Pre-gaming

I wrote the following thoughts down before the match:

• It has been brought to my attention that anglophones don't generally use "match" to talk about hockey games outside of Québec and I'm so sorry if this is news to anyone but I'm way too francophone to care.
• I love the MPP-Roque-Stacey line and want to see it sparkle (see my extremely very normal post above).
• I tried to watch the Frost/Charge game yesterday to see what the Frost vibes are like right now but Canadian media fuckery kept me from checking out the game (see bsky post attached) so I'm hoping the Frost are nice and tired after getting hammered by Ottawa.

• NGL, I’m going into this Frost c. Victoire game worried. I don’t like that the Victoire are on a 3-game-loss-streak. And while they fought like hell and did NOT give the Sirens an easy win on Friday, I’m genuinely a bit worried that the Frost are going to stomp on them. (For context, we were 5th in the standings before our match on Friday, and we're going into this match at 8 out of 8✯, OUCH). As the Frost keeps winning the Cup, they're clearly the team to watch out for.
  • We're a third into the season and February's going to have a lot fewer games because our hockey ladies (and maybe one nonbinary athlete? Unsure if Carly Jackson's going to be picked but who knows, I've often not really understood the choices made by Olympics Canada.) are going to be busy with the whole *gestures vaguely towards Italy* Olympics.
  • BUT, to put things in perspective, there's like... a 4 point difference between the Victoire and the Frost, who are second in the league right now. Anything could happen. This is hockey. Nothing's nailed down until the last possible second.

Also, I got some great answers about ranking percentages on Mastodon, because a bunch of people on Tumblr brought to my attention that the Victoire have in fact played fewer games, our percentage is better than it seems :

✯ I can't even be mad that we slid from 7 on Saturday to 8 on Sunday thanks to the frankly incredible Goldeneyes victory on Saturday night — it was completely jaw-dropping to watch.

LET'S GOOO: Game thoughts!

I was particularly excited to see Ljunblom play, and Giaquinto did really great too. Desbiens back between the pipes also felt good because one issue on Friday was the Victoire's defensive capabilities, and Desbiens is an immensely talented goalie.

If anyone tuned into the great Vancouver-Seattle PWHL game in Detroit on Saturday evening, they might have noticed that one of the TSN (I'm pretty sure?) announcers 1) didn't know any of the players' names and 2) was not really talking about the game at all. I feel like at the very least a hockey announcer needs to know the numbers and last names, and honestly should know the nicknames too!?! Amateur hour, TSN. Take notes from Radio-Canada, they know how to commentate a hockey match.

Seeing the Roque-MPP-Stacey in play had me reacting very normally. As I texted a friend: it's "like they made [Roque] in a lab to break my brain."

I just want to send a great big virtual hug to everyone in the Bell stadium in Laval who booed player 77 aka Curl every time she had the puck, I like that we're all united in our dislike of transphobia, feels fucking good.

Speaking of Stacey...

Unlike the game Friday, the Victoire were having a hard time going on the offensive in periods 1 and 2, and it genuinely seemed like the match was going to be a decisive Frost victory until the last possible second.

But then!!! A goal from MPP!!!

A few more Abby Roque shenanigans:

But it still seemed like the Victoire weren't going to make it (losing 1-2) and then, seconds from the end of third period, Abby Roque scored, bringing us into overtime!!!

And then in OT MPP gave us the winning moment and it was pure magic:

What a game! Broke our loss streak. The season is about a third of the way in, and I think after the disappointment from last Friday, everyone is breathing easier. While the Victoire still has some big problems to solve (namely, 1: we need another line to start getting goals in; 2: we need to start getting the PP/avantage numérique to really work for us) I'm excited for the Victoire's next game against the Vancouver Goldeneyes on the 11th (Sunday).

Before I go, I'm embedding two YouTube clips from the official Victoire Youtube account. The first because I think it does a good job of capturing the games' energy:

And the second clip is the post-game interview, in French and English, with Roque, MPP, and goalie Desbiens:

One thing is for sure, the Olympics are clearly on everyone's minds. (Genuinely disappointed the Canadian Olympic committee is taking FOREVER to announce who is officially going to represent Canada in women's hockey.)