Montreal’s season ended on Tuesday night in Boston losing another game in overtime as the visitors were sent packing while the home team booked a spot in the PWHL Walter Cup Final.
On Tuesday night at the Tsongas Center in Lowell Massachusetts, Montreal lost 3-2 to Boston once again in overtime ending their season in the semi-finals.
“I am just trying to process everything,” Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie told the media post-game. “I think it is important that our team knows how well they played the last three games and it’s okay to feel the emotion and it’s important to feel the emotion right now.”
It was an all too familiar story with Montreal running into a brick wall called Aerin Frankel while a lack of offense seemed to rear its ugly head and a lack of depth that couldn’t push them through to the finals.
“I don’t think too much happened,” Cheverie added. “If I am replaying the goals back there is maybe an over-commitment and not much there.”
Montreal once again got off to a better start and with 4:21 remaining in the opening frame they got the first goal of the contest when Mikayla Grant Mentis from behind the net won a puck battle on the board and found Marie Phillip Poulin who was able to beat Frankel with a quick shot.
“We played 12 periods against them and I would say we outplayed them for 10.”
Montreal once again finished the first period outshooting Boston 15-4 in another common theme of the series where Montreal outshot their opponents in every game of the series.
“We accomplished a lot this year and we didn’t accomplish the main goal of winning the whole thing ultimately the game is not won or lost in the third game of yet another overtime period and I think there is a lot to look back on and reflect and be proud of.”
Maureen Murphy doubled Montreal’s lead late in the second period with her team on the powerplay which started to click at the right time as she was able to tip a puck off a shot from Erin Ambrose and was able to beat Frankel five hole.
“We are pretty devastated,” Ann Renee Desbiens said after making 21 saves in the loss. “We played well for the majority of the series but we didn’t get the bounces we wanted.”
In an all too familiar story Montreal entered a third period up 2-0 and Boston pushed for a comeback in the final frame with Sophie Shirley getting her team within one eight minutes in when she drove to the net and was able to beat Desbiens five-hole.
“We are going home,” Desbiens added. “Our offseason begins and we will be back next season.”
Boston tied the game with 3:43 left in regulation while on the penalty kill when Amanda Pelkey scored a jailbreak goal as she flew past both Montreal defensemen and went in on a breakaway and beat Desbiens on her blocker side.
“We primarily went with three lines,” Cheverie said. “We spotted in the fourth and trying to win games and putting players in the right positions to score or defend.”
As opposed to Thursday night which took almost three extra periods of hockey this overtime period only lasted one minute and two seconds as Susana Tapani who scored the winner in game one found herself on a two-on-one and was able to score on the rebound shot to seal the series and send Boston to the finals.
“I don’t think we were tired,” Desbiens responded when asked about the level of fatigue. “I think we did a good job of bouncing back and we had an excellent first and second period and I felt maybe we tried too hard in the third period and maybe it cost us the game and I am proud of what my teammates accomplished.”
Sarah Lefort who was suspended for game one was also very emotional and spoke about how proud she was to play for Montreal in her home province.
“I am extremely proud to play for Montreal,” she said. “It’s an incredible hockey city with the best fans and I am proud of this team and I think we put out a great product on the ice all season long and unfortunately it’s not the result we wanted.”
Kori Cheverie was asked to reflect on the season and she said it was one incredible ride to make it this far despite the loss tonight.
“It’s been a pretty cool season,” she answered. “To be able to be in Verdun and Place Bell and the Bell Centre and I can’t thank the fans enough for supporting us all the way through and we do have the loudest building in the league and I couldn’t be more proud and being part of this team was special.”
Desbiens was also asked to reflect on the inaugural season in the PWHL and she agreed it was pretty special and memorable to be a part of it.
“It’s different because you go through a season with the same team and it was an inaugural season and there were ups and downs and we had successes and things we need to work on and we will take the time to reflect on it and we will continue to work on it for the next season.”
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