The Montréal Victoire are the 2026 Walter Cup Champions after defeating the Ottawa Charge 4-0 on Wednesday (May 20) and winning the best-of-five series 3-1.
Abby Roque opened up the scoring in the second period, assisted by Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey. Roque scored again, a jailbreak goal, in the third period, breaking the captain, Poulin, out of the penalty box. This rule is unique to the PWHL and only applies to minor penalties.
Poulin later said during the media availability, “That jailbreak goal was unbelievable. Honestly, I think I peed a little in the penalty box. I was so excited.”
Maggie Flaherty and Lina Ljungblom also scored for Montreal in the third. Flaherty is the first three-time Walter Cup champion in the league.
The PWHL Ilana Kloss playoff MVP trophy was presented to Montreal’s captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, the most valuable player of the playoffs.
The Charge hosted game four of the all-Canadian final at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario, in front of 12,362 fans.
The crowd erupted when Poulin hoisted the cup. She passed it off to goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, whose shutout performance helped secure Montreal’s victory.
ALLEZ VICTOIRE
pic.twitter.com/9mSMAinH25
— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) May 21, 2026
Poulin told a PWHL reporter after the game that Desbiens should have won the MVP award, as viewers could see Poulin shaking her head and pointing at Desbiens as the award was announced.
“She was our brick wall all year long, but honestly, in the playoffs again, she did some stuff that we didn’t know was possible, and honestly, she’s an MVP,” she said.
Poulin added that it felt “quite good” to win the cup after all the ups and downs they had gone through this season.
“It hasn’t been easy—injuries, sickness, a lot of things—but we stuck together. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy in this building when we showed up today, but we remained patient with our game,” she said.
Montréal Head Coach Kori Cheverie, “I tried to live through every moment. There were highs, there were lows, and we were able to kind of get through all of those adversity moments as a team. Whatever team we had on the ice was a team we were able to win with, so it’s been absolutely amazing with this group.”
This is the first time a female head coach has won the Walter Cup.
This is the first time the Walter Cup has come to Canada, with the Minnesota Frost winning the cup the past two seasons.
The Walter Cup was made in partnership with Tiffany & Co.
Ottawa Head Coach Carla MacLeod said, “You wish a better ending for the group, just because they’re such a special team. But I can tell you the biggest emotion I have right now is pride. I’m very, very proud of them.”
The PWHL returns next season, but with four expansion teams joining the league alongside the original six and the 2025-2026 two expansion teams.
Rapper Flavor Flav invited the Montreal Victoire to the “She Weekend” in Las Vegas. The weekend, July 16- 19th, began as a way to celebrate Team USA female athletes who competed in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.
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.