Game 1 of this year’s Walter Cup Final delivered all the chaos you could want and more. Despite not playing their cleanest hockey, the Montréal Victoire managed to steal the win thanks to a tying goal from Nicole Gosling with two seconds, then an overtime winner from Abby Roque.
Montréal now hold the 1-0 series lead heading into Game 2 on Saturday, which runs at 2 p.m. ET from Place Bell in Laval, Québec.
End of Regulation
In the final 20 seconds of the game, Laura Stacey took an awkward hit and went down in visible pain. Eventually, she was able to get up and was helped off the ice.
Montréal responded by coming out hot, taking advantage of an offensive zone faceoff win, and scrambling in front of the net before Nicole Gosling finally buried the game-tying goal to force overtime. Head coach Kori Cheverie said the sequence speaks to the resilience of the team’s game.
“It’s a group that certainly does care for each other, and (Poulin) did find another level in that moment,” Cheverie said. “Once the puck was pushed into the front of the net, I knew anything was possible. … for our team to be able to pull something off like that, I feel it just goes with how we’ve played throughout this entire playoffs. Never quitting. We could have been down and out after their second goal, and all playoff long, we just never quit in those moments.”
Laura Stacey
Despite suffering what looked to be a scary injury, Stacey was back on the ice for overtime. Her impact was felt quickly, earning the primary assist on Roque’s game winner.
“We knew we wanted to put our best foot forward for her,” said Abby Roque. “Obviously hero move by her to be out there when we’re coming back out, skating hot laps.”
Stacey is currently tied with Poulin for the league-lead in points, with six through these playoffs so far. While she was able to play in overtime, her health status will be something to watch heading into this weekend.
Abby Roque
Abby Roque had her first two goals of the postseason on Thursday, the second going in off her face cage to seal the win for Montréal. Beyond just her scoresheet contributions, Roque arguably played her best game of the playoffs yet, contributing across the ice.
“She certainly plays in every situation for us,” Cheverie said. “You put her around the net in a big moment, she’s done that a couple of times for us this year. I’m really happy she’s found the back of the net because she’s doing a lot of really good things. She’s finding her teammates, getting pucks to the net, but tonight it went in for her. Then the second one off her cage.”
“I told (Roque) she scored with her black eye,” Cheverie joked.
Roque started the game alongside Shiann Darkangelo and Kaitlin Willoughby, but was later bumped back to her regular role on the top line alongside Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey, where Catherine Dubois has been since Game 5 against the Minnesota Frost. Cheverie said the decision came as Montréal had yet to get on the board into the second period.
“I wanted to see if I could spark something, get a little something going,” Cheverie said. “So I decided to put them back together. I thought (Dubois) was having a great game, so she just kind of slid in with (Darkangelo) and (Willoughby) there. It was kind of a pretty seamless transition.”
Heading into Game 2, Cheverie will have to decide if she’ll keep that top trio together, or start Dubois on the first line once again.