LAVAL — The Montreal Victoire can grab a commanding lead in the Walter Cup final when they host the Ottawa Charge on Saturday.
Montreal has a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series for the Professional Women’s Hockey League Championship.
Abby Roque put away the overtime winner as the Victoire beat Ottawa 3-2 on Thursday in Game 1.
Roque’s heroics were only possible after Montreal’s Nicole Gosling tied the game 2-2 with 2.1 seconds remaining in regulation.
“Welcome to the Walter Cup,” Charge head coach Carla MacLeod said after Thursday’s thriller. “There’s nowhere else on the planet we want to be. And the fact that we’re here, we’ve got some business to take care of, and we’re excited about that.”
This is Montreal’s first trip to the Walter Cup final in the PWHL’s third season. The Charge made it to the final a season ago, but were dispatched in four games by the Minnesota Frost.
A victory in Saturday’s game would go a long way to prevent the same fate from happening this year.
The Frost won the first two Walter Cups.
Montreal finished atop the regular-season standings, with the Charge placing fourth in the eight-team league.
