Montreal facing Ottawa - Photo @ Ellen BondThe Montreal Victoire, by virtue of finishing first overall in the PWHL regular season now have the right to select their opening round opponent for the PWHL playoffs.
“We get the privilege to choose our opponent, which is not an easy decision," said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. "All the teams are hard to play against. And then you pick an opponent, and they probably feel a little bit of extra ammo coming at us. So, for us, we know we have to go through everybody anyway. We know that whoever we decide to pick, it's going to be a hard-fought battle."
Last season the Toronto Sceptres chose the Minnesota Frost as their first round opponent, with the Frost upsetting Toronto.
This year, Montreal gets to take a crack at choosing with Minnesota or Ottawa as their options.
This season they outscored Ottawa 15-12, Toronto, 17-15, and Minnesota 15-14. Facing Minnesota they were also 4-2 with one win coming in a shootout. Against Ottawa, Montreal went an identical 4-2, with one game decided in a shootout.
In their past 10 games, the Minnesota Frost were 5-5, while Ottawa went only slightly better at 6-4.
Given the nearly identical results against each team, Montreal may look at recency, both in how they managed the potential teams, and how those teams fared league-wide.
Ottawa and Minnesota, despite finishing 3-4 in the standings respectively, both finished with 44 points.
Montreal may choose to reduce their opening round travel by selecting Ottawa with the two cities only two hours apart by bus. Montreal had the best goal differential against Ottawa, although the Charge did win their last two meetings. Ottawa would be the logical choice and to minimize travel facing the Minnesota Frost who are entering playoffs on a high.