La Victoire de Montréal defeated the Ottawa Charge 2-1 in front of a packed house of 18,259 fans at the Videotron Center on Sunday afternoon in Quebec City.
Kati Tabin broke the deadlock with 6:13 remaining in the third period with her first goal and first point of the campaign. Catherine Dubois opened the scoring for Montreal, which has won its three duels against Ottawa this season, all by a single goal.
Ann-Renée Desbiens turned away 26 of the 27 shots aimed at him.
The city having its sights set on an expansion club for the women’s circuit, it was an opportunity for hockey fans in the region to demonstrate that they too are ready to have their own LPHF team and the atmosphere was there.
La Victoire now finds itself alone in first place in the general ranking thanks to a second victory in a row. The Charge, for its part, occupies fourth place by virtue of this third consecutive loss.
Goalkeeper Ann-Renée Desbiens was punished for obstruction in the first period after clotheslining Anna Meixner. Montreal escaped with this only penalty of the period.
On the other hand, Kori Cheverie’s troop was very messy and often out of position in its territory to allow the Charge to recover several loose pucks at the end of the engagement. Desbiens made a good glove save on a long shot to save the furniture.
-In the second, during a long sequence without a stoppage in play, the Charge threatened around the Desbiens net and Montreal gave too many shooting lines to the visitors in addition to losing its battles along the boards; Victoria Bach was the most dangerous of the Charge.
The crowd then came alive to try to whip the Montrealers.
Fans had to wait a long time before seeing the first goal scored by Catherine Dubois with 31 seconds left in the second period, during a power play. Claire Dalton had just passed to Mikyla Grant-Mentis who wanted to escape in front of the goalkeeper, but she was caught by Danielle Serdachny.
The superiority, however, got off to a bad start as former Montreal player Tereza Vanisova went on a breakaway, but Desbiens stretched her left pad to stop her. It was the second numerical advantage unit that did the job. Dubois jumped on a rebound from Kati Tabin before heading into the stands to celebrate in front of his family who were there to cheer him on.
The Charge tied the game 1-1 midway through the final period when Zoe Boyd’s shot deflected off the arm of Shiann Darkangelo, then behind Desbiens.
Tabin made the difference on another late power play. While Erin Ambrose drew two players on her, she handed it to Tabin who fired a good shot towards Emerance Maschmeyer who did not have time to complete her slide to the left.
