All-Montreal Victoire line in the spotlight for Canada at women's hockey worlds

Karissa Donkin · CBC Sports

· Posted: Apr 16, 2025 3:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

It took lone six minutes into the archetypal play of Canada's archetypal preliminary-round crippled astatine the women's satellite title for the archetypal enactment to strike.

The rookie, Jennifer Gardiner, scored her archetypal vocation world-championship extremity against Finland, acknowledgment successful portion to a secondary assistance from her linemate and captain, Marie-Philip Poulin.

Veteran guardant Laura Stacey completes the all-Montreal Victoire archetypal line, which has been Canada's champion truthful acold aft 4 games. Gardiner and Stacey person each recorded 5 points, portion Poulin leads each forwards astatine the tourney with 8 points.

They'll instrumentality connected Japan successful the quarterfinals connected Thursday astatine 2:30 p.m. ET successful České Budějovice, the Czech Republic metropolis hosting this year's tournament.

"They're a amusive enactment to watch, not a amusive enactment to play against," Boston Fleet guardant Jill Saulnier, who won Olympic golden alongside Stacey and Poulin successful 2022, told CBC Sports' Hockey North this week. "They're evidently beauteous skilled, a beauteous heavy group. Great people. It ever comes backmost to that."

While the main extremity astatine the tourney is triumph a satellite title for a 2nd consecutive year, it's besides the past accidental to trial imaginable enactment combinations successful a tourney format up of the Olympics adjacent February. Twenty 5 players are wearing the reddish and achromatic successful the Czech Republic, but lone 23 volition spell to Italy for the Olympics.

But it was hard to disregard the magic betwixt Gardiner, Poulin and Stacey erstwhile the trio person played unneurotic for the PWHL-leading Victoire. Poulin leads the Victoire successful points (23) followed by Stacey (20) and Gardiner (16).

"They person a small spot of everything," Canadian caput manager Troy Ryan told The Canadian Press past week.

"Stacy and Pou are going to person immoderate conscionable earthy chemistry, Stacey [is] idiosyncratic who volition beryllium archetypal connected pucks ... likes to instrumentality pucks beneath the extremity line. Pou, the mode she thinks the crippled is adjacent level, tin decorativeness arsenic bully arsenic anybody. Gardiner is simply a bully premix of a small spot vigor and a small spot of youthfulness, but capable accomplishment arsenic well."

Surrounding Poulin with her Victoire linemates besides frees up Fillier to play connected a skilled 2nd enactment with Sarah Nurse and Daryl Watts, the Toronto Sceptres guardant who has recorded 2 goals successful her archetypal elder nationalist squad tournament.

Speed and skill

Stacey has played connected the nationalist squad roster with Poulin for respective years, but often lined up successful a bottommost six, vigor benignant of role. For a while, she was portion of a 3rd enactment with Emily Clark and Blayre Turnbull that could bash a small spot of everything, connected apical of being annoying to play against.

But Stacey's crippled has grown importantly implicit the past mates of years.

Then, successful the PWHL, she tied for 5th successful league extremity scoring (with Poulin and Watts) past play portion playing successful each situations for Montreal. She's been a staple connected the Montreal powerfulness play, but her size, scope and velocity besides assistance her thrive successful a shutdown role.

Stacey scored the lone extremity for Canada successful a 2-1 preliminary-round nonaccomplishment to the United States connected Sunday, cashing successful connected her 2nd breakaway of the game.

Saulnier has played with oregon against Stacey for astir 2 decades, opening successful inferior hockey successful Ontario, continuing done the Canadian Women's Hockey League and the Canadian nationalist team, and into the PWHL

Watching Stacey's progression implicit that clip has been "outstanding" some arsenic a teammate and arsenic a person — Saulnier was portion of the wedding enactment astatine Poulin and Stacey's wedding past summer.

"It's been an honour arsenic a person of hers to conscionable ticker her thrive," Saulnier said astir Stacey. "That's each you privation for your friends successful athletics is to conscionable to spot them propulsion retired the champion mentation of themselves, and I deliberation that's what the satellite is seeing of her close now."

The rookie

Gardiner, meanwhile, has instantly clicked alongside Poulin successful her rookie pro season. The skipper has praised her young teammate's vision, velocity and changeable arsenic she's watched her summation assurance and an accidental connected the nationalist team.

The 23-year-old from Surrey, B.C. was connected the cusp of making past year's world-championship team, and had been identified arsenic 1 of the adjacent players up connected Team Canada.

"Her play and her play each play agelong successful the PWHL showed that she's acceptable for the situation of playing connected the planetary stage," Canada's GM Gina Kingsbury told CBC Sports earlier the satellite title began.

Poulin, meanwhile, is playing successful her 13th satellite title and proving she's inactive the champion subordinate successful the world, whether it's scoring goals erstwhile Canada needs them, blocking a important changeable oregon winning battles on the boards.

She goes into the quarterfinals conscionable 2 points shy of the Canadian satellite title vocation points grounds held by Hayley Wickenheiser (86), 3 assists distant from Wickenheiser's Canadian assistance grounds (49) and 2 goals from passing Jayna Hefford arsenic the apical Canadian extremity scorer astatine the tourney (40).

All of which Poulin downplayed to The Canadian Press.

"I don't attraction astir idiosyncratic [records] astatine all," Poulin said. "I truly don't care."

Knowing who Poulin could play with could mean 1 little hard determination for Kingsbury, Ryan and the remainder of the unit to marque up of 2026.

"Just having those other reps successful practice, I consciousness similar it helps knowing wherever they're going to be, what they're going to do, what they similar to do, and benignant of wherever we each excel," Stacey told The Canadian Press astir Gardiner and Poulin.

"If I tin get the 2 of them the puck connected the forecheck, they tin enactment the puck successful rather well."

The victor betwixt Canada and Japan volition determination connected to the semifinals connected Saturday.

The gold-medal crippled is acceptable for Sunday astatine 12 p.m. ET.