Poulin, Victoire eliminate Frost to reach Walter Cup Final

Who else but Captain Clutch?

A late power-play goal from Marie-Philip Poulin gave the Montreal Victoire a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Frost in Game 5 of their first-round series Tuesday night, sending the Victoire to the Walter Cup Final and handing the Frost its first playoff elimination in franchise history.

Montreal will now face the Ottawa Charge in the league final, who eliminated the Boston Fleet on Sunday.

Ann-Renee Desbiens had a career game in net for the Victoire, stopping 25 of 26 shots faced, including all eight in the third period as Montreal held on for the win.

Frost goaltender Maddie Rooney made 15 saves in a losing effort.

Game 5 started with Minnesota dominating the home team, controlling possession through the first half of the opening frame. At the 7:42 mark with the shots 9-2 in favor of the Frost, Victoire forward Catherine Dubois hacked at the puck off a faceoff won by Poulin, which deflected off the stick of Minnesota’s Elizabeth Giguere and flew over Maddie Rooney’s shoulder to make it 1-0 Montreal.

The Frost finished the period down by one goal, despite outshooting the Victoire 13-5.

Minnesota continued to pepper Desbiens with shots in the second period, and eventually, they broke through.

Frost forward Samantha Cogan, whose last PWHL goal came May 5, 2024 as a member of the Toronto Sceptres, finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Abby Hustler and Britta Curl-Salemme and buried it five-hole to tie the game 1-1 midway through the second.

Minnesota’s Giguere took a hooking penalty two minutes into the third period, and it was the one they call Captain Clutch who played the role of hero. Poulin took a pass from Erin Ambrose down low and with a shot from the goal line, roofed it over Rooney to make it 2-1.

This is a developing story. More to come…

Check out PWHL playoff hub here

Read Daily Faceoff’s Game 1, Game 2, Game 3 and Game 4 recaps here

Read Tyler Kuehl’s Game 1, Game 2, Game 3 and Game 4 recaps of the series between the Boston Fleet and Ottawa Charge