Montreal Victoire win first PWHL title with 4-0 Game 4 shutout

Abby Roque put Montreal over the top with two goals, Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 23 shots and the Victoire claimed the first Professional Women’s Hockey League championship by beating the Ottawa Charge 4-0 in Game 4 at Canadian Tire Centre. The win sealed the Walter Cup Finals 3-1 and gave Montreal a milestone that reached well beyond one trophy: it became the first Canadian team to lift the league’s title.

Montreal had entered the night with a 2-1 series lead after opening the finals at home with two overtime wins, then watching Ottawa stay alive with a dramatic 2-1 comeback in Game 3. The Charge forced that game back to Ottawa by scoring twice in the final five minutes and getting 27 saves from Gwyneth Philips, but the momentum did not carry over. Home teams had won the previous five Walter Cup Finals games, yet Montreal broke that pattern on the road and finished the series with a shutout in front of an Ottawa crowd that had seen its team lose the title round for a second straight year.

Roque scored the game-winner at 3:49 of the second period off assists from Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey, then added a short-handed goal at 9:58 of the third to bury Ottawa’s comeback hopes. Maggie Flaherty made it 3-0 at 13:54, and Lina Ljungblom finished the scoring after a turnover. Montreal spent much of the night killing penalties, but its structure never cracked, and Desbiens earned her second playoff shutout to close the door.

The victory carried broader weight for a league still building its identity and business case after its first full season. Montreal had already shown its ceiling by eliminating the two-time defending champion Minnesota Frost in the semifinal, then backed that up by taking control of a finals matchup in which it also dominated the regular-season and all-time series trends. The Victoire finished the 2025-26 season series against Ottawa with 10-2 in points and held a 31-14 all-time edge, a sign that the final was not a fluke but the product of sustained roster strength.

Poulin, who was later named the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP, tied for the postseason lead with eight points, including two goals and six assists. Even with the league’s most recognized scorer missing a stretch when Roque struck for the first time, Montreal found production through depth and timing, the kind of evidence the PWHL needs as it fights for staying power, fan demand and credibility on a national stage.