montrealgazette.com
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Going to a Montreal Victoire game is like walking into an alternate hockey universe.
The first thing you notice is that there are way more women than men in the stands. There is also a strong presence of the LGBTQ+ community, with many female couples. Of course there are loads of men too, but it’s impossible not to note the gender difference compared to the crowd at a Canadiens game at the Bell Centre.
But it’s more than that. There was a sense of community at Place Bell Tuesday night for the Victoire’s Professional Women’s Hockey League home opener that you just don’t feel at National Hockey League games. The PWHL, now in its third season, is the most solid, best-financed women’s pro hockey league ever, created by American billionaire Mark Walter. For the first time, the players are being properly paid. They’re not making NHL money by any stretch, but they’re making a living, which is a new concept for female hockey players.
The game experience still has a down-home feel to it. Partly it’s because it’s a smaller rink. Place Bell has a capacity of 10,000 and there were 8,392 people there Monday for Montreal’s dominant 4-0 victory, pun intended, over the New York Sirens.
There’s just a different vibe. Of course the atmosphere can be electric at an exciting Habs game, but the crowd Tuesday was whooping it up early in the first, cheering wildly for even the slightest hint of rush from the Victoire players.
And the reaction to the player introductions was off the charts and positively stratospheric for the last player to come to centre ice, captain Marie-Philip Poulin. The place just erupted in the third period when forward Abby Roque, acquired during the off-season from the New York Sirens, scored a stunner of a goal on a breakaway against her former team, putting the puck in with a eye-catching shot from between her legs.
The fans proudly wear PWHL and Victoire merchandise and I’d say nine out of 10 jerseys feature the number 29 and Poulin’s name.
Wendy and Heidi Johnston, a married couple from the Kennebunk area of Maine, were both wearing Poulin jerseys Tuesday. They have season tickets and come to all the home games. They have a pied-à-terre in Brossard and in fact, they say they don’t like what’s happening politically in the U.S. and are hoping to eventually move up to Canada.
Heidi said she began following the career of Poulin — or “Pou” as Heidi and many others call her — over a decade back after she saw the player from Quebec City in a Gatorade commercial.
“And it led to the PWHL and La Victoire,” said Heidi. “It was a matter of time. They just needed the funding to get it to this level.”
They say they used to follow men’s hockey because women’s hockey wasn’t so available before the PWHL. They were Boston Bruins fans!
They just love that now women’s hockey is in the mainstream.
“A lot of us really didn’t have the opportunity to play,” said Wendy. “If you could play, it was on a boys’ team. Now there’s a different dream for girls from a young age.”
They play old-timers beer-league hockey themselves.
Daniel Rollin got into the Victoire via his wife but he’s come to love it too. He used to be a Habs fan …
“I think I have a better show for my buck,” said Rollin. “It’s a lot less expensive and I have a great show. Everybody’s nice. The atmosphere is nice.”
He and his wife also have season tickets and they pay $1,200 for 15 games with great seats in the fourth row.
Zoe Hurtado was there with her six-year-old son Luca Mercier and she said “I love that we can promote female sports and that there’s now a female league for women to excel in. And I love for my son to have female role models in the world of sports.”
Mercier said he’s more a fan of the Victoire than the Canadiens.
Hélène Vidal and her 12-year-old daughter Clemence only arrived here from France four years ago but Clemence immediately fell in love with hockey and she started playing goalie with the local team. Naturally Clemence’s favourite player is Victoire goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens.
“The ambience here is extraordinary,” said Hélène. “The women on the team really sparkle. They have real pep.”
Isabelle Éthier, who covers women’s hockey for her podcast
Isa, Femme de sports
, said the success of La Victoire is partly about the proximity between the players and the public.
“There’s a real sense of community,” said Éthier, who was in the press gallery Monday. “And people really want to show off their team colours. People really feel part of the team.”
Virginia Champoux figures she has missed maybe one game in the first three seasons of the Victoire.
“I’m 56 years old and I was never into hockey until there was women’s hockey because I never connected to it,” said Champoux. “To sit in this room, with all these women, all these athletes, it’s life-changing. I love it. I love taking my daughters. This is next level. I pay for TSN just to watch the away games. I’ve never paid for sports in my life. Someone said women only feel safe in certain spaces and this is so safe. There’s an energy here I can’t explain.”
bkelly@postmedia.com
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