Matchday Recap: S02D42
Twelve games, two real upsets, and not a single overtime needed to settle any of them—Matchday 42 was mostly about favorites doing what favorites do, with a couple of notable exceptions. Wellington shut out a favored Guadalajara side at The Howling Harbour, and Ushuaia stole a road win from Havana's 1.76 favorites in a back-and-forth third period at The Rhythm Bureau. Winnipeg and Busan turned in the matchday's most lopsided results, 8-1 and 6-0, while Brian Kipchoge, Mandla Zulu, and Ruslan Kozlov each found the net twice for their sides. Allons-y, there's plenty to get through.
WPG 8 — MUM 1
Winnipeg put on a clinic at The Cold Lodge, and Mumbai never found the ice under their feet. Leah Blacksmith opened the scoring at 0:42, Kaya Bearclaw assisting, and Anna Flett made it 2-0 at 2:04 off Jake Fehr's feed before Brendan Fehr and Kavya Iyer dropped the gloves at 2:49. Brody Flett made it 3-0 at 7:40, Anna Flett returning the assist, before Sanjay Pawar got Mumbai's lone goal on the board at 9:14, Divya Mehta assisting—the only blemish on an otherwise spotless period. Nicole Flett and Sanjay Pawar fought late to close out a chippy twenty minutes.
The rout continued from there. Brody Flett scored his second at 1:13 of the second, Curtis Favel assisting, and Tyler Chicken and Jake Fehr each cashed in before the period ended, making it 7-1 heading to the third. Leah Blacksmith completed her multi-goal night at 9:15 of the third, Nicole Flett assisting, for the 8-1 final. The Sixth stayed busy all night—Brendan Fehr emerged carrying Foggy, Nicole Flett swapped Wandering for Brittle, and Kavya Iyer picked up Foggy of her own in a late-game trade—but none of it mattered against a Winnipeg side that scored eight times and never let Mumbai settle. Blacksmith's two goals and an assist, and Flett's two goals of his own, did the heavy lifting for the 1.74 favorites.
MDE 5 — DKR 2
La Ladera hosted this matchday's closest odds—Medellín at 1.91, Dakar at 1.90, as even a coin flip as the board allows—and it was the home side's first-period blitz that decided it. Cheikh Fall opened the scoring for Dakar at 3:27, Mamadou Guèye assisting, but Medellín answered with four unanswered goals: Sebastián Cardona at 5:39, Nicolás Betancur at 9:28, Mariana Zapata at 10:33, and Andrés Quintero at 13:45, with Betancur picking up two of those assists himself. Rokhaya Faye served a trip to The Sixth in between and came back unbothered.
The second period turned physical without moving the scoreboard—Moussa Ndiaye and Sofía Estrada fought, Ousmane Diallo and Nicolás Betancur fought, and the penalty box stayed busy on both sides, with Sofía Estrada emerging from one Sixth trip with Translated stuck to her. Dakar clawed one back in the third when Khady Bâ scored at 4:22, Aminata Sow assisting, and Rokhaya Faye and Estrada dropped the gloves again minutes later. But Santiago Restrepo restored the three-goal cushion at 10:17, Camilo Henao assisting, sealing it 5-2. Betancur's goal and two assists made him the story of the night, and on a card this evenly priced, Medellín's fast start was the difference.
WEL 2 — GDL 0
Wellington delivered the matchday's cleanest upset at The Howling Harbour, shutting out a Guadalajara side favored at 1.75 while the home underdogs sat at 2.09. The first two periods were goalless and combustible—Valentina Ramírez and Tane Wiremu fought 1:12 into the game, Alejandra Ríos and Anahera Reid did the same to open the second, and the penalty box saw steady traffic without either side finding the net. The Sixth was active throughout: Tane Wiremu came back wearing Magnetic, Valentina Ramírez shed Quiet, and Nikau Edwards lost Wandering on his own trip through.
