The Montreal Victoire appears to be set to start the season without new local favourite Jade Downie-Landry, but that will give rookie Maya Labad a chance to get her first taste of real PWHL hockey.
According to Pat Laprade, Jade Downie-Landry will need to start the season on LTIR following an injury sustained in an off-ice training session. As a result, Laprade mentions that Mayad Labad will be signed to a Standard Player Agreement after being initially assigned to a reserve role.
The Montreal Victoire drafted the 23-year-old Mascouche native in the fifth round of the latest PWHL draft. She was the only Quebecer drafted that day and has had a successful career in the NCAA with the Quinnipiac Bobcats. In four years with the Connecticut side, she gathered 98 points in 147 games.
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She became just the fifth player in Bobcats history to reach the 50-career-goal milestone, finishing her NCAA career with 51 lamplighters. She recorded her first NCAA hat trick in her senior year and was tied for the team lead in game-winning goals with four.
While this injury will no doubt come as a blow to Downie-Landry, who was looking forward to making her debut with her hometown team in the PWHL after spending the last two years in New York for the Sirens, she scored 13 points in 24 games in the inaugural season. Still, she could only muster six in 30 games in the second year.
Of course, on the flip side, the injury will allow NCAA graduate Labad to get some much-needed experience in a league that’s much tougher and rougher than what she’s been used to in College.
The Victoire will start their season on Sunday at 1:00 PM when they visit the Boston Fleet at the Tsonga Center. During the preseason, the Montreal club beat Boston twice by identical 3-2 scores, with the first game going to overtime. You can catch Sunday’s game on RDS, Sportsnet and NESN.