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There will certainly be emotion in the air when Montreal’s Professional Women’s Hockey League team hosts Toronto on Saturday at the sold-out Bell Centre (1 p.m., CBC, RDS, TSN 690, 98.5 FM). The attendance record has been brought up time and time again. But the most important thing for Kori Cheverie’s team is to beat Toronto and send a message going into the PWHL playoffs.
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“There are a few games against Toronto this year that we were not able to win, we are all aware of that,” captain Marie-Philip Poulin said on Friday. “I think we have to bring our energy (from Thursday’s 4-3 victory against Minnesota) on Saturday.
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“Yes, I know we’re talking about playing in front of over 21,000 people, but the most important thing for us is to win. We know that there are four games left in the season and that the playoffs are coming, but we take it one game at a time. The important thing for us will be to give a good effort for 60 minutes. This is an issue for us. We have good first periods, but things always go a little less well in the second.”
On Saturday, Poulin said, “we will live the moment inside, but when the puck is placed on the ice, we will stop thinking about it.”
Head coach Cheverie said she hopes her players enjoy the moment, but obviously the victory against Toronto is more important than anything surrounding this meeting.
“It will be great to play at the Bell Centre and experience all this atmosphere. It’s been great playing all these big crowds this season and our fans have the opportunity this time to show they are the loudest.
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“Facing Toronto makes this match a very important duel with a lot at stake. It could result in one club finishing ahead of the other. Our group is ready. We are happy to be able to count on a seventh player like the one we will have (Saturday). The fact that it’s such an important match makes this event so special.”
Poulin, Laura Stacey and Ann-Renée Desbiens — who also met the media with general manager Danièle Sauvageau — have experienced great hockey moments during their careers, whether at the Olympic Games or at the IIHF world championship just last weekend. The club captain, however, said she does not feel the need to calm down teammates who are less accustomed to big stages.
“We have players who come from all backgrounds, who have played in Europe, but for matches like (Saturday’s), what we have to do is during the warm-up, to take the time to look around, take a deep breath, take the time to realize where we will be. I’m not the girl who talks more, I set an example more through my actions. The leaders here, we will tell the players to take advantage of it. But in the end, it’s a match like any other. It’s the same preparation as in Verdun, but it will be at the Bell Centre.”
But Poulin said it would still be an emotional moment for the team.
“You dream about these moments. Tomorrow cannot come quickly enough. I have a busy career, but to be able to play in a magical amphitheatre like this is incredible. I played a match with the (Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s) Canadiennes here in 2017, but there was only the lower portion and it was not full. To think it will be full is incredible.”
Goalie Desbiens said she expected filling the Bell Centre to happen some time later on. “To do it in the first year, and to see that 21,000 tickets is still not enough, it demonstrates the support women’s hockey enjoys. That says a lot about the level of play.
“It also demonstrates that women’s sport, as we have just seen with the world championship or March Madness, when we show it on television, when people come to see it, they like to watch it.”
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