Goaltenders for the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Montréal Victoire were on fire Wednesday night (April 1), stopping most or all of the shots on goal.
Hayley Scamurra of the Victoire got one past Goldeneyes goalie Emerance Maschmeyer to secure the win, while Ann-Renée Desbiens had her sixth shutout of the season. The Victoire went on to defeat the Goldeneyes 3-0. The two other Victoire goals were empty net goals.
Desbiens stopped 18 of 18 shots on net while Maschmeyer saved 25 of 26.
Goldeneyes alternate captain Sarah Nurse said, “I think we could have done a better job of getting in front of Ann-Renée [Desbiens] for sure. You pre-scout a very good goalie and some keys to success are definitely taking away their eyes and creating havoc at the net. I think that’s something that we need to do a better job of. I don’t think we gave a lot up in the first two periods, which I was very proud of. And then coming into the third, it’s obviously disappointing when that one goal is the goal, I think that was a little frustrating coming out of that game.”
Montreal hosted Vancouver at the Place Bell in Laval Quebec on Wednesday (April 1) in front of 9,176 people.
The Montréal Victoire is the second team to clinch a spot in the 2026 PWHL Walter Cup Playoffs. Montreal is currently in second place with 49 points.
Montréal alternate captain Laura Stacey on everyone stepping up during captain Marie-Philip Poulin’s absence, “She’s a huge loss and she is irreplaceable. That being said, I don’t think there is any more pressure. It’s a team sport, and all of us want to stand up and make her proud, make each other proud. We want to score, we want to put pucks on the net, and at the end of the day, we just want to win hockey games. What we can do is show up and find a way to be the best version of us every night, and if you do that, that void gets a little smaller.”
Vancouver is currently in 7th with 27 points.
Vancouver travels to Minnesota to play the Frost on Saturday at 11 a.m. PT.
About the Author: Anna Burns
I cover breaking news, health care, court, Vancouver Rise FC, Vancouver Goldeneyes and social issues-related topics for the Surrey Now-Leader. anna.burns@surreynowleader.com Follow Anna on Twitter.