Matchday Recap: S01D05
Matchday 05 delivered the kind of Sunday that reminds you why you fell in love with this game. We had dominant shutouts, a pair of stunning upsets, a brawl-fest in Prague that had everyone checking the rulebook, and one player in Busan who simply could not be stopped. Attachez vos tuques!
MTL 2 — USH 0
The Oldest Rink was humming on home ice for the Montréal Maples, who shut out the Ushuaia Undertow in a game that was far more physical than the final score suggests. Twenty-five hits across sixty minutes tells you everything about the tone.
The Maples drew first blood early in the first, Élodie Gagnon converting at 8:45 with an assist from Jean-François Tremblay—and that goal proved to be the fortress Montréal spent the next forty minutes defending. Gagnon was everywhere: three hits, a goal, and the kind of competitive edge that makes life miserable for opposing forwards.
The second period was a war. Martina Vega and Marc-Antoine Dufresne squared off at 6:56 following a sequence of heavy hits, and barely six minutes later Camila Aguirre and Philippe Dubois dropped the mitts. The Undertow had the physicality to compete, but the Maples bent without breaking.
Dufresne—who'd spent five minutes in The Sixth for his earlier scrap—came back out in the third and buried the insurance goal at 8:07, again fed by Tremblay, who quietly posted a two-assist night without ever appearing on the highlight reel. That's the kind of player you win with. Tremblay ran the show, and Montréal ran the Undertow right out of The Oldest Rink.
NRB 1 — PER 2
At The Ochre Reserve, the Perth Pyres came in as modest favorites at 1.70 and made that number look sensible, taking a 1–2 lead in the second period and holding off the Nairobi Narwhals for the regulation win. This was a tight, tactical game with an empty first period—not a single goal through fifteen minutes—before the second erupted with all three tallies.
Liam O'Brien got things moving at 2:07, burying a nice setup from Eliza Cartwright to put Perth up early. The Narwhals responded quickly. After Zara Patel and Amara Osei sorted out their differences the old-fashioned way at 5:03, Moses Okello answered for Nairobi at 7:03—a goal assisted by Kevin Otieno that brought the crowd right back into it.
The decisive blow came at 13:43 when Callum Reeves batted one out of the air—and what a moment that was—on a feed from Sienna Kapoor, who'd been one of Perth's most effective physical presences all night. That's your 2–1 lead, and the Pyres took it home.
The third period was all checking and penalty kill—Peter Kimani went to The Sixth early, and Nairobi pressed, but Perth's defensive structure held firm. A professional road win for the Pyres.
HAV 4 — DKR 1
Quel match! The Havana Hammers welcomed the Dakar Djinns to The Rhythm Bureau and put on a clinic, winning 4–1 in what the odds compilers apparently didn't see coming. At 1.87 away and 1.94 home, this was essentially a coin flip—and Havana called it correctly from the opening drop. That qualifies as an upset, and the Hammers earned every bit of it.
Lázaro Valdés lit the lamp at 1:43—barely ninety seconds in—and set the tone for the entire evening. Havana never trailed. Claudia Pérez doubled the lead before the one-minute mark of the second, and Yarelys González made it 3–0 at 5:38 on a finish from Dayana Rodríguez's feed. The Djinns tried to respond physically: Ousmane Diallo hammered Pérez twice and eventually got into a fight with her at 6:19, but matching majors just drained Dakar's momentum further.
Mailén Domínguez added the fourth in the third—batting it out of the air in spectacular fashion at 5:10—before Moussa Ndiaye provided a consolation marker at 14:04, scoring just seconds after returning from The Sixth. Poetic, but meaningless in the standings. González and Domínguez each posted a goal and an assist. The Rhythm Bureau was loud all night, and justifiably so.
BUS 6 — MCM 2
C'est incroyable. We thought The McMurdo Monoliths were simply invincible. With their perfect record so far, they came into The Frozen Dock as significant favorites at 1.52—Busan was a 2.54 longshot—and left with a 6–2 shellacking tattooed on their record. This was a statement performance, and at the center of it was Soo-yeon Park, who was simply unstoppable from the first puck drop.