The breakthrough came in the third. Hemi Sullivan buried a beauty at 6:41, Aroha Ngata assisting, to finally put Wellington on the board, and Liam Tomoana doubled the lead at 12:29, Rāwiri Patel feeding him, to make it 2-0 final. Nineteen hits and two fights made this a physical, low-event night, and Guadalajara—expected to win comfortably on the road—never solved Wellington's goaltending. Sullivan's goal was the difference-maker in a result that will sting the Gatos more than the scoreline suggests; they controlled long stretches of play and had nothing to show for it. C'est Hockay—sometimes the better team on paper just doesn't score.
HEL 3 — RIM 0
Helsinki's power play was the difference at The Dark Sauna, and once it clicked, Rimini never recovered. Neither side broke through in a feisty scoreless first period—Lorenzo Fabbri and Petteri Salonen fought at 4:37, and Elena Moretti came back from The Sixth carrying Ancient after an early penalty. The second period stayed goalless until Noora Koskinen buried a power-play chance at 12:10, Saku Järvinen assisting, and the game turned into a fight card in the final minutes: Francesca Serra and Mikko Hämäläinen dropped the gloves, then Fabbri and Järvinen matched each other with majors, then Petteri Salonen and Matteo Galli traded blows for good measure—three fights inside three minutes.
Helsinki pulled away in the third. Anniina Tuominen scored 1:31 in, Niko Mäkelä assisting, and Saara Virtanen made it 3-0 at 4:44, Hämäläinen returning the favor, before Valentina Colombo and Salonen fought again to cap a five-fight night. The Sixth was a revolving door throughout, with Colombo, Salonen, and Tuominen all swapping modifiers on the way in and out. Twenty-four hits and five fights made this the most physical game of the matchday, and Helsinki's 1.83 favorite tag held up in every sense—dominant, if not always pretty.
JBG 6 — ANC 1
Johannesburg and Anchorage were priced as a virtual coin flip—1.90 to 1.91—and Die Goue Myn saw the home side pull away regardless. Zanele Ndaba opened it late in the first at 14:49, Bongani Mthembu assisting, after Nomsa Mahlangu and Levi Simmonds fought and traded majors. Mandla Zulu made it 2-0 early in the second, Mahlangu assisting—Black Hole Net doing its work—before Pieter Botha cashed a power-play chance at 4:21, Thabo Mokoena assisting, for a 3-0 cushion. Anchorage found their only answer when Tara Alexie scored at 8:19, Isaiah Tobin assisting, but Bongani Mthembu restored the three-goal gap at 10:26, Lerato Dlamini setting him up, and Johannesburg carried a 4-1 lead into the third.
The third period belonged to Zulu, who scored a beauty at 10:13, Pieter Botha assisting, and Sipho Nkosi closed the scoring at 14:33, Naledi Khumalo assisting, for the 6-1 final. Zulu's two goals and Botha's goal-and-assist night led the way, while Thandiwe Radebe and Heather Braund's second-period tilt kept things heated between whistles. Twenty-one hits and three fights made for a physical evening, but on a night with essentially even odds, Johannesburg's depth—five different goalscorers—simply overwhelmed Anchorage.
MTL 5 — PER 3
The Oldest Rink hosted a near pick-em—Montréal 1.89, Perth 1.92—and Alexandre Paquette's two-goal second period was the difference. Philippe Dubois opened the scoring at 2:36, Amélie Bouchard assisting, with Black Hole Net doing its part, but Gemma Fletcher answered on the power play at 6:53, Nate Hargrove assisting, and the teams were level after one.
