Amour Victoire!

 

I am in love with this little singing puck! It drives the Zamboni too!

PWHL Walter Cup Playoff Finals Game 3 is tonight, May 18^th at 6 PM EDT. Montreal Victoire leads 2-0 over Ottawa, and so tonight could see a winner crowned.

Semi-Finals Re-Cap:

The Boston Fleet lost to the Ottawa Charge in the Walter Cup semifinals, alas, some really bad luck in game 4, the puck just trickling in across the red line behind Aerin Frankel to give the Charge the go-ahead goal.

Montreal Victoire came out ahead of the Minnesota Frost to queue up an all-Canada final showdown between Montreal and Ottawa.

Game 5 between Victoire and Frost came down to three plays.

Victoire goalie Anne-Renée Desbiens deftly pulled a puck back with her stick, that was gently rolling about to cross the red line.

Later she blocked a puck, throwing herself sideways, catching it in her glove. Such athleticism.

Marie-Philip Poulin's clutch game-winning shot was at an almost impossible angle, just shy of being parallel to the crease, into the top shelf of the net, over the shoulder of Frost goalie Maddie Rooney. Akin to kicking a field goal from the side touch line.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYQ1Lv7SDu8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Oh Canada, pitting Montreal against Ottawa. Is that a rivalry? Hmmm. Last year, Victoire was the number one seed and picked Ottawa as their first-round opponent, which Ottawa took as a dis, and went on to beat them.

Ottawa has been in the finals twice, losing twice to the Frost.

This is the first time for Victoire to make it to the finals. Finally.

Still rooting for the Boston Fleet to be back in it next year!

 

FINALS

Game 1 on May 14th Victoire took in OT. Ottawa led 2 to 1, but then with 28 seconds left, Laura Stacey took a hard hit into the boards, some sort of injury to her left side. The stadium went silent as she lay in pain, and was then helped off the ice by a trainer and her captain Poulin.

With only 2 sec left, Victoire Nicole Gosling ("the goose") scores, tying it up 2-2, sending it into OT.

After the intermission, Stacey skates out onto the ice, and the stadium roars. It's enough. Victoire is fired up and scores a couple minutes into OT. A loose puck in front of the net gets slapped off Abby Rouque's face mask and ricochets into the net.

 #RicochetRoque

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYXG4FRDXKO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYX79lGxzfn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Game 2 on May 16^th also went Victoire’s way, winning 2-1 in OT. But I missed the OT period, because I was on my way to the Banshees rugby game.

AMOUR

There is so much love on these teams. Reminds me again of the Olympics. And Beantown. The 2013 Red Sox, Brady's Patriots.

And on Victoire - so much love. I mean, my first loyalty is to the Fleet... but I just learned that Captain Marie-Philip Poulin and Alternate Captain Laura Stacey are married! Making the moment as Poulin helps Stacey off the ice all the more poignant.

How could I not know that? Once again, I have been living under a rock, WORKING all the time, with no discretionary time.

But I am so happy for them. Finding love, safety, acceptance, a partner in crime who understands you... It’s not guaranteed, and you’re so lucky when you find it.

Art imitates life...

Of course there is the whole Heated Rivalry series of books, which I have not read yet. Romance is having its moment. There’s a bookstore in Harvard Square, Lovestruck Books, where the entire store is devoted to romance novels!!

Lovestruck Books outdoor patio in Harvard Square

Gay male hockey players are such a novelty, and yet, women’s hockey seems to be fostering such a wonderful sense of inclusiveness even rivaling rugby. Girls who like to play hard, fast contact sports. Plenty of straight women, but also plenty not.

Maybe the real revolution is straight women being comfortable with not-straight women.

No sooner have my fingers danced across the keyboard and tippety-tapped this out, when I stumble over the social media news (to me) that a PWHL player was swept up in controversy about her Twitter likes and posts, accused of being homophobic and transphobic. Yes, you can apologize for the posts, but thank you, now we know how you really feel. Maybe this one person is an anomaly. Or maybe hockey is not quite yet the universally safe, inclusive, and accepting space I thought it was. Or is still becoming.

Only rugby.

Maybe the stigma and stereotype associated with rugby kept away any woman who wasn't comfortable and secure in her own skin. Which is a good and bad thing. Good, in that it created this safe space. Sad, in that they missed out on playing, and rugby missed out on what they could have contributed to the game.

YouTube thinks it knows what I want to see (and is annoyingly right), queuing up this short interview with MPP and Stacey. It’s only four minutes.  Please watch it.

https://youtu.be/_F5gzhFvdbY?si=-VUobcexhLTNbiNE

“It’s probably the most myself I’ve ever been,” she says, through tears.

How this breaks my heart, how fearful they were! But as public figures, they have much more to lose, their careers, their livelihoods, plus worrying about how the public would react. Hockey is everything to them.

As a B-side hooker for Beantown, I definitely didn’t have any endorsements to worry about. Not that I'd have had to worry even if I were an A-side hooker, there were no endorsements, which gave us a certain amount of autonomy, as in total. We tried to do our own self-policing, as far as PDA, for what it was worth, though it didn't always work.