Park scored thirty-three seconds in. She scored again at 13:21 of the first. She scored on the power play at 2:14 of the second. She scored at 6:56 of the third. Four goals. On the night the favored Monoliths came to town. Min-jun Lee was the engine behind the offense, posting two assists and delivering two significant hits, while Hyun-woo Kwon also finished with two helpers.
The Monoliths' Tobias Frey had a complicated night—fighting Eun-bi Han in the second, then somehow potting a goal and an assist in the third alongside Amira Hassan—but by then the game was a formality at 5–0. Frey's late contributions gave the scoreline a semblance of respectability, but the Blizzards were never threatened. The Frozen Dock had itself a night.
WPG 4 — GDL 1
The Cold Lodge was buzzing, and the Winnipeg Wendigos delivered a gritty, earned 4–1 victory over the Guadalajara Gatos—a result that fell in line with Winnipeg's 1.60 home-favorite status, but the Gatos certainly made it a battle before the third period unraveled on them.
The first period was scoreless and physical, with bodies flying and Dylan Fife picking up an early penalty. The second remained tight until Brody Flett banged one top shelf at 8:38 on a beautiful feed from Kaya Bearclaw—but the Gatos' push back was fierce. Nicole Flett and Daniela Salazar had already exchanged punches at 7:40, and barely two minutes later Sofía Navarro and Brendan Fehr went at it. Three fights on the night in total; the Gatos weren't going quietly.
But the third period belonged to Winnipeg. Nicole Flett—who'd served her five for the earlier bout—came back and scored twice, including a spectacular bat off the air at 10:53. Diego Hernández and Dylan Fife (a power play marker at 7:50) rounded out the scoring. Nicole Flett's two-goal, one-fight night is the kind of performance Wendigos fans will be talking about for weeks. Belle soirée à The Cold Lodge.
SAO 3 — ANC 1
Down at The Green Canopy, the São Paulo Serpents handled the Anchorage Auroras methodically, 3–1, in a game that never really felt in doubt after Thiago Pereira's gorgeous opener just two minutes in. Favored at 1.59, the Serpents were as advertised.
Pereira got the party started at 2:06, assisted by Juliana Santos, and the Serpents controlled the frame despite a flurry of Anchorage hits—Heather Braund leveled Pereira himself at 7:01, reminding São Paulo the road wouldn't be smooth. Three penalties were assessed in the first alone, giving the game a frantic undertone.
The second period had everything. Felipe Carvalho threw down with Sierra Peters at 1:11, and while both sat for five, the Serpents came out of it better—Gabriel Rodrigues burying a power play goal at 1:42 on the leftover advantage. Paige Riordan answered for Anchorage on a man advantage of their own at 6:41, but Pereira had the last word, ripping home his second of the game at 13:53 to make it 3–1.
The third period featured six penalties but no goals. Pereira finished with two goals, Rodrigues added one, and Larissa Souza and Gustavo Ribeiro each posted assists. The Green Canopy sent the crowd home happy.
HEL 3 — MUM 1
Another upset to file away from Matchday 05. The Mumbai Monsoons came into The Dark Sauna as 1.73 favorites against the Helsinki Howlers—and left with a 3–1 loss. The Howlers were the better team on the night, and the result was fair.
Erik Johansson opened the scoring at 8:00 of the first with a nice finish set up by Petteri Salonen, and the Howlers' suffocating defensive structure kept the Monsoons from answering through the frame. Niko Mäkelä was a force physically, landing two open-ice hits on Vikram Joshi before the period ended.
The second is where Helsinki took control. After Pooja Verma and Elina Heikkinen traded blows at 4:47, the Howlers went to work on the power play—Saara Virtanen burying the chance at 6:37 on a Johansson feed. Mikko Hämäläinen made it 3–0 at 9:37, assisted by Virtanen, who continues to be a two-way force on this roster. Kiran Bhatt got one back for Mumbai at 11:15—a well-taken goal—but it was too little, too late.
The third was quiet and controlled, the Howlers content to protect what they had. Virtanen's goal-and-assist, Johansson's goal-and-assist, and Hämäläinen's goal tell you everything about where Helsinki's offense came from tonight.
