Victoire chooses to play Charge in PWHL Semifinals
The regular season champs have made their decision.
On Sunday, the Montreal Victoire announced they will face the Ottawa Charge in the opening round of the 2025 PWHL Playoffs.
A Canadian showdown is confirmed! 🗣️@PWHL_Montreal has selected the @PWHL_Ottawa as their PWHL Playoffs presented by SharkNinja opponent. | La @PWHL_Montreal choisi la @PWHL_Ottawa comme adversaire pour les séries éliminatoires de la LPHF, présentées par SharkNinja. pic.twitter.com/O340wZ95Kr
— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) May 4, 2025During a live special of the Jocks in Jills podcast, Victoire general manager Danièle Sauvageau explained that this was a team decision.
“We just went down,” Sauvageau said. “We included the staff, the players. I think this reflection shows unity and shows, based on who we are…all of our staff and athletes, especially the athletes, have a voice. Obviously, with gathering all the information, we come to this reflecting decision.”
It was an unsurprising choice for the Victoire, who finished first in the league standings at the end of the regular season, earning the right to choose their opponent for the semifinals. Though the Charge ended up finishing third, sitting ahead of the fourth-place Minnesota Frost thanks to a tiebreaker, Montreal has played well against Ottawa, winning four of the six regular-season matchups. However, the Charge won the last two meetings.
The Victoire also went 4-2 against the Frost during the regular season.
The Victoire finished first, five points ahead of the second-place Toronto Sceptres. They are powered by captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who was the league’s leading goal-scorer with 19 goals this year. Though they had some injury woes, including losing Ann-Renée Desbiens before the last international break and having some sluggish play in the second half of the season, the Victoire was able to stay ahead of the pack.
Montreal is looking to erase the disappointment of last year’s playoffs, when they were swept by Boston in three thrilling games.
The Charge had to win their way into their first-ever playoff berth, beating the Sceptres in overtime on Saturday to advance beyond the regular season. They also lost their No. 1 goaltender, as Emerance Maschmeyer has been on long-term injured reserve. Yet, rookie netminder and world championship gold medalist Gwyneth Philips has been exceptional in her absence.
Minnesota finished fourth for the second year in a row, beating the Boston Fleet on the final day to get into the playoffs. Last year, Toronto chose to play them in the first round. The plan backfired, as Minnesota went on to win the semifinal series in five games before going on to beat Boston to claim the inaugural Walter Cup.
The playoffs will begin on Wednesday night, with the Sceptres hosting the Frost at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The Victoire and Charge kickstart their series at Bell Place in Laval on Thursday.