OTTAWA 鈥� Montreal鈥檚 Ann-Sophie Bettez will be remembered for scoring the overtime goal in Montreal鈥檚 3-2 win over Ottawa Tuesday night in the inaugural game for both Professional Women鈥檚 Hockey League teams.
But there was no loser on this night.
With 8,318 fans on hand the game set a new record for attendance for professional women鈥檚 hockey.
Fans were treated to physical, fast-paced hockey from beginning to end and were part of history as the PWHL played just its second game and first in Ottawa at TD Place.
鈥淚 think you would be remiss to walk into an evening like tonight and be worried about the scoreboard,鈥� said Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod. 鈥淵ou know we talked about that in the pre-game. It wasn鈥檛 going to be about the result tonight, it was going to be about the experience tonight.鈥�
Bettez scored 64 seconds into overtime and the veteran player admitted it ranks pretty high on her highlight list.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely at the top part of my career goals,鈥� admitted Bettez. 鈥淚鈥檓 closer to the end of my career and with each moment I can鈥檛 help but wonder if it鈥檚 my last or if there will be others, so I try to appreciate each one as if it were my last.鈥�
Claire Dalton and Laura Stacey also scored for Montreal. Ann-Ren茅e Desbiens was solid turning away 26 shots.
Katerina Mr谩zov谩 and Hayley Scamurra scored for Ottawa. Emerance Maschmeyer stopped 19 shots, including a penalty shot.
Desbiens was the difference for Montreal in the opening period when Ottawa had three power-play chances, but were unable to capitalize.
鈥淥ttawa had a good start and had the fans behind them and my job was just to try and settle things down and give confidence to my team,鈥� said Desbiens. 鈥淭he fact we were able to go into intermission 0-0 allowed us to say we hadn鈥檛 played our best period, but if we played better we had a chance to win the game.鈥�
Marie-Philip Poulin had a great chance to open the scoring for Montreal when she was awarded a penalty shot at 7:52, but Maschmeyer denied her the five-hole.
It was a rare moment to hear Poulin 小蓝视频 booed on Canadian ice, but Ottawa fans were clear about where their loyalties.
Ottawa had a goal called off at 11:21 when Mikyla Grant-Mentis鈥� goal was deemed to have gone in under the net.
Fans finally got to witness history when Scamurra scored a power-play goal at 16:23.
The 29-year-old Scamurra took a pass from Zoe Boyd and went bar down to beat Desbiens, but just over a minute later Montreal tied the game when Dalton got a shot through traffic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 up there for me,鈥� said an emotional Scamurra. 鈥淭o be able to score the first goal for this franchise is an absolute honour and grateful to play alongside good players here who helped set me up.鈥�
With the game tied 1-1 Mr谩zov谩 got a rebound at the side of the net and made no mistake to give Ottawa the lead at 5:16 of the third.
Montreal鈥檚 Stacey tied the game at 14:22 when she was able to settle a bouncing puck and send it over Maschmeyer鈥檚 shoulder.
Montreal improved as the game went on and coach Kori Cheverie said this will be something the team will be able to build off moving forward.
鈥淲e definitely built every single period with our third 小蓝视频 our best,鈥� said Cheverie. 鈥淲e knew there was going to be some nerves heading into it and we tried to manage that as best we could, but at the same time it鈥檚 something our players need to go through because we have 23 more of these.鈥�
NOTES
U.S. ambassador David Cohen and Japanese ambassador Kanji Yamanouchi were on hand for the game.
UP NEXT
Ottawa: Plays in Boston on Jan. 8.
Montreal: Head to Minnesota for a game on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan 02, 2024.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
