Matchday 04 is in the books, and mes amis, it was not a night for chalk. Upsets crashed through six of our ten games like a puck through thin ice, overtime drama in four contests, a shootout settled one of them, and the fists came out early and often across the league. Buckle in.

PER 1 — MTL 2

The Red Furnace was the setting, and Perth entered as the slight favorite at 1.74 to Montréal's 2.11—a modest edge, but an edge nonetheless. The Pyres couldn't convert it.

The first period was all body work, no scoreboard movement. Zara Patel was everywhere, putting Marc-Antoine Dufresne into the boards at 6:40 and catching Amélie Bouchard moments later. The Maples answered physically with Élodie Gagnon and Sienna Kapoor's Kapoor laying timber of their own, but it stayed 0-0 through twenty.

Montréal broke through just 1:46 into the second—Amélie Bouchard finishing a setup from Sarah-Maude Fortin. The Pyres were handed two power plays courtesy of back-to-back Mia Thornton penalties but couldn't capitalize. The Maples held the one-goal lead into the third despite relentless Perth pressure.

Nate Hargrove changed everything at 3:26 of the third, burying a Jack Mitchell feed to level it. From there it was trench warfare—offsetting penalties, bodies flying—until overtime. Then came the upset-sealer: Jean-René Bergeron, at 14:55 of the extra frame, converting a Dmitri Volkov pass for the game-winner. Montréal steals two points in Perth. Le Hockay est vraiment incroyable.

USH 3 — HAV 4

Down at The South Passage, the odds said this one could go either way—Ushuaia at 1.87, Havana at 1.94. What followed was the kind of chaotic first period that makes broadcasters reach for their coffee. The Undertow went up 2-1 in the opening frame on goals from Agustín Medina and Nicolás Sosa, with the Hammers' Reinier Cruz answering in between. Three goals in twelve minutes, and both benches trading lumber the whole way.

The second period was tighter, a war of attrition in the neutral zone. Orlando Machado tied it at 14:45 with a Claudia Pérez assist, sending the game to the third at 2-2.

Then the third period happened. Quel match! Three goals in seventy-nine seconds—Yarelys González at 11:27, Osmany Leyva at 12:04, and Santiago Figueroa at 12:26—turned a tied game into a 4-3 Havana lead in the blink of an eye. The Undertow couldn't claw back. The final minute devolved gloriously: Luciana Romero and Dayana Rodríguez exchanged a hit, a fight, and matching majors all within three seconds. Havana walks out of Ushuaia with the win and the upset. Yordanis Sánchez's two-assist night was the engine that drove it.

MCM 3 — NRB 2

Out at The Remote Range, the McMurdo Monoliths were installed as heavy favorites at 1.43, and for two and a half periods it looked like the books had it right. Yumi Takeda put the hosts ahead at 14:31 of the first on a power play—a two-man advantage converted with surgical precision, Sven Lindberg with the feed.

The second was scoreless and physical—Lars Henriksen making his presence felt, Nyambura Kamau earning a trip to The Sixth—and McMurdo nursed that lead into the third. Then Nairobi came to life. Priya Anand scored on the power play at 6:54, Moses Okello tied it fifty-four seconds later, and Brian Kipchoge—who'd taken a penalty just moments before—had the audacity to score what looked like the winner at 11:22 to put the Narwhals up 3-2.

But McMurdo had an answer. Chris Elliot—who put up three hits and had been a force all night—batted a puck out of the air at 3:36 of overtime to level things and eventually seal it. Elliot with the overtime hero moment. The Monoliths hold chalk, but they earned every bit of it.

DKR 3 — WPG 2

Sandy Parlor crowd got their money's worth. Winnipeg was the favorite here at 1.63, Dakar the underdog at 2.30—and the Djinns turned it into a brawl and won it in overtime. C'est ce qu'on appelle un retournement de situation!

Brody Flett opened the scoring beautifully at 2:18, assisted by Anna Flett, giving the Wendigos the early lead. Ousmane Diallo answered for Dakar at 9:03. Through sixty minutes this game was as much about The Sixth and the fistfights as it was about the scoresheet. The second period featured two separate fights: Ousmane Diallo dropping them with Anna Flett at 9:23, then Abdoulaye Touré and Nicole Flett going at it at 11:23. Four fighters, ten penalty minutes, scoreboard unchanged.

The third brought power play exchanges—Ibrahima Sarr for Dakar at 1:59, Kaya Bearclaw for Winnipeg at 9:40—and we went to OT tied 2-2. Khady Bâ ended it at 2:38 of the extra period, tucking home a Moussa Ndiaye feed. Anna Flett finished with two assists, three hits, and a fight—the kind of night that doesn't show up cleanly in any stat column but defined this game completely.

ANC 4 — BUS 3

Mon dieu. If you missed this one at The Watch Station, I'm sorry. Anchorage was listed at 3.63—a massive underdog to the Busan Blizzards at 1.29—and the Auroras didn't just win, they led for most of the night.

Kira Naluktaq opened things at 1:13 of the first, top shelf. Busan's Hyun-woo Kwon tied it at 13:08 with a stunning bat-out-of-the-air finish, but Tara Alexie restored the lead eleven seconds later. Eleven seconds. Anchorage came out of the first ahead 2-1.

The second was extraordinary. Three more goals, a fight between So-hee Hwang and Sierra Peters, six penalty minutes handed out. Cody Tulik scored at 0:43, Dong-wook Yoon tied it at 3:17, and then Carlos Medina—who finished with a goal and an assist—put the Auroras back up 4-2 at 11:57.