But I did kind of wonder and worry about the security of my job, which I definitely needed, to pay the bills. It was 1993, just after don't-ask-don't-tell came out under Clinton, which was the grand compromise on gays serving in the military. But you couldn't really get a straight answer when you asked the hypothetical question about whether a hypothetical civilian federal employee could get fired just for being gay. Not that anyone would, right, because everyone is so reasonable, and we're such likable and good workers, right?

Well...

It was 1993 and I went on a site visit with my supervisor (section chief) and our branch chief (his supervisor) to one of our dams in Vermont. Along our way there, we stopped at a you-guessed-it Dunkin Donuts, because we are in New England after all. As we sat down to enjoy our coffee and donuts, our branch chief started the conversation with this:

"Do you know what I hate?"

I thought we were going to get into a heated discussion of donut fillings. No to the red jelly, okay to the white whipped cream, and yes-more-please for the yellow custard Boston cream. But no. He goes on to say instead:

"I hate homosexuals."

And then went on to talk about the new policy and how horrible it was. I honestly don’t remember. I was in shock. I kind of blanked out the rest of the conversation, all my energy spent on keeping a straight face and not reacting.

So, I guess I do understand that fear.

But, my God, that was 33 years ago!

A lifetime ago.

Yet, federal protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was only decided pretty recently, in 2020, as being implicitly covered by the 1964 Civil Rights Act by the landmark Supreme Court ruling in the Bostock v. Clayton County case on June 15, 2020! The Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had updated its interpretation that sexual orientation was a protected class earlier, in 2015, bless their hearts, but their interpretation was non-binding. But maybe it helped set the stage.

Either way, of my 33 years of federal service (1992 - 2025), I really enjoyed freedom from the fear of discrimination only the last 5 years.

Just a little history lesson – on how far we’ve come, and yet how fragile everything still is, how fast pendulums swing, and how much fear still exists, and it breaks my heart.

I have nothing against Ottawa, except that they beat my Fleet, but love is love, and I love love, and so I I’ll be cheering for Victoire! Amour Victoire!

Happy Pride month a little early!

 

SPORTS CALENDAR:

HOCKEY – WALTER CUP FINALS:

May 18 – Montreal vs. Ottawa, Game 3, 6:00 PM EDT, at Ottawa.

Games are being streamed on PWHL YouTube: https://www.thepwhl.com/en/

May 20 – Montreal vs. Ottawa, Game 4 (if needed), 7:00 PM EDT, at Ottawa.

May 23 – Montreal vs. Ottawa, Game 5 (if needed), 12:30 PM EDT, at Montreal.

 

RUGBY:

Check the WER home page for the latest on schedules, times, etc.

https://www.womenseliterugby.us/schedule-boston-banshees

May 30, 2026 – Boston Banshees play away at Twin City Gemini. 6:00 PM EDT.

All 2026 WER games will be available to stream on the Women’s Sports Network, which is in the LIVE TV sports section of the various streaming services: Prime Video, fubo, tubi, Roku, PLUTO, plex, Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Watch Free Vizio, MyFree DirectTV, TABLO.

See the WER website for details on how to watch.

May 31 - Rosie's Ruck 7s in Canton, MA.

June 7, 2026 – Boston Banshees HOME GAME vs. Bay City Breakers.

Kick-off is at 6:00 PM EDT.

June 11 - MA High School Rugby State Championship in Quincy, MA.

June 13, 2026 – Boston Banshees play away at Denver Onyx. 7:00 PM EDT.

June 21, 2026 – Boston Banshees play away at Bay Breakers. 8:00 PM EDT.

July 11, 2026 – Boston Banshees HOME GAME vs. Twin City Gemini.

Kick-off is at 3:00 PM EDT.

July 18, 2026 – Boston Banshees HOME GAME vs. Chicago Tempest.

Kick-off is at 5:00 PM EDT.

July 25, 2026 – Boston Banshees play away at NY Exiles. 5:00 PM EDT.

 

BOSTON LEGACY FC (SOCCER):

May 22 – Seattle Reign FC, at Centreville Bank Stadium. This is a super-nice stadium, and located just outside Providence, RI.

May 30 – At KC Current.

https://bostonlegacyfc.com/pages/schedule

 

BOOKS:

If anyone wants copies of my books, they’re both on Amazon, but for the rugby book, just reach out in a comment, and I’ll send you a copy. It will be simpler.

The Happy Clam can be ordered directly through the printer/distributor (IngramSparks), cutting out all the middle-people:

https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=H5CEjLsCLxp0QjPdNOPvntbgUAZdvqWRZoms9HXVnCO

SubStack – Also, thanks and welcome to all the new followers on SubStack! A simple and convenient way to get each new post delivered directly to your in box.

https://substack.com/@rosemaryschmidt

References:

© 2026 Rosemary A. Schmidt

Rose Schmidt is the author of The Happy Clam (© 2020), and Go Forward, Support! The Rugby of Life (© 2004), both published by Gainline Press. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do not represent the views of any other agency or organization. Use of individual quotes with proper citation and attribution, within the limits of fair use, is permitted. To request permission to re-use or reprint any of the content on the site, please contact me.