Kori Cheverie, Marie-Philip Poulin and the other players of the Montreal team didn’t know it when the match started at 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon, but they were preparing to experience a prelude to their first round of playoffs of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The members of the Montreal team were informed Monday evening that they would face Boston in the semi-finals.
Just Saturday, in Lowell, Massachusetts, Montreal and Boston crossed swords for the fourth time this season, in what was the last game of the two teams of the regular schedule.
The Boston team won 4-3 thanks to a goal scored late in the third period, after they had squandered a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes of play.
This victory acquired in regulation time allowed Boston to qualify for the playoffs and finish in third position ahead of Minnesota.
It also served to prepare for a duel which looks promising and close.
“If we look at Saturday’s match, the start of the game is going to be super important for us,” said captain Marie-Philip Poulin, during a videoconference in which players and players took turns taking part. representatives of the four qualified clubs.
“The robustness aspect will be important. We will have to be ready to receive checks, give them as well and move the puck quickly. Saturday, it put us in a bit of difficulty,” added Poulin, who scored the equalizing goal with a little more than three minutes remaining in regulation time.
The two clubs faced each other on three other occasions during the regular season, and the Montreal team won two of these matches, including one in overtime.
Montreal (10-3-6-5) collected 41 points and finished in second place, six points ahead of Boston (8-4-9-3).
“It’s a fairly even confrontation,” Cheverie analyzed.
“We will have to make sure we are robust while remaining out of the penalty box. We will have to play in a disciplined manner, not only in terms of robustness but also in respecting the game plan. The team that sticks to its game plan the most will win the series,” added the head coach of the Montreal team.
This confrontation will once again bring together, against each other, Poulin and the American Hilary Knight, another big name in women’s hockey and one of the stars of the Boston team.
“The mutual respect is so present every time I have the chance to play against Hilary Knight,” Poulin said.
“She’s an icon of women’s hockey, of hockey in general. To be able to be face to face against her is always an honor, always a source of pride. The leader that she is, the woman that she is. It’s going to be remarkable. »
For his part, Knight believes that fans of both clubs will be pampered.
“This is another opportunity to win,” Knight initially said about this duel.
“When I go to a game, I don’t think about myself, I just think about our team and how we can compete and win with every skate, every shift on the ice. »
“But for the spectators, that’s what you want. You hear these two names; what an incredible confrontation for them,” she added.
The first two games of series three of five between Montreal and Boston will take place Thursday and Saturday, each time at 7 p.m., at Place Bell. Game 3 follows at the Tsongas Center in Lowell on Tuesday, May 14.
If fourth and fifth games prove necessary, they will take place on Thursday, May 16, in Lowell, and Sunday, May 19, at Place Bell, respectively.
The scenario for the first round of the semi-finals follows the decision of the first-placed Toronto team to choose to face Minnesota in the initial round.
“It was a very difficult decision to make as you can imagine, with the parity in the league throughout the season, and the fact that we had to wait until the last day of the season to know which formation would finish in the last position giving access to the playoffs,” said Gina Kingsbury, Toronto’s general director of training, at the start of the videoconference.
“This is a decision we have not taken lightly and we have analyzed everything from all angles,” Kingsbury added.