Matchday Recap: S01D19
Matchday 19 delivered the full spectrum—a blowout in Montréal, a shootout thriller in Rimini, a 14-goal eruption in Mumbai, and a pair of upsets that reminded everyone why you never tear up your ticket early.
But more importantly, today marks the half-point of the season. Every team has played every other team. Will the second half of the season be as exciting as this first?
If today was any indication, it will. C'était une grande soirée de Hockay.
MTL 6 — ANC 2
The Oldest Rink was loud from the drop, and the Montréal Maples gave the home crowd every reason to stay on their feet. At 2:27 of the first, Philippe Dubois leveled Bryce Denison along the boards and the gloves were off seconds later—a statement from the Maples before the game was even properly underway. The fighting majors offset, but Montréal had already set the tone. Nine minutes in, Dubois cashed in at the other end too, finishing a feed from Amélie Bouchard to make it 1-0. Two goals in a twenty-second window at 13:11 and 13:31—first Marc-Antoine Dufresne, then Dmitri Volkov, both assisted by the night's quietest standout, Bouchard—sent the Anchorage Auroras to the dressing room down three.
The second period was more of the same. Sarah-Maude Fortin answered a pair of early hits from Jake Hensley by scoring a beauty at 3:13—revenge best served with a finish. Lucas Pelletier and Catherine Lavoie added goals of their own, with Anchorage managing replies through Molly Kavairlook and Heather Braund. But the Auroras were never really threatening. The third was largely a formality, though Alexandre Paquette and Carlos Medina made sure to settle things personally at 8:05—coincidental majors, no score change.
Bouchard's three-assist night was the spine of this Maples performance. Montréal wins comfortably, 6-2.
WPG 3 — HEL 2 (OT)
Quel match at The Cold Lodge. The Winnipeg Wendigos were installed as clear favorites at 1.51, and they nearly let it slip entirely before Jonas Brevik ended the drama in overtime.
The first period was tight and physical—Curtis Favel welcomed Aleksi Korhonen to the rink at 0:15, and two penalties in the opening minute suggested neither team came here to play pretty. Kaya Bearclaw gave Winnipeg the lead at 5:22, assisted by Brody Flett, but Juhani Rantanen leveled it for Helsinki at 13:35 on a feed from Erik Johansson. Into the second, Nicole Flett restored the Wendigos' advantage at 5:17—a goal punctuated seconds earlier by Anniina Tuominen dropping the gloves with Jake Fehr. The Howlers, though, refused to fold. When Noora Koskinen converted on the power play at 8:29 of the third, assisted by Saku Järvinen, it was 2-2 and anyone's game.
Overtime was tight and tense, with both benches throwing checks in the extra frame. But at 9:41, Curtis Favel—who'd had his name called for penalties twice tonight but was everywhere—set up Brevik for the winner. A hard-earned two points for Winnipeg.
STO 3 — MCM 4
The Still Strait saw a game that refused to stay settled for more than a few minutes at a time. The McMurdo Monoliths came out flying—Ji-hoon Baek opened the scoring at 1:19 and Priya Anand made it 2-0 before the first period was out. Stockholm looked rattled.
But the second period belonged to the Stockholm Sirens, and it wasn't subtle. Albin Nordlund got them on the board at 0:59—bats it out of the air, beautiful—and Klara Åström leveled it at 2:46. McMurdo answered through Tobias Frey at 7:53, but Hugo Wikström converted on the power play at 9:23, Saga Ekström getting the helper, and suddenly it was 3-3 with a full period to play.
The third was tense and scrappy. Penalties flew. And with the score still deadlocked at 9:29, Ji-hoon Baek—who'd picked up a penalty just minutes earlier—fired it home on a Sven Lindberg assist for his second goal of the night and what proved to be the winner. Baek with two goals and two assists from Lindberg in the game; the Monoliths grind out a 4-3 road victory with Baek the difference-maker.
HAV 2 — PRA 1
The Rhythm Bureau was feisty—three fights in regulation, 19 hits, and a result that qualifies as a genuine upset. The Prague Phantoms came in as slight favorites at 1.87 to the Havana Hammers' 1.94, but Havana played like a team with a grudge.
The first period set the temperature: Martin Procházka took a penalty at 10:39 and Mailén Domínguez converted on the power play at 11:27—Claudia Pérez with the assist. Then the gloves came off. Ondřej Marek and Yanelis Peña fought at 12:40, and barely a minute later Yordanis Sánchez and Eliška Veselá threw down as well. The Hammers drew blood and kept swinging.
Dayana Rodríguez made it 2-0 for Havana at 3:08 of the second—a beauty, setting up a second period that saw Sánchez and Procházka renew hostilities at 10:57. Prague pulled one back through Kateřina Dvořáková at 10:05 of the third, a top-shelf finish off Markéta Polák's feed, but the Hammers held on. Claudia Pérez—three hits and an assist—was Havana's engine all night. C'est incroyable what this team can do at home when the crowd is with them.
VLA 1 — PER 3
The Last Terminal is a tough place to play, and yet the Perth Pyres walked into Vladivostok and handled their business without too much drama. With the scoreboard blank after a bruising first period—Riley Dawson and Anastasia Ivanova settled matters personally at 2:43, coincidental majors—it was Perth who found their legs in the second.
Gemma Fletcher opened the scoring at 10:56 with Oscar Whitfield earning the helper, a well-earned reward after she'd been all over the ice physically. Eliza Cartwright doubled it at 13:35 off a Jack Mitchell feed, and the Vodkas were already two down heading into the final frame. To Vladivostok's credit, Kirill Morozov pulled one back at 12:16—a goal right off his own big hit at center ice, Anastasia Ivanova assisting—but Perth's lead was already three by then, Cartwright scoring her second of the night at 11:18.
