Wednesday evening, the Montreal team of the Women’s Professional Hockey League should attract approximately six times fewer spectators than last Saturday. It has nothing to do with the heartbreaking defeat against Toronto, and it’s not because the Montreal club is experiencing a sudden and unexpected drop in popularity. It is, quite simply, a question of the amphitheater.
Less than 48 hours after being overcome by a tsunami of emotions thanks to a record crowd for a women’s hockey game of 21,105 spectators at the Bell Centre, Kori Cheverie and the vast majority of her players were back at the Auditorium of Verdun, Monday morning, for a first training session in preparation for their next match, against the New York team, in this same amphitheater.
For Cheverie and the players present – Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, Kristin O’Neill and Erin Ambrose took advantage of a leave of absence – it was a return to a sort of normality, in no way demotivating after all the excitement felt Saturday.
“The three rinks are so special,” Cheverie first emphasized, including Place Bell, where the Montreal team played four of its games this season.
“People and other teams come here to Verdun and can’t believe how noisy this amphitheater is. For its size, it exudes power. I’m excited to be back here. It’s pretty, it’s welcoming, it’s picturesque, it’s a cool place. »
The Verdun Auditorium, as defender Catherine Daoust described it, is the “home” of the Montreal team. This is where it holds its practices and it is also the place where six of the team’s 12 local games will have been presented during the regular season.
“I wouldn’t say it’s warmer, because the Bell Center was very warm,” Daoust insisted.
“Everyone is above us, practically, in Verdun. We really feel like we’re embraced by the fans, and it seems a lot more than the number of supporters it is. It’s not the same thing, but it’s our place. »
While waiting to play in front of another packed house of around 3,200 spectators in what will be the team’s last local match in the regular season on Wednesday evening, Daoust and goalkeeper Ann-Renée Desbiens did not hesitate to look back on the day from Saturday. A day that the two players and Cheverie, in turn, described as unforgettable.
“To be able, for a Quebecer, to fill the Bell Center, to receive an ovation like the one I had, like “Pou” (Poulin) had, like the players had, the whole team together, it’s really special,” Desbiens said.
“You dream of these moments when you are young. To put on the Canadian jersey, to play at the Bell Centre, a seventh game, something like that. But now, to be able to do it with our own girls’ league, it’s really special. And for little girls to see that it’s possible for their names to be chanted at the Bell Centre, that it’s possible to have so many people supporting them, it’s truly a magical moment for women’s hockey.” , continued the goalkeeper from the Charlevoix region.
For her part, Daoust knew she was going to experience a day full of emotions.
“When we played at Scotiabank Arena [le domicile des Maple Leafs de Toronto, le 16 février], we got a taste of what it was like to perform in front of so many people. The Bell Center is one more level. And how they did it, the whole atmosphere, with the lights, the crowd which was incredible. I think it exceeded my expectations. »
“It’s not a game you can forget too easily,” admitted Cheverie. It was quite nice and certainly very emotional. If we can have more matches like this it will be fantastic. »