Matchday Recap: S01D07
Matchday 07 gave us everything the league has to offer—overtime drama in two buildings, a pair of upsets that will have front offices scrambling, and enough quality hockay to remind you why we all fell in love with this game. Settle in, folks. C'est parti.
MTL 3 — DKR 2 (OT)
The Oldest Rink has seen its share of battles, but the Dakar Djinns came in swinging from the first shift. Literally. Twenty-one seconds in, Marc-Antoine Dufresne lined up Moussa Ndiaye—and nine seconds later, Ndiaye returned the favor on Chloé Moreau. The tone was set before most fans had finished their coffee.
Dakar controlled the first two periods with purpose. Khady Bâ opened the scoring at 9:00 of the first, finishing off a feed from Mamadou Guèye with confidence. The second period brought more of the same—Fatou Mbaye went top shelf assisted by Awa Diop at 7:38, and the Djinns led 2-0 heading into the final frame. The Maples were getting outworked, and they knew it.
Then Montréal remembered who they were. Aminata Sow took a seat in The Sixth at 5:35 of the third, and the Maples made it count. Philippe Dubois went top shelf at 8:33, and—sacré bleu—Simon Côté made it 2-2 just twelve seconds later off a Bergeron assist. Twelve seconds. The building came unglued.
With tensions at a peak, Khady Bâ and Amélie Bouchard dropped the gloves at 11:45, both absorbing their coincidental majors and leaving the ice tied at two. Overtime was inevitable. And it was Élodie Gagnon—the hero Montréal needed—who buried the winner at 1:47 off a Marc-Antoine Dufresne setup. Quel match!
BUS 2 — NRB 1
Down at The Frozen Dock, the Busan Blizzards and Nairobi Narwhals served up a tight, physical contest that never had more than a goal between them. Tae-hyun Lim gave Busan the early advantage at 5:07 of the first, finishing a Ji-eun Shin setup cleanly. What followed was a first period that felt like a pressure cooker—Faith Wanjiru and So-hee Hwang traded punches at 11:11, and barely ninety seconds later, Amara Osei and Tae-hyun Lim were going at it too. Two fights inside three minutes. The Frozen Dock earned its name in a different way.
The second period swung back and forth. Dennis Wafula tied it for Nairobi at 0:54, capitalizing off Osei's assist—a nice bit of teamwork following a bruising first. But So-hee Hwang, still carrying the fire from her first-period tilt, answered at 3:52 with a Sang-hoon Bae helper to restore the Blizzards' lead.
Busan spent the third period defending their slim margin with discipline. Two Narwhals penalties—Hyun-woo Kwon at 9:43 and Moses Okello at 14:59—gave Busan opportunities they didn't fully need. The 2-1 final was workmanlike and earned. Lim's two-hit, one-goal, one-fight night was the kind of performance that wins locker room respect.
USH 0 — GDL 2
The Guadalajara Gatos came into The South Passage as slight favorites at 1.79, and they delivered—though the scoreline undersells how close this one felt through long stretches. Ushuaia isn't a team you push around easily, and the Undertow made sure the Gatos knew they'd been in a game.
The first period produced zero goals but plenty of atmosphere, including a dust-up between Daniela Salazar and Tomás Peralta at 3:15, and another between Matías Fernández and Carlos Morales with one second left in the frame. Both sets of coincidental majors kept things even, and neither netminder was truly tested.
The breakthrough came in the second—Andrés Rojas found himself in The Sixth at 3:22, and moments later Santiago Torres converted the man advantage at 3:54, Diego Hernández picking up the assist. One goal on the power play, and suddenly the game had a spine.
Valentina Ramírez sealed it in the third, burying an Andrés Rojas setup at 5:01. The Gatos' penalty kill held when tested, and their discipline improved after a messy first period. A clean 2-0 road victory—exactly what Guadalajara needed.
SAO 3 — PER 4 (SO)
Mon Dieu. If you only watched one game tonight, I hope it was this one. The Green Canopy hosted an absolute barnburner—seven regulation goals, an overtime that solved nothing, and a shootout that finally ended the suffering.
