Book (@jaredbook) January 13, 2025
Stacey did not return to the game, for what the team called “precautionary reasons.”
On the same power play, Montreal did have an opportunity but after a scramble in front left a wide open net, Kristin O’Neill’s backhand hit off the crossbar and stayed out.
Minnesota took the lead later in the period on a power play of their own with 10:30 left. A Denisa Křížová shot was saved by Chuli but the rebound went right to Sophie Jaques at the opposite circle, who fired a shot into the empty cage before the Victoire goaltender could get across.
The lead held up for five minutes before Montreal evened the score at 2-2 on another power play chance. Jennifer Gardiner took the puck behind the net and tried to make a centering pass. The puck went off of Mae Batherson’s skate and past Rooney.
La rondelle s'est faufilée juste parfaitement
— Victoire de Montréal (@PWHL_Montreal) January 12, 2025
Sneaky one pic.twitter.com/vv0kJ91Bfy
Montreal’s best opportunity to take the lead came in the first half of the third period. Marie-Philip Poulin broke in all alone on Rooney and made a deke to her backhand, but her shot rang off the post. Mikyla Grant-Mentis was close to getting the rebound, but it was cleared before she could get a stick on it.
Shortly after, Claire Dalton had a shot saved by Rooney and the rebound just went by O’Neill before she could put it into the open net.
The Frost capitalized on a Montreal mistake in their own end. A turnover was picked up by Maggie Flaherty who had all the time in the world to fire a shot past Chuli for her first career PWHL goal in her second season.
Despite having over 12 minutes remaining to try and tie the game, Montreal struggled to get much of anything going offensively. The Victoire only had four shots in the third period, and were unable to draw even.
Chuli, who made 25 saves in the loss, made several saves to keep it a one-goal game but the reprieves were not enough for Montreal. With 1:40 remaining, Michela Cava broke in alone and fired a backhand over Chuli’s shoulder to make it 4-2 and put the game’s result out of reach.
“Nothing to take away from Minnesota. They play a fast game, they’re quick in transition and they will make you pay when you make mistakes,” Cheverie said. “For us, we had the opportunities to score enough goals to win tonight and we didn’t capitalize. There were a couple of decisions with the puck we would like to have back because we’ve been talking about it so much. But that’s going to happen. That’s hockey. It’s going to be the team that’s going to make the least mistakes and against a team like Minnesota you very much have to limit your mistakes.”
With the win, Minnesota leapfrogged Montreal and is now two points ahead in first place in the PWHL with one additional game played.
Montreal will now head home for a rematch with Minnesota on Friday night at Place Bell before heading to Quebec City for their fourth and final neutral site game of the season on Sunday against the Ottawa Charge. Montreal will be designated the home team for that game. The Frost will play the New York Sirens on Wednesday at the Prudential Centre before heading to Montreal to play the Victoire.
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