Matchday Recap: S01D08
Matchday 08 delivered everything this league promises and then some—upsets in four of ten games, two shootout decisions, and a third period in Stockholm that felt like it was scripted by someone with no regard for anyone's heart rate. Buckle in, mes amis. Let's go through them all.
BUS 2 — MTL 1
The Frozen Dock hosted what turned out to be the longest game of the matchday, and frankly, Busan earned every extra minute they had to play. The Montréal Maples came in as the odds-on favorites at 1.71, and the Blizzards—a quieter 2.15—had something to prove on home ice.
The first two periods were a physical statement with no scoreboard consequence. Twenty-three total hits and a center-ice bout between So-hee Hwang and Lucas Pelletier in the first set the temperature early. Coincidental majors, both off—and the game kept churning. Regulation didn't yield a single goal through forty minutes. C'est rare.
The third period finally cracked open. Sarah-Maude Fortin gave Montréal the lead at 1:42, assisted by Amélie Bouchard—a pretty power play sequence off the Dmitri Volkov minor. But Busan answered quickly and emphatically: Hyun-woo Kwon tied it at 8:55 with a feed from Ji-eun Shin, just thirteen seconds after the Blizzards had retrieved momentum with a string of hits on the Maples' back end.
Overtime solved nothing. Into the shootout it went—and there, Jae-won Kim buried the winner at 4:31. Upset confirmed. Soo-yeon Park's three-hit night and Kwon's clutch equalizer were the story of this one.
GDL 4 — DKR 0
Another upset, this time down in Guadalajara, where El Rincón Perdido housed a Gatos performance that the Dakar Djinns simply had no answer for. The Djinns entered at 1.75—preferred, if modestly—and left with nothing.
The first period was tight despite three Djinn penalties, none of which the Gatos could fully exploit on the scoreboard. But the second period belonged entirely to Guadalajara. Diego Hernández was the architect—he picked up assists on both second-period goals, first feeding Andrés Rojas at 7:25 and then setting up Valentina Ramírez barely a minute later at 9:03. Two goals in thirty-eight seconds, que potencia.
Ramírez added her second of the night in the third at 9:43, Rodrigo Vargas earning the helper. Mateo Guzmán capped it with a finish off an Alejandra Ríos assist at 11:12. The Gatos were utterly in command. Valentina Ramírez was the headline—two goals, one hit, a complete performance—but Diego Hernández's two-assist game was the engine underneath. Dakar will need film study before these two meet again.
NRB 2 — SAO 4
The Ochre Reserve in Nairobi saw six goals and eighteen hits in a game that swung like a pendulum—São Paulo controlling the momentum, Nairobi clawing back, the Serpents finally pulling away.
São Paulo jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on a Larissa Souza beauty assisted by Mariana Lima and then an Isabela Costa finish off a Lucas Almeida feed. Nairobi started to find their legs physically in the period—Kevin Otieno and Peter Kimani both arriving early—but couldn't get pucks past the Serpents' structure.
The second period, however, was a wild affair. Nairobi pulled within one on a power-play goal from Kevin Otieno at 14:43—Amara Osei with the assist—but São Paulo answered immediately: Juliana Santos scored with one second on the clock in regulation time of the period to restore the two-goal cushion. That Santos goal, off a Mariana Lima feed, felt like a dagger.
Nairobi opened the third with hope, but Amanda Barbosa made it 4-2 off an Isabela Costa pass at 4:39. The Narwhals couldn't find two more. Mariana Lima was São Paulo's heartbeat all night—two assists, a hit, and a constant presence. No upset here; the odds had this one close (1.95/1.86), and the Serpents justified their slight edge.
MUM 3 — USH 2
The Salt Pavilion gave us a proper tussle on a night where Mumbai entered as heavy favorites at 1.50 and the Ushuaia Undertow—priced at 2.60—refused to cooperate. A 3-2 final in overtime, but the Monsoons held on as expected. Upset? Non. Hard-fought? Absolument.
Pooja Verma opened the scoring on the power play in the first—Meera Naik with the assist—and Mumbai looked comfortable. Florencia Ramos tied it early in the second off Ignacio Herrera, showing that Ushuaia hadn't made the trip just to admire the arena. Meera Naik then restored Mumbai's lead at 13:53, finishing off a Vikram Joshi feed.