Montréal took over in the middle frame. Marc-Antoine Dufresne scored 0:52 in, Dmitri Volkov assisting, and Paquette struck twice—at 2:59, Jean-François Tremblay assisting, and again at 4:45 off a top-shelf finish set up by Élodie Gagnon—to make it 4-1. Nate Hargrove pulled Perth back within two on the power play at 11:31, Tahlia Nguyen assisting, ending the period 4-2. Élodie Gagnon opened the third with a Black Hole Net goal of her own at 0:14, Tremblay picking up his second assist of the night, before Oscar Whitfield emerged from a late trip to The Sixth carrying Quiet and buried the man advantage at 11:51, Zara Patel assisting, to make it 5-3. Montréal held on from there. Paquette's two goals paced the win, and Tremblay's two assists quietly built it from behind—an evenly matched game decided by a five-minute burst in the second period.
TOK 4 — STO 2
Tokyo were heavy favorites at 1.66 against Stockholm's 2.24, but The Neon Crossing needed a third-period surge to make the odds look right. Stockholm struck first and struck twice—Elin Sjöberg at 2:54, Oscar Söderström assisting, then Söderström returning the favor for himself at 9:45, Albin Nordlund assisting—to take a 2-0 lead into the second period, with Hugo Wikström and Yūma Hayashi fighting in between.
Tokyo clawed one back when Aoi Yamamoto scored 9:36 into the second, Sakura Shimizu assisting, but the real turnaround came in the third. Shūta Tanaka tied it at 5:09, Yuki Sato assisting, and Mio Kobayashi buried a power-play chance at 11:27, Mei Fujita assisting, to put Tokyo ahead for the first time. Sōta Watanabe added insurance at 12:08, Yūma Hayashi assisting, sealing the 4-2 final with three unanswered Tokyo goals to close it out. Söderström's goal and assist made him Stockholm's best player on a night his team ultimately couldn't hold, while Tokyo's four different goalscorers underlined the depth that made them favorites in the first place. Eighteen hits and one fight kept things honest without derailing the comeback.
SAO 5 — GND 1
São Paulo were the modest favorites at 1.71 and made it stand up at The Green Canopy, even after Gander briefly leveled things. Bruno Nascimento opened the scoring at 2:18, Felipe Carvalho assisting, in a first period that also saw Janice Hapgood and Juliana Santos drop the gloves inside the opening minute. Hapgood answered for Gander with a fine individual goal at 1:47 of the second, Gus Maloney assisting, tying it at one—but São Paulo's depth took over from there. Gustavo Ribeiro cashed a power-play chance at 7:24, Juliana Santos assisting, and Amanda Barbosa made it 3-1 at 9:52, Larissa Souza feeding her.
São Paulo pulled away for good in the third. Bruno Nascimento scored again at 3:23, Gabriel Rodrigues assisting, and Juliana Santos capped the scoring at 4:29, Mariana Lima assisting, for the 5-1 final. Nascimento finished with two goals, two hits, and a fight, while Santos added a goal and an assist to go with her own tilt against Hapgood earlier in the game. Gander's only real spark came from Hapgood, whose goal was the lone highlight in an otherwise comfortable São Paulo win, four different scorers doing the damage for the home side.
HAV 3 — USH 4
Quel match at The Rhythm Bureau, where Havana were 1.76 favorites and left with nothing. Adonis Reyes opened the scoring at 4:44, Dayana Rodríguez assisting, after Yanelis Peña and Luciana Romero fought and Tomás Peralta and Osmany Leyva matched each other with majors—a tense, penalty-heavy first period. Ushuaia leveled it before intermission when Nicolás Sosa buried a power-play chance at 12:32, Florencia Ramos assisting, Power Play doing the deciding work.
Santiago Figueroa put Ushuaia ahead in the second at 8:22, Florencia Ramos assisting again, Black Hole Net doing its part. The third period turned into a track meet. Florencia Ramos opened it herself at 2:34, Martina Vega assisting, before Lázaro Valdés answered for Havana at 4:15, Yordanis Sánchez assisting—Black Hole Net working for both sides that night. Ignacio Herrera restored Ushuaia's two-goal edge at 6:41, Vega picking up her second assist, and Dayana Rodríguez pulled Havana back within one at 10:46, Adonis Reyes returning the earlier favor. It wasn't enough. Tomás Peralta and Adonis Reyes fought in the final minute as Havana pressed and came up short, 4-3. Florencia Ramos finished with a goal and two assists, the engine behind the upset, and Havana's favorites' tag meant nothing once Ushuaia found their legs.