Busan pushed back in the third, with Hye-jin Choi making it 4-3, and the final minutes became a parade of fights: Naluktaq and Ji-eun Shin, Sang-hoon Bae and Heather Braund, Dong-wook Yoon and Bryce Denison. Three separate confrontations in under four minutes. Anchorage held on. One of the upsets of the young season.

GDL 4 — HEL 3

El Rincón Perdido hosted a game that needed five periods to settle, and even then it took a shootout. The Helsinki Howlers came in as modest favorites at 1.77 to Guadalajara's 2.07—and the Gatos won it, making this another upset on Matchday 04.

The first period set the tone: Erik Johansson opened for Helsinki, Valentina Ramírez equalized for Guadalajara at 12:46. The second period featured Jimena Castillo giving Guadalajara the lead, Saara Virtanen answering on the power play to tie it, and a memorable second-period fight between Johansson and Rodrigo Vargas. Period three saw Mikko Hämäläinen put Helsinki ahead before Mateo Guzmán—physical and relentless all night—tied it at 14:36.

Overtime resolved nothing despite the Gatos pushing. Then Santiago Torres stepped into the shootout spotlight and buried the winner at 3:31. Guadalajara takes two points in a game that had a little bit of everything—goals, fights, lead changes, and a shootout dagger. Magnifique.

STO 4 — SAO 2

The Still Strait hosted the most efficient game of the matchday. Stockholm was the 1.74 favorite and they played like it from the first shift. Filip Nyström scored at 0:28—twenty-eight seconds in, the ink barely dry on the drop of the puck. São Paulo was penalized nine seconds later, and Viktor Hallberg buried the resulting power play at 1:08. Two goals in sixty-eight seconds. The Serpents were already in a hole.

Gustavo Ribeiro got one back for São Paulo at 4:17, but Saga Ekström restored the two-goal cushion at 0:37 of the second. The Serpents could never close the gap again. Oscar Söderström made it 4-1 in the third before Larissa Souza's late power play conversion made it a more respectable 4-2 final.

Lucas Bredberg and Juliana Santos had a dust-up in the third that added some late heat, but Stockholm was in control throughout. A clean, professional win for the Sirens. No upset here—just a favorite doing what favorites are supposed to do.

MUM 3 — PRA 2

The Salt Pavilion crowd was nervous for most of this one, and rightly so. Mumbai was favored at 1.60 over Prague's 2.35, but the Phantoms led for nearly fifty minutes of game time. Jakub Černý opened the scoring at 3:28 of the first—top shelf, assisted by Lucie Šťastná—and Prague's Meera Naik was drawing penalties while the Monsoons struggled to solve their goaltender.

Into the third Mumbai finally woke up. Sanjay Pawar tied it at 1:10, but Pavel Krejčí—who was outstanding, two goals and two hits—restored Prague's lead at 3:14. Then the Monsoons dug deep: Arjun Patil batted a puck out of the air at 10:06 to level it again at 2-2. The third period also saw David Růžička and Ananya Kulkarni trade five-minute majors—and then Kulkarni had the last laugh, scoring the overtime winner at 4:40 off a Rahul Nair feed.

Mumbai finds a way. The favorites survive, but this was anything but easy. Prague will feel hard done by.

VLA 3 — JBG 1

The Last Terminal saw an even matchup on paper—Vladivostok at 1.87, Johannesburg at 1.94—and the Vodkas made sure there was nothing close about the final result. Two quick first-period goals set the tone: Vera Orlova at 3:45, Lindiwe Sithole answering immediately at 4:51. Then with Johannesburg down a player, Tatiana Novikova converted a Maxim Petrov power play feed at 12:47 to make it 2-1.

The second period was scoreless despite sustained physical play from both sides—the Narwhals' Zanele Ndaba and Anastasia Ivanova continuing their personal war that had already erupted into a fight in the first. Vera Orlova added a fight of her own in the second, going with Mandla Zulu.

Olga Smirnova closed the door in the third with a power play goal at 10:48—her second on the night—and that was that. Maxim Petrov's two-assist, one-hit night was the quiet engine of this performance. The Vodkas look like a legitimate team.

RIM 2 — TOK 0

Save one of the best stories for last. The Rimini Rinklers—not expected to win much of anything this season, listed at a towering 3.19 against Tokyo's 1.36—blanked the Titans at The Coastal Pavilion. A shutout. Quel résultat!

It started scrappy: Luca Ferretti and Mei Fujita were fighting before the first period was ninety seconds old. The first period ended goalless despite the fireworks. Alessandro Conti broke the deadlock at 13:04 of the second, batting a Nico De Luca feed out of the air with remarkable composure. Tokyo threw everything at Rimini's net in the third but couldn't solve it. Lorenzo Fabbri sealed the win on a late power play at 14:59—Matteo Galli with the assist—and the Coastal Pavilion erupted.

The Titans were held scoreless for the first time this season. Mio Kobayashi and Francesca Serra fought in the third; it didn't change the outcome. Rimini's goaltender was the story, and their two-goal team effort was one of the genuine surprises of Matchday 04. This league never stops giving.

Six upsets. Four overtime games. One shootout. Twenty-two total fights across the matchday. I've been calling this league for days, and Matchday 04 reminded me why I still lean forward in my chair on every drop of the puck. We'll see you for Matchday 05, mes amis.

—JM Laflèche, Voice of Hockay

Le Council notes that Matchday 04 has concluded. Six results deviated from projected outcomes. This is within the range of acceptable deviation. The standings have been updated. No further commentary is warranted at this time.