The PWHL won its gamble, and the Bell Centre, the biggest hockey arena in the NHL and the second biggest in the world, was filled to the brim for the Duel at the Top featuring Toronto and Montreal.
Related: Marie-Philip Poulin is Keeping the Spotlight on Women’s Hockey
There was a special atmosphere at the Bell Centre on Saturday afternoon; for the first time, the PWHL Montreal team could call the Mecca of hockey home. Each seat was adorned with a commemorative towel and a Pix Mob bracelet that made the arena even more impressive once it was filled. As the players were warming up, the entertainment team tried to interview Marie-Philip Poulin, but they had to wait for the cheers to fade so that fans could hear her. There’s no doubt, for Quebecers and Canadians alike, Captain Clutch is hockey royalty. When the puck dropped, some seats remained available in the arena, presumably those bought by scalpers, as the event was sold out within 10 minutes of its general sale time.
On the Ice
Montreal came out strong, getting six shots on Kristen Campbell before Toronto could even test Ann-Renée Desbiens. Still, the visitors scored first when Desbiens made a partial save on Blayre Turnbull but fumbled the puck in the net. There’s no denying Desbiens is an excellent goaltender; she’s Team Canada’s number one, but in PWHL play, she always seems to make at least one costly mistake per game. Seconds before the goal, she made a hazardous outing behind the net, but Toronto failed to capitalize. Montreal managed the equalizer with just 19 seconds left in the first frame when Sarah Bujold received a great feed from Clare Dalton and beat Campbell up high.
You had to be back to your seat on time not to miss the next goal, as Sarah Nurse broke the tie 40 seconds into the second frame by deflecting an Allie Munroe point shot. Montreal spent much of the period chasing the game and finally broke through with a heavy Erin Ambrose shot. Poulin and Stacey assisted on the power play goal scored with 26 seconds left in the middle period.
The teams then battled through the third period, but nobody broke the tie, and the teams headed to overtime. Three-on-three play is a game of possession, and after winning the faceoff, Toronto assaulted Montreal’s territory. After 13 seconds of overtime, Nurse broke thousands of hearts by giving the visitors the win. Still, the fans stayed in their seats, cheered for the great game they had just witnessed, and cheered again when Nurse was announced as the game’s first star.
The Aftermath and the Record
This is Toronto’s fifth win against their host, meaning they swept the season series. In the post-game presser, head coach Troy Ryan was asked if Montreal would be his choice of opponent if his team finished first, and he laughed, answering:
Do you think I’m really going to answer that? [laughs] With the performance they gave us tonight the answer would be no.
The Toronto players were elated to have won the game and beaten Montreal five times this season. Their first win against Montreal in Verdun was sort of a turning point, as Campbell explained:
For sure I think that got us back on the right track and from there on out we really built game by game. I also feel like that was a big game for me in that shootout and I just focused on getting better every game after that. Also, I feel like that was the turning point of our season, and looking back on it now, the start helped us get where we are now, so the adversity was good for us.
Who wouldn’t get a confidence boost by stopping Poulin multiple times in the same shootout? Before that win on January 20, Campbell had given 17 goals in just five games. After that, she got stingier and shut out Montreal in their next two duels.
Even though the loss crushed Montreal players, they put their feelings aside and acknowledged the magnitude of their moment. Speaking about the ovation she got at the start of the game, Poulin could hardly hide her emotions as she said:
Yeah, it got to me…it gave me goosebumps and I got quite emotional. Taking a moment to look in the stands, see all the white towels, the people in the stands…Every time we passed the red line, fans got noisy. It’s a moment I’ll never forget and I’m grateful I was a part of it. Erin Ambrose added: “When we got introduced, the whole team, my jaw dropped onto the ice, it was insane. To be on the blue line and watch that intro, have that moment as a team was pretty surreal.
The Montreal captain also reminisced about the last time she had played a game at the Bell Centre in 2017:
You think about 2017, it was the lower bowl, there must have been 5,000 or 6,000 people in the stands, we were talking about filling those up, and today, it was full. It’s incredible and shows that when you believe in something and people believe in that project, this league, our team… we have unbelievable fans.
Poulin confessed she jumped up on the bench when the jumbotron showed the record. She hopes and believes that one day, this will be the norm and not just a one-off. This is the next step for the women’s game, and it looks like the PWHL is ready for it. At the end of the game, both Laura Stacey and Ambrose gave their sticks to girls who had been cheering them on for the last 60 minutes.
With the overtime win, Toronto has officially clinched a playoff spot, and one can only hope the postseason will pit these incredible teams against each other. Montreal and Toronto’s natural rivalry in sports was already well-established, but having multiple Team Canada players on each side seems to have taken it up a notch. Both clubs now have three big games left in their regular season; at this stage, every single point will be crucial.