Eliza Cartwright's two-goal performance was the spine of this Perth victory. Vladivostok never found their rhythm tonight.
USH 0 — TOK 2
The South Passage was a cauldron of physicality—four fights in regulation—but it was the Tokyo Titans who kept their composure when it mattered, shutting out the Ushuaia Undertow 2-0 in a game that could have gone sideways at any moment.
Neither side scored in the first, though the tone was set quickly when Sakura Shimizu and Camila Aguirre dropped the gloves at 8:55. The second period opened with Ren Inoue and Florencia Ramos trading punches at 1:17, and then—amid further chaos, Agustín Medina and Mei Fujita going at it at 7:46 followed by Mio Kobayashi and Matías Fernández at 10:38—Shūta Tanaka quietly found the back of the net at 8:45, assisted by Yūma Hayashi. One goal in a sea of mayhem.
The Undertow pressed in the third but couldn't solve the Tokyo goaltending. Riku Mori put it away at 10:20 of the third, Kobayashi setting him up—the same Kobayashi who'd spent time in the box for fighting just a period earlier. For the Titans, it was controlled chaos. For Ushuaia, it was just chaos.
RIM 2 — NRB 3 (SO)
Now this was a drama at The Coastal Pavilion. The Rimini Rinklers came in as clear favorites at 1.73 against the Nairobi Narwhals at 2.11, and Nairobi walked out with the points. An upset, and a hard-earned one.
The first period was even—Elena Moretti gave Rimini the lead at 6:36 and Akinyi Ochieng answered for Nairobi at 8:38. In the second, Valentina Colombo restored the Rinklers' advantage at 3:33, and the physical battle intensified: Brian Kipchoge and Francesca Serra, then Lorenzo Fabbri and Zawadi Mutua, both pairs dropping gloves in the same period. But with the third period closing out, Kevin Otieno—two hits, a goal, the Narwhals' best player on the night—leveled it at 13:56 on a Faith Wanjiru feed. 2-2. Overtime solved nothing.
In the shootout, it was James Odhiambo who calmly picked the corner at 10:31 and ended it. A 3-2 final for Nairobi. The Narwhals steal two points the oddsmakers didn't see coming.
DKR 2 — JBG 3
The Sandy Parlor was rocked in the opening two minutes. Pieter Botha scored at 0:31 for the Johannesburg Jaguars—Thandiwe Radebe with the assist—and Lerato Dlamini made it 2-0 before the clock hit 1:10. Mamadou Guèye pulled one back for Dakar at 2:18 and brought the crowd into it, but Botha struck again at 14:36 to end the first period 3-1 for Johannesburg. A furious, scrappy opening that included Kagiso Molefe and Khady Bâ trading punches at 8:35.
The second period was locked down—hits were exchanged but neither team scored. The third saw Dakar push hard. Ousmane Diallo got one back at 1:37, and Modou Diouf and Thabo Mokoena fought at 4:38 in a period that felt like it was tilting Dakar's way. But Johannesburg's three-goal buffer from that wild first period proved just enough.
Botha's two goals and Radebe's two assists powered the Jaguars. Mamadou Guèye put in a complete game for the Djinns—a goal, three hits—but it wasn't enough to overcome the first-period hole.
MUM 5 — BUS 9
Sacré bleu. Fourteen goals at The Salt Pavilion, and the Mumbai Monsoons—favored at 1.66—got absolutely run over by the Busan Blizzards at 2.23. An upset of the highest order, and one of the most remarkable performances of the young season.
Mumbai looked sharp early. Aditya Rao scored twice in the first period and the Monsoons led 2-1 after twenty minutes. But the second period was a disaster of historical proportions. Busan scored six times in the middle frame—Eun-bi Han, Sang-hoon Bae, Soo-yeon Park, Seung-ho Jung on the power play, So-hee Hwang, and Hyun-woo Kwon—against two Mumbai replies. A 3-7 scoreline after forty minutes. The crowd at The Salt Pavilion went quiet in a way you rarely hear.
Mumbai battled back with pride in the third—Rohan Deshmukh converted on the power play, Vikram Joshi scored twice on the night, and they outscored Busan 2-2 in the period—but the damage was done. So-hee Hwang's second goal at 13:36 sealed a 9-5 final. Joshi and Rao with two goals each for Mumbai in a losing effort; Hwang and the Blizzards making a statement no one will soon forget.
GDL 4 — SAO 3
A gritty, back-and-forth affair at El Rincón Perdido, and the Guadalajara Gatos showed tremendous resilience to come from behind and win it in the third. São Paulo led 2-1 after two periods—Amanda Barbosa scoring the go-ahead goal at 1:24 of the second on a Bruno Nascimento feed—and this game had the feel of a Serpents victory in the making.
But the third period was Emilio Delgado's stage. He tied it at 6:31, batting it out of the air—Jimena Castillo with the assist—then put Guadalajara ahead at 11:08, fed by Daniela Salazar. When Juliana Santos took a penalty at 11:44, Alejandra Ríos made them pay on the power play at 12:56, Rodrigo Vargas earning the helper. Felipe Carvalho had given São Paulo brief hope at 2:11, but the Serpents couldn't hold on after Delgado took over.
Emilio Delgado's two-goal third period is the story here. The Gatos win 4-3 in a game that belonged to them once that final period began.
Matchday 19 gave us everything—shutouts and goal explosions, overtime heartbreak and shootout glory, upsets in Havana, Mumbai, and Rimini. Every game had a story. This league never disappoints. Until next time, mes amis.
—JM Laflèche, voice of Hockay.
Le Council notes that Matchday 19 has concluded. Ten games were played. Goals were scored. The standings have been adjusted. Le Council has no further comment at this time.