Ann-Renée Desbiens: ‘I Was Pretty Confident’ About Getting A Chance To Play

She’s been Canada’s starting goalie for the last few years, but when Ann-Renée Desbiens suffered a lower-body injury in a PWHL game on March 18, her status was unclear heading into this year’s IIHF Women’s World Championship, with the door possibly opening for 27-year-old Kristen Campbell or 21-year-old Eve Gascon to audition for the job.

However, when Desbiens travelled with the Canadian team to Europe ahead of the tournament, she figured she’d be playing at some point.

“I was pretty confident,” the 31-year-old Montreal Victoire netminder said following a 17-save shutout against Switzerland in Canada’s second game. “You don’t want to bring a goalie to an event if you don’t know if they’re going to be able to play or not. It’s a tough position and you only have two extras in case something goes bad, so once we made the decision that I was coming, we were all pretty confident that things were gonna go pretty smooth here.”

Campbell played Canada’s opening game and shut out Finland, but with the Canadians facing off against the Swiss less than 18 hours after their first game ended, the choice to go with Desbiens was logical.

“There was a chance we were gonna come back with Campbell and we had some conversations about going with Gascon,” said Canadian coach Troy Ryan. “But we thought, instead of possibly throwing Ann into that U.S. game or Czechia game, it would be better to have a little bit of a barometer on that now, and we thought this would be the best game to do that.”

Ryan didn’t regret the decision. Although the Canadian offense eventually woke up, the first period was fairly even and Desbiens had to be sharp. She made 12 of her 17 stops in the opening 20 minutes.

“Some of (my teammates) might have slept a little less than I did, so just to be there for them like they’ve been there for me when I’ve needed them as well,” she said. “It’s really a team effort.

“We were everywhere in the second period and I think we definitely played more as a team, just pressuring everywhere, all over the ice, putting pucks behind their D, making them turn around,” Desbiens described. “It’s never a great feeling when you’re facing the glass and you hear (Blayre) Turnbull, (Emily) Clark and (Brianne) Jenner coming at you.”

After two days off, Canada faces another back-to-back situation with games against the USA and the host Czechs on Sunday and  Monday. One might guess that Campbell and Desbiens will each see one more start in the group stage but Ryan wouldn’t confirm that.

“We’re not sure,” the coach said. “We’ll probably discuss it here a little bit. Right now, we’re looking at being able to have two of them and possibly three ready to be called on at any time.”

Regardless if she plays in both, one, or neither of those games, Desbiens expects them both to be fun games.

“I know the fans are going to be incredible against Czechia, as they’ve shown so far in the tournament,” she said. “They’ve shown up, they’ve been loud, they’ve been fun, so we know the atmosphere’s going to be there for an exciting game and you don’t need motivation to play against the U.S. If you do, you’re probably not in the right place.”