The third period threatened to unravel everything for the Monsoons. Just 1:44 in, Luciana Romero scored a Ushuaia power play goal—Facundo Álvarez assisting—and suddenly it was level again. Both sides had chances; Florencia Ramos threw her body around all night with two hits to go with her goal. But it was Priya Sharma who ended it in overtime at 2:33, assisted by Arjun Patil. A clean finish, a deserved win for Mumbai, and a reminder that Ushuaia can compete with the league's better sides.
PER 3 — JBG 2
The Red Furnace was lit—literally and figuratively. Twenty-one hits, a fight in the first, and a five-goal game that had Perth's Red Furnace crowd on their feet most of the night. The Pyres were favorites at 1.71, the Johannesburg Jaguars a capable 2.14, and the result respected the line.
The opening period set the tone physically. Zanele Ndaba scored first for Johannesburg at 3:04, then—thirty-one seconds later—Mia Thornton leveled it for Perth. What followed almost immediately was a fight between Thandiwe Radebe and Jack Mitchell, coincidental majors all around. The game was already telling you who it was.
Perth went up 3-1 with two quick goals in the second—Tahlia Nguyen at 0:23 and then Nate Hargrove finding the net at 13:26 off a Jack Mitchell assist. Nguyen's two hits and a goal made her one of the night's standout performers, along with Hargrove who chipped in a goal and an assist.
Johannesburg's Jaco van der Merwe trimmed it to 3-2 in the third off a Nomsa Mahlangu assist, and the Jaguars pushed hard until the final whistle—but Perth held firm. A well-deserved two points for the home side.
RIM 2 — HAV 0
Voilà une surprise. The Rimini Rinklers entered The Coastal Pavilion as the underdog—a 2.43 home price against Havana Hammers at 1.57—and delivered a clean sheet shutout. This was not supposed to happen on paper, and yet here we are.
The first period was tight and physical, as one tends to expect when the Hammers are involved. Giulia Bianchi and Francesca Serra were making their presence felt early with hits on Adonis Reyes. Then, late in the first at 14:02, Serra fired home the opener—Nico De Luca with the assist. A late goal in the period to go into intermission with: exactly the kind of margin Rimini needed to protect.
The second period was scoreless but not quiet. Havana took three penalties and couldn't capitalize on their own power plays or pressure. Alessandro Conti and the Rinklers' defensive structure suffocated the Hammers' attack throughout.
Third period: Giulia Bianchi batted one out of the air at 10:46—a highlight-reel finish, De Luca picking up his second assist of the night—and that was that. Two goals, a shutout, and an upset. Nico De Luca's playmaking and Bianchi's finish were the story. The Hammers will have questions to answer about this one. C'est incroyable.
MCM 3 — TOK 6
The Remote Range doesn't see many visitors happy to leave, but the Tokyo Titans certainly were on this night. The McMurdo Monoliths were priced at 1.50—steep favorites—and the Titans came in at 2.61. What followed was a six-goal Tokyo performance and one of Matchday 08's biggest upsets.
Quel match in that first period. Three Tokyo goals against one for McMurdo—Riku Mori, Mei Fujita, and then Haruto Nakamura on the power play staking the visitors to a 3-1 lead, with Sven Lindberg adding a fourth before the period was out. McMurdo was chasing from the opening minutes and couldn't close the gap.
The Monoliths fought back in the second—Amara Hassan converting a power play to make it 4-2—but Yūma Hayashi answered on the man advantage to keep the Tokyo cushion at two. By the third period, McMurdo managed a goal from Elena Varga but Haruto Nakamura made it 6-2 at 5:31 off a Sakura Shimizu feed, and then Sōta Watanabe buried a power play goal to close it out.
Haruto Nakamura's two-goal, two-hit night was the performance of the game. Hina Takahashi and Sakura Shimizu each contributed two assists from the back end. McMurdo will not want to watch that tape again.