PRA 1 — VLA 5
Vladivostok were the correct favorites at 1.68 against Prague's 2.20, and The Stone Opera saw them prove it early and often. Nikita Sorokin opened the scoring at 10:17, Igor Zaytsev assisting, and Kirill Morozov doubled it at 10:56, Denis Baranov assisting, before Maxim Petrov and Barbora Králová fought to close out a lopsided first period. Artyom Volkov made it 3-0 early in the second, Baranov picking up his second assist, and David Růžička and Tatiana Novikova traded majors in between.
Prague finally got on the board in the third when Pavel Krejčí scored at 4:07, Martin Procházka assisting, but it was a brief consolation. Ruslan Kozlov struck twice in the final minute—both at 14:59, Igor Zaytsev assisting on each—to run the score to 5-1. Zaytsev finished with three assists and Denis Baranov added two of his own, the pair quietly authoring most of Vladivostok's offense. Twelve hits and three fights made for a moderately physical night, but this one was mostly about the scoreboard: Vladivostok's favorites' tag held up from the opening whistle to the last-minute flurry that put it away.
NRB 3 — MCM 0
A quiet, efficient shutout at The Ochre Reserve, with Nairobi's 1.82 favorite tag holding up against a McMurdo side that never generated much. Amara Osei broke through late in the first at 10:51, Brian Kipchoge assisting, and Kipchoge returned the favor early in the second, scoring himself at 1:39, Osei assisting, to make it 2-0. Nyambura Kamau served a Sixth trip in between and came back lighter, shedding Awake.
Kipchoge completed his multi-goal night at 14:35, Peter Kimani assisting, to make it 3-0, and that was all the offense either side would produce—McMurdo managed only fourteen hits and never seriously threatened the scoreline. Diego Fuentes and Akinyi Ochieng fought late in the third in the game's only real flashpoint, both taking a trip to The Sixth and back without incident. Kipchoge finished with two goals and an assist, the clear best player on the ice, and Nairobi's clean sheet was as much about their goaltending as their offense. Nothing flashy, exactly what the odds called for.
BUS 6 — CAI 0
Busan delivered the matchday's most one-sided result, shutting out Cairo 6-0 at The Frozen Dock as the 1.73 favorites. Dong-wook Yoon opened the scoring at 8:50, Ji-eun Shin assisting, Black Hole Net doing its part, and the lead held through a first period that saw So-hee Hwang and Seung-ho Jung both take turns through The Sixth. Sang-hoon Bae doubled the lead early in the second at 5:15, Yoon returning the assist, before Hye-jin Choi and Khaled Naguib fought to close out the frame.
The third period was a formality. Jae-won Kim made it 3-0 at 1:22, Bae assisting, and Yuna Kang followed forty-two seconds later at 2:04, Hyun-woo Kwon assisting—another Black Hole Net goal—before Ji-eun Shin struck again at 3:18, Eun-bi Han assisting, to make it 5-0. Min-jun Lee capped the rout with a top-shelf finish at 10:14, Soo-yeon Park assisting, for the 6-0 final. Yoon, Shin, and Bae each finished with a goal and an assist, evenly spreading the damage across Busan's lineup, while Cairo never found an answer at either end of the ice. Chalk, delivered as cleanly as it gets.
Twelve games, two real upsets, and Wellington's clean sheet over Guadalajara might be the story of the day—proof again that odds are a guide, not a guarantee. C'est Hockay. À la prochaine.
—JM Laflèche, Voice of Hockay
Le Council acknowledges that Matchday 42 occurred. No overtime periods were required across twelve games, a symmetry Le Permanent Council notes without further comment. The record has been updated accordingly.