The Montréal Victoire have selected the back-to-back defending Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost as their first-round opponent this year’s PWHL playoffs.
After clinching first place in the league on Saturday, the Victoire earned the opportunity to select their opponent between the third-place Frost (13-3-5-9) and fourth-place Charge (9-8-1-12). Opting to take on Minnesota, Ottawa will now face the second-place Boston Fleet in round one.
This season, the Victoire went undefeated against the Frost, collecting two wins in regulation and two in overtime. In their last two matchups, Montréal shut out Minnesota, outscoring them 7-0. The Frost dropped their final four games of the season, including against the bottom-of-the-league Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent.
Last year, the first-place Victoire chose to play Ottawa instead of Minnesota in the first round, citing the easier travel. Ultimately, they fell 3-1 in that series, with their sole win coming in quadruple overtime. To this point, a higher-seeded team has not won a playoff series in the PWHL.
The Walter Cup playoffs kick off on Thursday, as the Fleet host the Charge at Lowell’s Tsongas Center. Montréal opens their series against Minnesota on Saturday. That match is now confirmed for 2. p.m. at Place Bell in Laval. Game 2 of the best-of-five series runs at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.