The Victoire Melts The Frost

Montreal shut out the Minnesota Frost 4–0 in their return home after the Olympic break. A hint of redemption was likely in the air, considering the Minnesota Frost had six players on their roster who are now Olympic champions. It was also Marie-Philip Poulin’s first game back in the lineup after missing the previous game in New York.

The Frost, a very solid and deep team, were not going to be an easy opponent for the Victoire. In the absence of their captain, Kendall Coyne Schofield, placed on LTIR, it’s never a team you count out.

Is Montreal Finally a Team With Depth?

Montreal was quick to write the story in the first period when defenseman Maggie Flaherty opened the scoring with a snipe from near the blue line. Similar to their game in New York, the Victoire scored a goal only 1 minute and 11 seconds following the opening goal, courtesy of Dara Greig. Greig had known some success lately and had been named the Victoire’s “unsung hero,” according to head coach Kori Cheverie.

Both of these scorers in the first period recorded their third goal of the season. The Montreal Victoire were able to showcase their depth. “I feel like our Montreal players who stayed in the market put in so much work, and you can really see the depth of our team shining through in the past two games. That's been something that's been building and brewing.”

Beating the Back-to-Back Walter Cup Champions Looked Easy

Minnesota was outshot 14–4 in the first period. They are not often this dominated. “We know that Minnesota is fast. We know that they're a quick counter team. We tried to just give them no quick counter opportunities,” shared Cheverie.

Maureen Murphy logged her fourth of the season, bringing the score to 3–0, and with lots of relief for both the fans and the team, Laura Stacey hammered the nail into the Minnesota coffin, making it 4–0. Stacey had known frustration, being held to only two goals all season even though she is league-leading in shots on net with 78 to her name.

A Sigh of Relief for Laura Stacey

When I asked Stacey how she was able to keep her cool and her focus during this dry spell, she laughed. “There was plenty of frustration. I just tried to hide it a little.” She shared that she felt like it was just her style of game, and she learned over time how important it is to continue to stick to the little details and still look at the game as a success even if you can’t net one. She then turned to Poulin on her right and said: “I joke with her [Poulin] all the time. I’m like, I can have 10, you can have one and you're probably scoring. And I’m not,” she said jokingly.

A Team Effort

What stood out the most in this game was the presence of the entire team in shutting down the back-to-back Walter Cup champions. In games against stronger teams, the win can often be attributed to the stellar performances of Desbiens, but this game truly felt like an entire team effort. Cheverie attributes this success to the people behind the bench. “We're just doing our best to try to find the perfect recipe for everybody to have success. And I thought our players bought into the game plan.”

Minnesota played their first game back from the Olympic break and were surely a bit rusty, especially in the absence of Coyne Schofield. “She’s one of the best players in the league,” shared Frost coach Ken Klee. “If she's out of your lineup, you're not as good as you could be. But, you know, that's not an excuse.” It’s definitely not an excuse for this Minnesota team, especially when you look at the fact that they have four of the top 10 league leaders in goals and points.

Montreal is back in action on Tuesday in Toronto and will look to extend their winning streak to six.