A player’s wife experienced visible panic during an on-ice injury, while the injured player described being in full panic mode. Medical personnel were urgently sought as the injured player was examined and supported while leaving the ice. The game atmosphere at Place Bell felt uneasy, with low attendance for the Walter Cup Finals and a quiet crowd. Players appeared exhausted, and the team’s effort seemed half-hearted. Missed calls by referees contributed to frustration, and only a few players showed consistent hustle. The injured player was noted for rallying her team in high-pressure moments, including past international competition.
"“When one of my teammates gets caught, I get fired up,” Marie-Philip Poulin told LSTW last year. “But when it’s Laura, my heart drops. I want to react and it’s hard not to, but I can't.” That Poulin was reacting-bending over her wife who laid crumpled on the ice, frantically waving over medical personnel, skating said medical personnel to Stacey as fast as she could, staying with her the whole time she was being examined, begging for them to call an ambulance, giving her a shoulder to lean on as she wobbled off the ice several excruciating minutes later-made me feel nauseous."
"“I knew she was in full panic mode, and I was a little bit too,” Stacey said of the moment on Wednesday night. The vibes had already been bad at Place Bell. The crowd was just 6,104 for the first game of the Walter Cup Finals, apparently the lowest attendance the Montreal Victoire have ever had at the arena. It made enough sense-the game had been officially scheduled just two days prior, plus the Habs were playing at the same time downtown-but I didn't like the eerie quiet, not at all."
"It felt like everything the Victoire did on the ice was half-hearted. The lack of bite, combined with a truly atrocious number of missed calls by the refs-my seat neighbor and I agreed they must have forgotten their whistles at home-gave the game a foul stench. The only Montreal player I saw playing with hustle, aside from the ever-steady Ann-Renée Desbiens in net, was Stacey."
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