Victorious: How Montreal brought the Walter Cup to Canada for the 1st time

When the buzzer sounded on the Montreal Victoire's Walter Cup victory, Marie-Philip Poulin tossed her gloves and stick and looked up at the Canadian Tire Centre's rafters.

The statistics will show it took the Victoire nine playoff games to win the franchise's first Walter Cup, clinching the trophy in Game 4 with a 4-0 win over Ottawa. They'll show that Poulin, who was named the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP, scored eight points in those nine games.

But that won't tell the full story of how the Walter Cup came to Canada for the first time, and how the Victoire's captain finally got to hoist the 35-pound, sterling silver trophy.

"She's been our leader the whole year," defender Erin Ambrose said about Poulin. "She's the most unbelievable hockey player and the best hockey player to ever play this game. She deserves this more than anybody in the world."

It took nine years and another league folding and plenty of uncertainty for Poulin to win another league championship in Montreal.

There were years in between when the path back to this moment seemed unclear, when the best player in the world didn't have a place to regularly play, but she still worked toward a moment like this.

Montréal Victoire wins Walter Cup to cap great 3rd season for PWHL

Several years ago, there was a trip to the Victoire's practice rink in Verdun in boots and a hard hat alongside Victoire GM Danièle Sauvageau, who had a vision of what pro hockey in Montreal could look like. The PWHL didn't exist then, but Sauvageau would be the person to bring this team together when the moment came.

Two disappointing first-round playoff exits came before this. After the team lost in Boston 2024, the look of disappointment on the captain's face haunted head coach Kori