Frost 2 – Victory 4 | A complete performance

(Laval) “I found that this is the closest we have come to a 60-minute performance this season. »

This is how Kori Cheverie summed up her team’s game on Friday night, after it defeated the Minnesota Frost 4-2 at Place Bell.

In the absence of one of its best attackers, Laura Stacey, Victoire played one of its most complete matches, both offensively and defensively. It was a good time to do it, moreover, since the team was able to regain first place in the ranking, tied with, precisely, the Frost.

« [Laura Stacey] brings so much to our team, she is irreplaceable. But we have a team with a lot of depth, who can step up their game and help in those moments,” Cheverie said after the game.

Midway through the second period, La Victoire led 3-0 and the visitors had only scored six times on net. The latter had a renewed energy afterwards, but the Montrealers were able to protect their lead in a good way.

“We kept the pedal to the metal,” said Abigail Boreen, author of two goals. In third, when we have such a big lead, it’s really important to protect it. […] I’m really proud of our group tonight. »

When efforts bear fruit

Before Friday, the Victoire was the worst team in the League in power play, posting a very low success rate of 11.8% (4 goals in 34 opportunities this season). She improved this statistic a little in the last matches, and again on Friday, scoring her third and fourth goals of the campaign in this situation. The first was the work of Marie-Philip Poulin at five against three, while the second came from the stick of Boreen.

The success rate increased to 15.4% after the duel, in penultimate place. Slowly, but surely, they say…

Cheverie never really seemed worried about his power play during the first games of the season. She was nevertheless happy to see the efforts of her players finally bear fruit on Friday.

“We put so much time and effort into our special teams. With what opportunities we were generating and what we looked like, it was only a matter of time. […] I’m really happy with the effort they put in and their execution. »

Successful recipe

At the start of the season, Kori Cheverie tried to complete the explosive duo of Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey in different ways. It was ultimately Jennifer Gardiner who got the coveted position.

This time, with the injury suffered by Laura Stacey in the last game, the head coach had to find a player who could do the job well alongside Poulin and Gardiner. She tried a recipe, bringing together on the first trio her three most productive attackers this season, namely Poulin, Gardiner and Boreen.

As soon as it was concocted, the recipe turned out to be successful.

The three players were everywhere, creating scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity. It was Boreen who scored the first goal of the match on a lively and precise pass from Gardiner in the first period. The tall striker finished the game with two goals against her former team.

“It’s pretty fun to do that against Minnesota!” “, she blurted.

“Obviously I wanted to perform well with [Poulin et Gardiner]. Honestly, they really made it easy for me. I loved our match tonight. I thought we had a lot of good chances and possessions, plus several shots on goal. »

“I liked what they brought, that’s for sure,” Cheverie said. Boreen adds speed and toughness; This is definitely something that helps with Poulin. »

Catherine Dubois, who also met the media after the match, allowed herself a whole speech about her teammate.

“I’m going to talk about you, okay? “, she said to Boreen before starting off.

“To have him on our team this year is a great gift for us. Sorry, Minnesota, but we’re really happy to have it. […] All the goals she scores, she deserves them all. I think we really have a good future with Abby. »

A good present too, we are tempted to add.