OTTAWA — Montreal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin held the Walter Cup over her head with a massive smile on her face and a championship ball cap on her head as confetti exploded behind her, and history was made on Wednesday night.
Montreal is the first-ever Canadian winner of the PWHL title.
The Victoire closed out the five-game series in four against the Ottawa Charge with a 4-0 win at Canadian Tire Centre, paced by two goals from Abby Roque, including a highlight reel short-hander with 10:02 to go that saw Roque out-skate a pair of Charge defenders and roof a backhand before dropping down on one knee for an impassioned fist-pump.
Poulin was in the penalty box on Roque’s second goal, and as per the PWHL’s jailbreak rule, the Victoire captain got to leave early — with 13 seconds remaining — and she came out and wrapped Roque in a giant hug.
Roque and Poulin each recorded eight points in the post-season, leading all players.
Maggie Flaherty made it 3-0 for Montreal with just over six minutes to go, and Lina Ljungblom piled on less than two minutes later with an unassisted effort as the team registered its most definitive win of the series following three straight games that were decided by a single goal.
Victoire players were jumping and hugging on the bench after Ljungblom’s goal, with just over four minutes remaining in the game. They jumped as the seconds ticked down, then threw their gloves and sticks in the air and skated toward their goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, who made 23 saves to record the shutout.
When it was over, Poulin and Laura Stacey shared a hug, and Poulin had tears in her eyes. Not long after, Poulin was awarded the Ilana Kloss playoffs MVP award.
In Game 4, Poulin assisted the game-winner, which came 3:49 into the second period thanks to a lucky deflection from Roque, who scored the game-winner in the series opener — with her face. This time, Poulin dropped the puck for Roque, who fired it on net and saw it go in off Charge defender Rory Guilday’s stick, under the pads of Gwyneth Philips.
Poulin was charging toward the net and threw her arms in the air when she saw Roque’s shot go in. It was Roque’s third goal of the series.
Ottawa couldn’t manufacture much against Montreal on Wednesday. Winger Sarah Wozniewicz hit the inside of the post in the second period, Emily Clark used her speed to generate a chance in close alone, and Charge captain Brianne Jenner had a chance in close on the power play, but Desbiens made the pad save. That’s as close as the Charge got.
With the league championship win, Poulin, 35, adds to her incomparable legacy as the first Canadian captain to hoist the Walter Cup over her head, adding to a resume that already included game-winning goals in three Olympic gold medals, which puts Poulin in a category all her own.
She scored two game-winners in the semifinals series and authored the game-winning assists in Games 2 and 4, and she did it all while playing hobbled by a lower-body injury that saw her wincing in pain at times on the bench. She missed 10 games at the end of the season after hurting the same knee she injured at the Olympics, and returned for the regular season finale, just in time for the playoffs, though far from 100 per cent.
Poulin was named the best forward and became the all-time leading scorer in women’s hockey history at the 2026 Olympics; she was IIHF Player of the Year in 2025, and last season the PWHL MVP after leading the league in goals and points.
And now, in the third year in PWHL history, Poulin is a league champion. She was twice at the pro level in the now-defunct CWHL, which also featured best-on-best. The difference this time is Poulin stars in the most visible and successful of any pro women’s hockey league in existence, a league that’s expanding from eight to twelve teams for its fourth season, and at a time when women’s sports are getting more of the investment and shine it has long deserved than ever.
While the Victoire celebrated at one end of the ice on Wednesday night, Charge players looked down at the ice, defeated. Forward Emily Clark was in tears.
Before the Charge players left the ice, they raised their sticks in the air and got a loud ovation from the more than 12,000 fans in attendance as they thanked their fanbase.