PWHL Montreal eager to set women's attendance record: 'I don’t want it in Toronto'

MONTREAL — Ann-Renée Desbiens isn't comfortable with Toronto holding the attendance record for a women's hockey game.

The goalie for Montreal's Professional Women's Hockey League team believes the title should belong to her home province.

And Toronto's rival city.

"I want it in Montreal. I don't want it in Toronto," Desbiens said without hesitation Wednesday at the Verdun Auditorium. "Any time Montreal can beat Toronto in any area of life, I'm pretty happy about it."

Toronto set the attendance record of 19,285 when its PWHL club hosted Montreal at Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 16.

Montreal, much to Desbiens' delight, will have a chance to raise the bar even higher after the league announced her team would host Toronto on April 20 — a Saturday — at the Bell Centre, home of the NHL's Canadiens, in a game being dubbed as the "Duel at the Top."

Desbiens might consider setting her phone to "do not disturb" given the high level of interest.

"Started ringing pretty quickly with people looking for tickets. I was like, 'There are 20,000 available, try to find some yourself,'" deadpanned the netminder from Clermont, Que. "But really, everyone's excited to be there, to come support us.

"To have that kind of platform is a pleasure."

Montreal alternate captains Laura Stacey of Kleinburg, Ont., and Erin Ambrose of Keswick, Ont., grew up bleeding blue for the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, and with that came a dislike for Montreal and the Canadiens.

Stacey's roots go even deeper. Her grandfather, King Clancy, played for the Leafs in the 1930s and her family still has season tickets.

Despite how special it was to set the current record in Toronto, Ambrose said Scotiabank Arena can't compare to the Bell Centre's "electric" atmosphere on a