When the buzzer sounded on the Montreal Victoire’s Walter Cup victory, Marie-Philip Poulin tossed her gloves and stick and looked up at the Canadian Tire Centre’s rafters.
The statistics will show it took the Victoire nine playoff games to win the franchise’s first Walter Cup, clinching the trophy in Game 4 with a 4-0 win over Ottawa. They’ll show that Poulin, who was named the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP, scored eight points in those nine games.
But that won’t tell the full story of how the Walter Cup came to Canada for the first time, and how the Victoire’s captain finally got to hoist the 35-pound, sterling silver trophy.
“She’s been our leader the whole year,” defender Erin Ambrose said about Poulin. “She’s the most unbelievable hockey player and the best hockey player to ever play this game. She deserves this more than anybody in the world.”
It took nine years and another league folding and plenty of uncertainty for Poulin to win another league championship in Montreal.
There were years in between when the path back to this moment seemed unclear, when the best player in the world didn’t have a place to regularly play, but she still worked toward a moment like this.
Montréal Victoire wins Walter Cup to cap great 3rd season for PWHL
Several years ago, there was a trip to the Victoire’s practice rink in Verdun in boots and a hard hat alongside Victoire GM Danièle Sauvageau, who had a vision of what pro hockey in Montreal could look like. The PWHL didn’t exist then, but Sauvageau would be the person to bring this team together when the moment came.
Two disappointing first-round playoff exits came before this. After the team lost in Boston 2024, the look of disappointment on the captain’s face haunted head coach Kori Cheverie for two years. She saved a picture of it on her phone and used it as motivation.
“From that moment, I was like, this means to world to every single person, I’m going to do whatever it possibly takes to get her that trophy,” Cheverie said. “The whole team did.”
Last summer, Poulin, Laura Stacey and goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens renegotiated heir contracts to take less money, all so their GM could bring in the pieces they needed to complete the puzzle.
“We had been in first place, we had been to the playoffs, but we couldn’t find a way to get that Cup,” Stacey said.
It also meant playing through pain. Poulin missed a chunk of the second-half of the season with a lower-body injury, not returning to action until the last game before the playoffs.
How much pain was she in?
“Lots,” Poulin said on the ice after the win, with a smile. “But it was all worth it.”
Despite the pain, Poulin stepped up. Sometimes she scored he game-winning goal for her team, as she’s done many times in her career. Other times, it was setting up her teammates for success.
It was her team who carried Poulin through some of the most difficult days, Stacey said.
“The last few months have been tough, but it’s all been in search of that exact moment,” Stacey said. “When you have a dream, when you have a goal, it helps you get through some of those darker days, those tougher moments. When you have a great team behind you, who’s rooting for you and who’s picking you up, it helps you get through those moments, too.”
When Poulin and Stacey, who are married, embraced after their team celebrated, their message to each other was simple.
“We did it,” they said.
When Poulin was named playoff MVP, she shook her head and pointed back at her goaltender.
Desbiens finished the playoffs with a 1.40 goals-against average, the steady hand always steering the ship.
“She was our brick wall all year long, all playoffs long,” Poulin said. “Again tonight, a shutout, unbelievable.”
Desbiens passed the Cup back to Poulin, so she could give it to Stacey. Like Poulin, she also played through injury, and credited the Victoire’s medical staff for helping her get back on the ice.
“She was in pain, big time, and to be able to see her step up like she did today, it was special,” Poulin said.
Stacey passed it to Ambrose, another alternate captain and the first player drafted to the Victoire three seasons ago.
Montreal is a place that transformed Ambrose’s life eight years ago, after she was cut from the 2018 Olympic team. Now, it’s a place where she’s won a championship.
“She’s been a foundational player for us, puts her heart on the line, has been a leader for this team,” Stacey said. “She’s been through a lot, thick and thin, with this group.”
The trophy continued on through Abby Roque, Hayley Scamurra and Maggie Flaherty, three offseason additions who came up big in these playoffs. Scamurra became the first player to win an Olympic gold medal and a Walter Cup in the same year, while Flaherty won her third consecutive Walter Cup, after two seasons with the Minnesota Frost.
Montreal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin hoists the Walter Cup
Roque scored two goals in Game 4, perhaps none bigger than a shorthanded shot off her backhand that gave the Victoire a 2-0 lead and turned the tide of the game.
“I think I peed a little in the penalty box, I was so excited,” Poulin said.
It was the first postseason for Roque, and she came as advertised. She finished with eight points in nine games, including one goal scored off her face.
“We knew what we were getting when we got her, but it’s not easy to score in big moments like that,” Stacey said. “It really isn’t. For her to do that tonight, for her to help this team find a way past that line and get to a championship is absolutely incredible.”
There were players like defender Amanda Boulier, who’s been with this team since the first season, after a trade brought her to Montreal, who finally saw victory.
She stepped away from hockey a few times before she found herself here, living a moment she didn’t think would happen.
Montreal Victoire celebrate after winning the Walter Cup
“I know how lucky I am to be here,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“To have this come into fruition and stick with it like I did is really special.”
Finally, the Cup made it to Sauvageau, the GM who was the first employee of the Victoire, and the one who built this roster from scratch.
“We are here because of her,” forward Catherine Dubois said.
The team will look different next season. Four new teams are on the way and a significant portion of the league is nearing free agency.
But banners hang forever.
“No matter what’s going to happen, this team is going to be together forever, even if they play elsewhere,” Sauvageau said.