VLA 3 — WPG 2
Another upset, this time out of The Last Terminal in Vladivostok. The Winnipeg Wendigos came in as slight favorites at 1.73, and the Vodkas—sitting at 2.11—had home ice, two fights, and Denis Baranov on their side. That proved to be enough.
Brody Flett put Winnipeg on the board inside a minute—a lovely bat out of the air at 0:51, Curtis Favel assisting. But Vladivostok answered before the first was out: Denis Baranov, on a feed from Yelena Pavlova, made it 1-1 at 10:14. The fight between Olga Smirnova and Leah Blacksmith at 2:57 told you the mood early.
The second period was where the Vodkas turned it. Baranov scored his second of the night at 3:11—Maxim Petrov assisting—then a fight broke out between Dylan Fife and Baranov at 5:42. The Winnipeg forward took his frustration to the ice and to the box. Tatiana Novikova made it 3-1 at 7:12 off another Petrov feed. Two goals, two assists for Maxim Petrov on the night—he was the quiet force behind the Vodkas' win.
Tara Ridsdale pulled one back for Winnipeg in the third, and the Wendigos pressed but couldn't find the equalizer. Vladivostok held firm. Denis Baranov—two goals and a willingness to fight—earns the star of this game without argument.
ANC 0 — PRA 2
The Watch Station in Anchorage rarely sees the home side go goalless, but the Prague Phantoms came in focused and locked the Auroras out entirely. The Phantoms were favored at 1.49, Anchorage at 2.64—and no upset materialized. Prague was the better side, methodically so.
Kateřina Dvořáková broke the deadlock at 12:07 in the first, capitalizing off an Eliška Veselá feed, and that single goal stood between the sides for two full periods. Anchorage had their moments—Sierra Peters threw three hits, Kira Naluktaq battled her way through a fight with Tomáš Novák in the second, then another bout between Martin Procházka and Levi Simmonds opened the third. Anchorage kept competing, they just couldn't score.
Pavel Krejčí put it away thirty-nine seconds into the third—a beauty off an Ondřej Marek assist—and from there it was about execution and discipline for Prague. Twenty hits in total, two fights, seven penalties. The Auroras weren't passive; Prague simply wouldn't yield. Krejčí and Dvořáková each with a goal, Ondřej Marek doing the dirty work with two hits and the primary setup on that third-period clincher. A professional road performance by the Phantoms.
STO 4 — HEL 3
Save the best for last. The Still Strait in Stockholm. Two Nordic rivals, a scoreless two periods, then six goals in the third period in under twelve minutes, a fight, and—after overtime couldn't settle it—a shootout winner from Oscar Söderström that set the home crowd off. Quel match!
Honestly, the first two periods were a chess match with sticks. Plenty of physicality—nineteen hits, four penalties—but neither side could solve the goaltending. Then the third period detonated. Astrid Engström gave Helsinki the lead at 0:40 off Klara Åström. Sixty-three seconds later, Freja Sandström tied it for Stockholm, Axel Lindqvist assisting. Then Niko Mäkelä put Helsinki ahead again at 3:34. Then a fight between Erik Johansson and Saga Ekström at 6:31—both off—and Mäkelä scored his second of the night at 7:01 with Saku Järvinen assisting, pushing Helsinki to 3-1. Stockholm answered immediately: Noora Koskinen made it 3-2 at 7:37, then Hugo Wikström tied it at 11:07 off a gorgeous Maja Forsberg feed. Six goals in eleven minutes. C'est incroyable.
Overtime couldn't separate them. And then Söderström—who had been physical and present all night—stepped into the shootout at 3:31 and buried it. Stockholm wins 4-3. Stockholm was favored at 1.78; no upset, but it didn't need one. The game was its own reward.
Matchday 08 gave us four upsets, two shootouts, and more than a few moments I'll be referencing for the rest of the season. The Vladivostok Vodkas and Guadalajara Gatos stand out as the teams that most exceeded expectations tonight. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Titans and Prague Phantoms showed that road hockay can be championship hockay. Same time next matchday, mes amis—I'll see you at the rink.
—JM Laflèche, Voice of Hockay
Le Council notes that Matchday 08 has concluded. Ten games were played. Results have been recorded. The Council offers no further comment at this time.