Year after year, in all team sports, at the dawn of training camp, we invariably wonder how many recruits will succeed in carving out a place.
When a franchise must be built from A to Z, the question arises differently. At the camp of the Montreal Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF) team, for example, there were 7 players, out of a total of 31, who played in the university ranks last season. We can therefore assume that some of them will be in uniform during the inaugural match on January 2. Rather, it is their place in the main training which becomes a strong point of interest.
Enter Maureen Murphy. In training on Tuesday, on the ice at the Verdun Auditorium, she played on the same trio as Marie-Philip Poulin. Which, we can argue without creating controversy, is not the worst of affectations.
The 5’4” American small forward is coming off a remarkable NCAA career split between Providence College and Northeastern University. In 2022-2023, she was part of the list of 10 athletes nominated for the Patty-Kazmaier Award recognizing the American university circuit’s Most Outstanding Player.
Last September, the Montreal team made him their third-round pick in the LPHF draft, after Erin Ambrose and Kristin O’Neill, both members of the Canadian national team.
Even if she does not yet officially have a contract in her pocket, she is clearly in a position to land an important position in her team’s attack.
“I get asked to be a shooter, but honestly I’d be happy in any role; If Kori [Cheverie, head coach] asks me to refill the water bottles, I’ll do it! “, Murphy exclaimed with a laugh on Tuesday.
Cheverie, aptly, described the attacker as a creative and fast player, well served by “her hands and her shot”. “She is young, she has the chance to learn from more experienced players. We are pleased with his progress so far. »
“She’s a super hard-working player, who will give her 100% in all situations,” underlined Maude Poulin-Labelle, former teammate at Northeastern who is also fighting for a position in Montreal.
“She’s a complete player: that’s why she had success in the NCAA and why she was drafted so early,” continued the Quebecer. She has the talent and the skills, but also a whole work ethic. »
Regarding the opportunity that presented itself to her to find herself on a trio alongside Poulin and the Czech Tereza Vasinova, Murphy admitted that she had to “skate very fast to keep up with them”, but that she could not “be more grateful” for what happens to her.
A few minutes after being selected by the Montreal team in mid-September, Maureen Murphy told La Presse that she was a little in shock at the idea of emigrating, having been based in Boston for several years. and who would not have hated making their professional debut there.
She knew virtually nothing about Montreal. The only people she knew were Jordan Harris and his friend Codie, two Northeastern alumni.
Two months later, here she is enthusiastically talking about how harmoniously her integration into a new group, in a new city, is going. Her teammates Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey went to take a look at her future apartment before she moved in, which says a lot about the level of closeness that the veterans want to establish between the players of this team to be built .
“It’s pretty incredible,” said the 23-year-old. They took care of me as a person, not just as a player. I’m grateful to all the girls [on the team] and all the staff. Everyone helps me… especially with French! »
On the ice, the transition was not too difficult, according to her. Last season, Murphy played a few games with the American team as part of the Rivalry Series, and she trained with some of their players before camp began in Montreal.
Competing against older players will “obviously” require an adjustment, but she does not feel behind in terms of preparation, she assured.
In fact, the situation of female hockey recruits differs from that of their male counterparts. Since they generally complete their school training in full, players arrive at the professional level older; at 23 or 24, rather than 19 or 20.
“These years at university allow you to develop as players, but also to grow as people,” confirms Erin Ambrose, one of the team’s seniors. This puts you in a better position to be successful. »
“It gives us the chance to mature,” says goalkeeper Ann-Renée Desbiens. All the girls here have already lived alone, have already moved. It makes everything easier. My years at university were some of the best of my life and prepared me well for what was to come. »
That’s exactly what Maureen Murphy exudes: a confident player, ready for the next step in her career. For now, it will go through Montreal and not Boston. It’s up to this maverick to find her ease, we suspect that she won’t complain about it.
The LPHF finally unveiled a first portion of its calendar on Tuesday. A very small portion, in fact, but it’s already more than the day before. We thus learned that the inaugural meeting of the league would take place on January 1 with the visit of New York to Toronto, and that the Montreal team would make its debut the next day in Ottawa. General manager Danièle Sauvageau’s team will then travel to Minnesota on January 6 before playing its first home game on January 13 against Boston. It is not yet known when the remainder of the 24-game team schedule will be revealed, nor when or how tickets will go on sale. Learning when the season will start, however, gives the players the feeling that “everything is becoming a little more real,” says Maude Poulin-Labelle.
After injuring her “lower body” two weeks ago during a Rivalry Series game, defenseman Erin Ambrose laced up her skates for the first two times, Monday and Tuesday, for low-intensity workouts . Seeing her on the ice, we would argue that her return to the game is not imminent. To reporters on site, she did not want to confirm whether or not she will accompany her team to Utica, New York, where the league’s six clubs will travel next week for a preseason mini-tournament. Ambrose, however, believes she will be able to play in the January 2 game in Ottawa.
Like the other teams on the circuit, the Montreal club will have to reduce its roster from 31 to 27 players by Wednesday. A short waiver period will then allow all GMs to invite players released by their initial team, with a view to the Utica mini-tournament. The final rosters of 23 players and two reserves must be determined by December 11 at the latest. In Montreal, we can expect that the cuts will mainly, if not exclusively, concern the forwards and goaltenders, since only eight defensemen were invited to training camp and, of those, Erin Ambrose was not not yet skated with the main group.
