Montreal Victoire activate Amanda Boulier off long-term injured reserve
Some reinforcements are returning to the Montreal Victoire lineup.
On Friday, the team announced it has activated defender Amanda Boulier off long-term injured reserve. In response, the Victoire removed defender Catherine Daoust from its main roster and placed her back on the team’s reserve list.
Boulier is expected to be in the lineup on Friday night as the Victoire get set to host the Minnesota Frost in a battle between the top two teams in the PWHL.
The 31-year-old has been out of the lineup since Dec. 21, when she took a high hit from Toronto Sceptres rookie defender Rylind MacKinnon. MacKinnon caught Boulier up near her head, leading to Boulier exiting the game prematurely.
MacKinnon was given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for an illegal check to the head. She was later suspended for one game for the incident.
Boulier came to Montreal via trade at last year’s deadline and has brought stability to the team’s blue line. She isn’t the biggest scoring threat, having scored just once in her PWHL career, but the defender widely known as one of the best to have ever played in the defunct Premier Hockey Federation has a defensive awareness that is one of the best in the league.
In four games with the Victoire this season, Boulier has one assist and an even plus/minus. In 27 career games in the PWHL, she has one goal and 10 points.
Daoust played in just one game after signing a standard player agreement, appearing in Montreal’s 3-2 loss to the Boston Fleet in Seattle on Jan. 5. The 29-year-old was signed after Boulier was placed on LTIR. Daoust appeared in all 24 games for Montreal during its inaugural season, scoring a goal and an assist.
The Victoire (4-2-1-2) is second in the PWHL, three points back of the Frost for first place.