Montreal Victoire goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens admitted to experiencing goosebumps at the mere thought of envisioning teammate and captain Marie-Philip Poulin lifting the PWHL Walter Cup championship trophy.
“She is a legend. She’s ‘Captain Clutch,’ the one and only one,” Desbiens said during a Zoom conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “For me to witness that, I would be so lucky as a teammate to have this opportunity to share this moment with her because of everything she’s done, and because of everything she’s still doing.”
Poulin and the Victoire aren’t there yet. But they are preparing to open their best-of-five Walter Cup Finals series, hosting the Ottawa Charge on Thursday night. What’s also true is the Victoire wouldn’t be making their first finals appearance if not for Poulin who, at 35, continues adding to the clutch reputation she earned by scoring three Olympic gold medal-clinching goals.
Despite a lower-body injury limiting her ice time, Poulin delivered two winning goals — including the semifinal series clincher on Tuesday night — in Montreal’s five-game elimination of the two-time defending champion Minnesota Frost. Her other winner came in a 1-0 triple-OT decision in Game 2.
In advancing, the Victoire avoided a repeat of their past two semifinal losses, and became the PWHL’s first higher-seeded team to win a playoff series in the league’s three seasons.
“She is the best player in the world,” Victoire coach Kori Cheverie said, noting Poulin also blocked two shots in the closing minutes of Montreal’s 2-1 Game 5 win. “Our team is so proud of her. And we’re lucky that she’s with us and continues to be a great captain.”
It’s the Charge standing in Montreal’s way in the PWHL’s first all-Canadian title matchup. Ottawa returns to the finals after losing in four games to Minnesota last year.
The fourth-seeded Charge are the more rested team after having been off since a 4-3 double-overtime win over Boston in Game 4 on Sunday.
“I’m really proud of our group that we’re able to make it back here,” Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner said. “It’s not easy to get to this point. We know there’s one step left, and it’s going to be the hardest step.”
The meeting is a rematch of last year’s semifinals, in which the fourth-seeded Charge upset Montreal in four games all decided by one goal. Montreal won this year’s season series by going 3-0-1.
The teams feature two respected leaders in Poulin and Jenner, long-time Team Canada teammates. The goalie matchup pits Desbiens, another Team Canada veteran, facing off against Team USA backup Gwyneth Philips, who was last year’s playoff MVP.
“We were a great team last year, and I think we’re a great team this year,” Charge coach Carla MacLeod said. “We know it’s a fresh go at it, but at the same breath there’s a presence in our room that understands what it’s going to take to try to get this thing done.”
Women behind both benches
This marks the first PWHL final in which both teams are coached by women, which MacLeod called “a complicated” subject to address in a text to The Associated Press.
“In 2026, it shouldn’t be considered special to have two women coaching in a final. But the reality is, there are only two female coaches in the league, so it still matters,” she wrote.
“The PWHL has helped create a space where women can be seen as leaders in professional sport, and that visibility matters,” MacLeod added. “I hope we get to a place where women coaches are given the same opportunities as men — where their experience is recognized simply as experience, and they're trusted to coach and lead all athletes regardless of gender.
“Good hockey is good hockey. Good coaching is good coaching.”
USA gold-medal presence
Philips, Ottawa defender Rory Guilday and Montreal forward Hayley Scamurra have a chance to win a second championship in three months. All three were members of the U.S. gold medal-winning team at the Milan Cortina Games.
“It’s been nice for me to come out of that with the gold medal and ride that momentum and bring positive energy to the team,” said Scamurra, who scored Montreal's winning goal in a 2-1 victory against Minnesota in Game 3. “I’ve just been feeling really confident, honestly, all season, but especially after (winning gold). It’s been fun to play with an edge, and excited to bring that to the finals for the Walter Cup.”
Can’t avoid Ottawa now
As regular-season champs, the Victoire bucked the standings by choosing third-seeded Minnesota over Ottawa as their semifinal opponent. Now they can’t avoid the Charge.
“I don’t know if anything was about avoiding, because I would say that playing the back-to-back Walter Cup champions is probably just as hard of a competition that we would face,” Cheverie said. “At the end of the day, we said we have to go through everybody if we want to get to where we want to get to.”
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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
John Wawrow, The Associated Press