Perth came in as the slight favorites at 1.76, and Jack Mitchell got them going early—top shelf at 4:51 with a Zara Patel assist. But Gabriel Rodrigues answered for São Paulo at 10:30, and the pattern was set: every time one side pushed, the other responded. Gemma Fletcher restored Perth's lead at 2:44 of the second; Isabela Costa tied it thirty-five seconds later. C'est incroyable.
The third period continued the madness. Juliana Santos put the Serpents ahead at 5:36, then Mia Thornton leveled it for Perth at 6:15. Through all of this, Larissa Souza was everywhere—three hits in the third period alone, a force of nature in her own zone and yours.
Overtime solved nothing, though not for lack of trying. Nate Hargrove and Larissa Souza—who'd been jawing at each other all game—dropped the gloves in the extra frame at 12:50, both taking majors. The ice cooled slightly but the tension didn't. When Liam O'Brien finally ended it in the shootout at 6:31 of the fifth period, Perth exhaled as one. A shootout win on the road—Perth earns every point of this one.
HAV 4 — MUM 3
Here's your upset of the evening, folks. The Mumbai Monsoons were installed as clear favorites at 1.72 going into The Rhythm Bureau, and Havana obliged by falling behind early and then refusing to stay down. C'est le Hockay.
The Monsoons capitalized on the power play in the first—Kavya Iyer scoring at 7:36 off an Aditya Rao assist. Yoandri Hernández answered on the Hammers' own man advantage at 12:02, and the period ended level. Mumbai reclaimed the lead early in the second when Vikram Joshi converted another power play at 1:38, Yanelis Peña's penalty proving costly.
But the third period belonged to Havana in ways no one in Mumbai's camp anticipated. The Monsoons scored first again—Sanjay Pawar on the power play at 1:49—to go up 3-1. Then the levee broke. Yoandri Hernández fired it home at 6:53. Yanelis Peña made it 3-3 at 8:52. And Adonis Reyes—bat save and a beauty—lifted it out of the air and into the net at 10:33 to put Havana ahead for the first time all night. Lisandra Álvarez on the assist. The Rhythm Bureau rocked. Hernández finished with two goals on the night, the unquestioned architect of the comeback.
JBG 2 — MCM 3
Die Goue Myn expected a Jaguars win—Johannesburg was listed at 2.55, meaning the McMurdo Monoliths were clear favorites at 1.52, and the visitors made good on those odds. Still, the Jaguars made them earn it.
Diego Fuentes opened the scoring for McMurdo at 4:15—a gorgeous bat-save-style finish off an Ingrid Solheim feed. But Johannesburg mounted a stunning response to close the first: Nomsa Mahlangu scored at 14:48 and Naledi Khumalo followed fourteen seconds later at 14:59. Two goals in fourteen seconds to end the period—the Jaguars led 2-1 heading into the intermission, and Die Goue Myn was electric.
McMurdo settled in the second. Ingrid Solheim tied it at 0:53—notching a goal and an assist on the night, the standout performer across both rosters—and Yumi Takeda put the Monoliths ahead for good at 2:42. From there, it was a story of survival for McMurdo. Johannesburg threw everything at the third period, but the Monoliths bent without breaking. Two penalties against them in the final frame gave the Jaguars chances, but they couldn't convert. A 3-2 road win for the underdogs from the bottom of the world.
WPG 5 — RIM 1
The Cold Lodge doesn't often produce blowouts, but when the Winnipeg Wendigos are locked in, they are a difficult team to spend sixty minutes with. The Rimini Rinklers, listed at 2.94 coming in, found that out in earnest.
Jonas Brevik opened the scoring at 1:42 of the first, converting quickly after Tyler Chicken drew a penalty. The Rinklers had their moments—Valentina Colombo was physical and engaged all evening—but the second period turned the game into a statement. Kaya Bearclaw, Leah Blacksmith, and Jake Fehr all scored in the final four minutes of the middle frame, pushing it to 4-0 before the Rinklers had time to adjust. Tyler Chicken picked up two assists and a hit on the night—consistently disruptive, rarely noticed until you check the scoresheet.
