Victoire a game away from clinching Walter Cup after 2-1 OT win over Charge

Allan Bassi and Teo Blidaru aren’t just fans of the Montreal Victoire, the team is the inspiration behind their five-week-old daughter’s name.

The couple brought baby Victoria in a carrier for pivotal Game 2 of the Walter Cup final against the Ottawa Charge at Laval’s Place Bell on Saturday afternoon. They proudly noted it wasn’t her first time attending — and Victoria was fan of the match at a previous game.

Victoire’s Maggie Flaherty celebrates her overtime goal against the Ottawa Charge in Game 2 of the PWHL Walter Cup finals in Laval on Saturday, May 16, 2026.

“This was sort of our shared hobby during the pregnancy, so it was like a great excuse to get out and everything,” Bassi said. “And, yeah, it was very serendipitous.”

They both feel it’s important to support women’s sports, and explained they “got hooked” after coming to a few games, so they bought season tickets.

“Just the community aspect of the fans, of the players, everyone — there is definitely more of a family thing,” Blidaru said.

The top-seeded Victoire is hoping to capture its first-ever PWHL championship and this series also marks the first time it’s an all-Canadian matchup. Montreal took the series lead with an overtime goal to win 3-2 in Game 1.

Victoire’s Hayley Scamurra (16) tries to score a rebound past a diving Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips in Game 2. Evan Buhler / Montreal Gazette

The Charge took Game 2 by storm, with Sarah Wozniewicz finding the first goal in the first period, only for Montreal’s Kati Tabin to tie it up at 0:32 in the second. The Victoire snapped up Game 2 in overtime, with Maggie Flaherty scoring at 14:12.

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada was decked out in a Victoire jersey for the occasion, saying she was there to “encourage this extraordinary women’s team.”

“All of Quebec is behind them,” she said in an interview with The Gazette, adding the Victoire “gives young girls hope to also play sports, to play a sport that, for a very long time, was perceived as a men’s sport.”

Game 2 drew a much larger crowd than the previous match. Game 1 of the series happened to coincide with the Montreal Canadiens-Buffalo Sabres’ Game 5 on Thursday night.

This time, fans filled out both the upper and lower bowls of Place Bell for what could be the Victoire’s last home game in the final round of the playoffs. In the last row, some spectators were on their feet for the duration of the overtime.

Martinez Ferrada said she was proud to see so many fans in attendance Saturday to support the Victoire.

“I think there is hockey fever right now,” she said. “I am happy to see that the fever isn’t just for the Canadiens, but also for the Victoire.”

While the crowd was mostly a sea of deep burgundy, it wasn’t only Victoire fans on hand.

Patrick Farley was among a group of proud Charge fans who “jumped on the bus at 9 a.m. this morning and drove all the way here.” He described Game 2 as a “pretty big one,” adding Ottawa would be “very well represented” in the stands.

“The energy in the bus was very strong, very exciting,” he said. “We have kazoos. We have noisemakers.”

Victoire’s Erin Ambrose (23) spins away from the forecheck of Ottawa Charge Fanuza Kadirova (71) in Game 2.

Amy Paisley, who also made the trip for Game 1, said “we came just to support the Charge, be here as one big Charge fan base, be here as a Charge family.”

“Honestly, I can’t be too mad about who wins and who loses because they’re both Canadian teams,” she said. “It’s amazing just seeing both teams play in the Walter Cup this year.”

Tim Fox and his children Lucy and Wilbur made the trip by train from southern Ontario to see the Victoire in action.

“Lucy has been a fan of the Victoire since they started,” Fox said. “And we thought, when are you going to get to see a playoff game at home?”

Lucy, 13, plays defence on her own hockey team. She said her favourite player is captain Marie-Philip Poulin.

“She’s just the best at everything,” she said. “There’s nothing not to love, really.”

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