Before jumping on the ice at the Verdun Auditorium on Friday afternoon, Mikyla Grant-Mentis, by her own admission, had forgotten that she was playing against her former team.
Grant-Mentis was the main architect of a 6-3 Victory victory over the Ottawa Charge in both teams’ second and final outing at the Professional Women’s Hockey League preseason mini-tournament.
The same two teams will meet again on Nov. 30, at Place Bell in Laval, to begin the regular season.
Grant-Mentis opened the scoring in the first period, then scored the eventual game-winner at 11:47 of the third period against goaltender Gwyneth Philips.
Her first goal, scored on a breakaway, was beautiful. The second was strange, because the puck, coming from a shot from the blue line by defender Kati Tabin, hit her face protector before branching into the net.
“No,” Grant-Mentis replied when asked if she had ever scored a goal in such circumstances.
“And, preferably, I wouldn’t want it to happen again. But it was a beautiful one,” she then said, laughing.
Grant-Mentis arrived in Montreal towards the end of the 2024 season after starting the campaign with the Ottawa team.
“I feel good in Montreal. I’m here now and there’s no doubt that this is the place I needed to be. Being here since the end of last season and the start of the season, I’ve really become the player I need to be, for the team and for myself.”
Tabin (1-1) and Maureen Murphy (1-1) also scored two points on Friday.
Murphy scored the only Montreal goal in a 3-1 loss to the Boston Fleet on Wednesday.
Gabrielle David and Alexandra Labelle, two Quebecers looking for contracts with the Victoire, scored the other goals for Montreal.
Labelle finished the mini-tournament with a point, but she made her presence felt, tying Murphy for most shots on goal at seven.
After the match, captain Marie-Philip Poulin spoke highly of Labelle.
“You see what she brings. She has heart. She’s here for the right reasons, she’s an incredible teammate, I have nothing but good things to say about her. We see that she wants to be part of the team,” Poulin said.
Elaine Chuli started the game in front of the Victoire net and was thwarted by Danielle Serdachny and Rebecca Leslie in the second half.
At the start of the third period, Chuli gave way to Marlène Boissonnault, who allowed a goal to Tereza Vanisova, a former member of the Montreal team, in the middle of the third period.
The Victoire finished the match with 34 shots, including 14 in the third period. After Vanisova’s goal, Montreal scored three straight, including two in 52 seconds.
“If we only talk about the match today, I thought we started very well and then I challenged the group to correct a few details between the second and third periods,” coach Kori Cheverie said. She also praised the effort of players who are fighting for available positions within the Montreal team.
Chuli and Boissonneault received 26 shots from the Charge, who beat the Boston Fleet 6-1 on Thursday.
Among the Victoire players who were in Wednesday’s match against the Fleet, attackers Laura Stacey and Abigail Boreen, defender Erin Ambrose as well as goalkeepers Ann-Renée Desbiens and Sandra Abstreiter were not in uniform on Friday.
Defender Amanda Boulier, injured at the start of the training camp, played her first match.
The Victoire ends the preseason tournament with a 1-1 record. Next Wednesday, at 5 p.m. at the latest, general manager Danièle Sauvageau will have to submit to the league her list of 23 players, plus three reserves.
Currently, the Victoire has 19 players who have signed compliant contracts.
“In this league, time is a luxury, and we’re going to take the time we need because it’s not going to be easy,” Cheverie said of the final decisions to form the group.
The Victoire has scheduled training sessions for Monday and Tuesday in Verdun.