Rimini's pride was salvaged by Luca Ferretti, who batted one out of the air at 8:12 of the third for the visitors' lone goal. Brody Flett had already made it 5-0 on the power play by then. Winnipeg win with authority.
TOK 4 — ANC 2
The Neon Crossing lit up early—fifty-three seconds in, Shūta Tanaka had the puck, had the angle, and had the finish. Thirteen seconds later, Aoi Yamamoto made it 2-0. By the time the Anchorage Auroras had gathered their bearings, the Tokyo Titans were two goals to the good and showing no signs of slowing. Yamamoto would add a second goal before the period was out—a beauty assisted by Riku Mori at 9:31—and Anchorage went to the room down 3-0. Mon Dieu, that's a mountain to climb.
The second period got complicated in ways the scoresheet doesn't fully capture. The Auroras found their fight—Isaiah Tobin and Mei Fujita traded punches early, and the parade to The Sixth became almost comedic, with six penalties assessed in under twelve minutes. Carlos Medina scored for Anchorage at 4:12. Tara Alexie added another at 10:07. Yūma Hayashi answered on the power play at 12:22. Three more fights would pepper the final period, Riku Mori and Tara Alexie going at it in the dying seconds. But Tokyo's cushion held—4-2 the final, Aoi Yamamoto's two-goal performance the story of the night at The Neon Crossing.
HEL 3 — VLA 4
Your second upset of the evening, and a dramatic one at that. Helsinki was a narrow home favorite at 1.88, with Vladivostok at 1.93—essentially a coin flip. The Vodkas took it. At The Dark Sauna, those things hurt.
Neither team scored in a first period that opened with Aleksi Korhonen and Darya Kuznetsova dropping the gloves before forty-five seconds had elapsed. A full period of heavy hitting followed with the scoreboard dormant—the tension was coiled tight. It released in the second when Kirill Morozov went top shelf at 0:41 for Vladivostok. Helsinki's Saku Järvinen tied it late in the period at 14:07, and the stage was set for a wild third.
And wild it was. Six goals in under twelve minutes. Denis Baranov put Vladivostok back ahead at 1:30. Saara Virtanen leveled it thirty-five seconds later. Vera Orlova—who finished with a goal, an assist, and three hits—made it 3-2 Vlad at 9:09. Artyom Volkov extended the lead to 4-2 at 10:59. Helsinki refused to fold—Elina Heikkinen pulled one back at 12:22—but they ran out of time. The Vodkas escape Finland with two points. Vera Orlova's name goes at the top of the performer list, no argument.
PRA 4 — STO 2
Stockholm came out of the gate with purpose at The Stone Opera—Saga Ekström scored at 3:01 and Viktor Hallberg followed at 3:38, giving the Sirens a quick 2-0 lead that silenced the Prague crowd. For a while, it looked like the road team had brought the formula.
Prague's answer was methodical rather than explosive. Eliška Veselá scored a power play goal in the second at 10:53—Lucie Šťastná assisting—to pull the Phantoms within one. Then the third period became Pavel Krejčí's personal theater. The big forward had already been in The Sixth twice and was a physical presence all evening—three hits, consistent pressure. He scored on the power play at 10:47 to tie it, then buried another man advantage goal at 14:59 to seal it. Two power play goals in the final four minutes off Eliška Veselá assists—Veselá herself finishing with a goal and two assists, the most productive night anyone had at The Stone Opera tonight.
Markéta Polák had given Prague the lead at 6:32 with the go-ahead goal, and from there the Phantoms defended with belief. Prague win 4-2 in a game that looked lost after twenty minutes.
What a Matchday 07 this was—two upsets, two overtime affairs, a shootout, and more fights than I care to count before my evening tea. The Havana Hammers climb at Mumbai's expense, the Vladivostok Vodkas have a big road win in Helsinki, and the Winnipeg Wendigos sent a message to the rest of the league: don't come to The Cold Lodge without your best. Matchday 08 cannot come soon enough. À la prochaine, tout le monde.
—JM Laflèche, Voice of Hockay
Le Council notes that Matchday 07 has concluded. Seven upsets were anticipated; two occurred. The Council's projection model has been updated to reflect this minor discrepancy. Play will continue.