Victoire clinches PWHL regular-season championship

The top seed heading into the postseason has been decided.

Thanks to a win over the Seattle Torrent in the final game of the 2025-26 regular season, the Montreal Victoire clinched first place in the PWHL. With that, they’ve earned the right to choose their opponent for the Walter Cup Semifinals.

It certainly wasn’t easy, as the Victoire needed a win over Seattle after the Boston Fleet beat the New York Sirens earlier in the day. The Torrent, who were vying for a win to secure the No. 1 pick in the upcoming PWHL Draft, scored a goal in the third to tie the game at one, and the two teams needed extra time to determine a victor. Overtime solved nothing, but in the sixth round of the shootout, Lina Ljungblom potted the winning goal.

It’s the second year in a row Montreal has finished atop the PWHL standings. Last season, they elected to play the Ottawa Charge, but it backfired, as the Victoire were shockingly eliminated in four games.

This year’s team is hungry to right past wrongs. The Victoire have been the best team in the PWHL, tying the Fleet for the earliest playoff berth earlier this month. The team set a new record for consecutive games with a point, surpassing the Sceptres’ record of 11 games set during the league’s first campaign, picking up points in 16 straight games before losing to the Vancouver Goldeneyes in regulation on Tuesday.

The Victoire now has 24 hours to make their decision on who they want to play in the first round. They have the option of choosing the two-time defending Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost, who just happen to boast the best offense in the PWHL, or the Charge, last year’s runners-up, who clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season once again.

The Victoire will open its semifinal series next Friday, May 2.

In its first two years of existence, Montreal has failed to win a playoff series, winning just one game in the semifinals.

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