The LPHF had promised to be more severe with head blows and Catherine Dubois learned this the hard way. The Victoire de Montréal forward was suspended for one game on Friday due to an illegal bodycheck.
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At the end of the second period, Monday in a 3-1 win against the Boston Fleet at Place Bell in Laval, Dubois received a five-minute major penalty for contact to the head and extreme game misconduct following a video review by the referees.
The Player Safety Committee of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF) ruled that the 29-year-old Quebecer had reached Megan Keller with “significant force and speed in the opposite direction”. The head of the Boston defender, who was looking at the puck while leaving her defensive zone, was “the main point of contact, which could have been avoided”.
A few moments earlier, the native of the district of Charlesbourg, in Quebec, had been punished for hanging. But she had not served the entire two minutes, since her teammate Kristin O’Neill had scored shorthanded, thus allowing Dubois to leave the penalty box prematurely, according to LPHF regulations.
Absent Sunday
For this first suspension, the author of an assist in five duels this season will miss the first part of a trip to NHL amphitheaters in the west for the Victory.
Marie-Philip Poulin’s gang will try to extend their streak of four triumphs by facing the Fleet at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Sunday.
Then, Montreal will play against the Toronto Scepters in Vancouver on Wednesday, before facing the Minnesota Frost on Sunday, January 12 in Denver.
Head coach Kori Cheverie’s squad will then return home on Friday, January 17 to host the Frost, two days before crossing swords with the Ottawa Charge at the Videotron Center in Quebec.