JBG 2 — STO 3
This one had a pulse right to the final horn. The Stockholm Sirens came into Die Goue Myn as 1.71 favorites and looked every bit as dangerous, building a 0–2 lead through forty minutes before Johannesburg nearly stole it in the third. Nearly.
Hugo Wikström ran the show for Stockholm from the start—scoring at 12:04 of the first on a Klara Åström assist, then setting up a late banger from Oscar Söderström at 14:59 to make it 2–0. The Jaguars couldn't find an answer through the first two periods despite competing physically; the second was scoreless and grinding, with Åström continuing her bruising work on Lerato Dlamini.
But the third—mon dieu. Thabo Mokoena got Johannesburg on the board at 5:21. Mandla Zulu made it 2–2 at 9:00. The crowd was alive, Die Goue Myn shaking. And then Wikström—who finished with four hits on the night to go alongside his two goals—slammed the door at 11:01, burying the Åström feed to restore the lead for good. The Jaguars threw everything at Stockholm in the final four minutes but couldn't convert. Wikström: two goals, four hits, a complete performance.
PRA 4 — RIM 0
If you wanted a masterclass in controlled violence and clinical finishing, The Stone Opera was your destination tonight. The Prague Phantoms blanked the Rimini Rinklers 4–0 as expected—Prague were favored at 1.46—but nobody expected seven fights along the way. Sept bagarres! This was a war with a scoreboard.
The first period set the tone immediately. Before the puck had been in play ninety seconds, Lorenzo Fabbri was already heading to The Sixth. Then Nico De Luca and Eliška Veselá were exchanging blows at 2:25. Despite the chaos, the Phantoms stayed focused—Adam Fiala scoring on the power play at 7:32 (assisted by Markéta Polák) and Lucie Šťastná adding a second at 10:08.
The second was scoreless but contained two more fights—Veselá again (this time against Matteo Galli at 3:35) and then Alessandro Conti and Kateřina Dvořáková at 9:48. Prague was absorbing the storm.
The third brought three more fights—Polák/Serra, Ondřej Marek/Davide Marchetti, and Elena Moretti going twice at Pavel Krejčí (including a last-second rematch at 14:59)—but the Phantoms scored twice more through the carnage: Jakub Černý on the power play at 5:20 and David Růžička at 12:22. Polák was extraordinary with two assists, two hits, and the toughness to step into a fight in the third period without losing focus on her playmaking responsibilities.
TOK 6 — VLA 0
Save the best for last. Or the most dominant, anyway. The Tokyo Titans lit up The Neon Crossing with a 6–0 dismantling of the Vladivostok Vodkas—and here's the kicker: Tokyo was listed at 2.01 against a Vladivostok side sitting at 1.81. The Vodkas were the favorites. You'd never know it from the scoreline. After a challenging first few days, it seems the Titans are finding their footing (and it is Kaiju-sized).
Yūma Hayashi was electric from the first shift, capitalizing on an early power play at 6:03 before Mio Kobayashi and Mei Fujita each added goals by 14:24 to make it 3–0 after one. Twenty minutes of Hockay and the Titans had already made their statement.
Riku Mori and Maxim Petrov had a spirited tilt at 7:42 in the first—one of three fights on the evening in what became a frustration-fueled effort from Vladivostok. But Tokyo kept responding with offense. Sakura Shimizu added a power play goal in the second at 8:52, Hayashi struck again in the third at 4:41, and Yuki Sato iced it at 8:24.
Hayashi finished with two goals and two hits. Kobayashi posted a goal, an assist, and a fight. Shimizu and Sato each had a goal and a helper. This was a complete, comprehensive, breathtaking performance. The Vladivostok Vodkas have some serious questions to answer.
Matchday 05 will be remembered for the upsets—Busan, Tokyo, Helsinki, Havana—and for the emergence of performers who stepped up when it mattered most. Soo-yeon Park with four. Nicole Flett fighting and scoring. Wikström waging war. And a Prague-Rimini game that should probably have its own documentary. I'll be back for Matchday 06. Ce sport ne dort jamais.
—JM Laflèche, Voice of Hockay
Le Council notes that Matchday 05 has concluded. Four results deviated from projected probability outcomes. This is consistent with the existence of games. The record has been updated.