Our Girls Play Hockey - The Road to a Walter Cup Championship Part 1(Hayley Scamurra Day in the Life)

Hello, hockey friends and families. A little disclaimer before this episode, this is gonna be a two-parter. We talked to Haley Skimora about her entire championship journey, thinking this'll take 45 minutes. It took an hour and a half, and all of it is awesome. But we also want to respect your time. Uh, an hour and a half, 90 minutes of a podcast for you to listen to in one take is quite a bit. So we are splitting this up into two parts. Part one's gonna go through the Montreal Victoire's journey in the first half of the playoffs against the Minnesota Frost, and then part two will debut a week from now where we talk about the Montreal Victoire versus the Ottawa Charge in the final. All of it is wonderful. Haley was so gracious with her time, but let's get you into part one of two of the Day in the Life Championship edition. Hello, hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome to a very, very extremely special edition of our girls play hockey. We're gonna call this the Championship Edition, starting our very own Haley Scamora. This is part of our Day in the Life series, which, you know, funny gang, we'll do we'll do a whole thing at the end of the series where we recap it. But from where we started to where we got, this has got to be one of not just the greatest stories on ice, right? For you, Haley, but also what an opportunity for us to document uh really a career year for you, where you have now, just to recap the audience, just in case you didn't know, won an Olympic gold medal, you won a Walter Cup championship, you are now as humble as you are. I'm gonna say it, you are now the only female player in history to have done both in the same season. There's just the one, it's you. You will always, for the rest of time, be the first person to have done that. Pretty good year, Haley. I don't know, pretty cool. Yeah, go for it's an amazing year. Uh, I think the first thing from from all of us is just congratulations. This has just been wonderful, and we are so happy for you. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's uh pretty surreal, honestly. Uh you saying that, just kind of like cementing it further in like how incredible and cool it is and historical and all those things. Um yeah, it's been a pretty amazing year. Yeah. Well, look, as as uh our producer Caitlin always says, uh, we can be your ego. We're allowed to be your ego. You don't have a big ego, but but Mike, Mike and I can do that here today to kind of make sure that the audience understands how how happy we are for you, how happy we are to know you. Um, but also the advancements in in trailblazing that you and your teammates and really the entire league uh have done this year for women's hockey. Uh, you know, I want to start there before we go through the entire playoff series, which we're gonna do today, gang. You're gonna love that. We're gonna go game by game uh and really get the insider info from Haley here. But you know, when we started the beginning of the year, there were questions. I'm not saying by us, but is the PWHL running on fumes? You know, how are the Olympics gonna go? Is this for real? I mean, those questions have been answered tenfold. Not just the Olympic Olympics in general, which were highly watched, amazing to watch, but the Walter Cup final was heavily watched, you know, uh the league is is expanding. We're gonna have an episode on that. As where you sit from when the season started, where you were actually in a place of uncertainty in a lot of aspects of the game, of your life to where you're at today. What has that growth even felt like? I mean, it's unbelievable. It is, and it's funny because I uh my best friend had called me the other day, and she was kind of reminding me how there was a time when like we had our union, like before this league came to be. It was the PWHPA and we were fighting for a real league, but it took a while. It took like three years. And there was a point in those years where I didn't really remember this actually, but like I had contemplated like, am I done? Like, should I just stop playing hockey, like and kind of get on with my life? Like, when is this league gonna happen? Like, I'm you know, happy to have like you know, worked on the ground floor and try to like uh get this league going, but like how much time can I keep doing this? Right. Like we weren't getting paid really. Um it was a lot. And I was training by myself, so it was kind of lonely and isolating at times. And so uh having her kind of point that out made me realize just how far we've come in such a short amount of time. And now we're a 12-team league, um, breaking records all the time. Like it just keeps happening, honestly. It's like uh a attendance record gets broken, literally the next week it gets broken again, and it's just so incredible to be a part of it and to continue to be a part of it and continue growing it and um just having so it's been so fun. It's been incredible. You know, I I guess this we're gonna we're gonna celebrate you heavily here today, Haley. And I know the audience wants us to do this, but we've got to take a moment based on what you just said, because like I really want our audience to wrap their heads around this of the level of uncertainty you just described to where we are at today, where you are going to be in a parade. We're recording this on May 29th tomorrow for your championship, and you're you're playing. I mean, we have to give a shout out to really every woman, every player, every coach, every person involved in this, every man too, that allowed this to happen. Because from day one, it was it's not gonna happen. Is this this is women's don't women's sports don't matter to like the the t-shirt of everyone watches women's sports is real. We're getting another Ted Lasso season based on this, right? It it yeah. I just want to give the shout out to anyone who is involved in pushing this forward because it is a really important moment, and not just obviously women's sports history, but sports history period. Mike, I cut you off before I started talking. I'm clearly very excited. You go ahead. No, no, I listen. I I think just to just to echo a lot of that, Haley, is like, you know, when when when we're when we were like in a transition and we're like, oh, who's gonna, you know, lead the our girls play hockey kind of you know, uh like leadership team and somebody, you know, how how would you pick somebody that can meet all of these criteria? And I I really don't think at the beginning of this whole process would have said, oh, well, here's the perfect person that's gonna reach all these goals. Um, but you manifested that to where we are today. And I think, you know, I've really enjoyed the process and the journey of watching somebody who, you know, wasn't it isn't like an everyday name player in women's hockey. So right now, honestly, I think I could talk to anybody in women's hockey who you are. So it's and and I I couldn't say that with certainty, you know, months and months and months ago. But I think, you know, now knowing like the inside of what you've done and the background of how you've got to where you are now and what you've done in the Olympics, how you train for the pro team, your relationships with the other women in the league and what you're doing on that side, all the stuff you're doing outside the game. I see you doing tons of stuff in girls' hockey and growing the game and you know, being involved as a great ambassador to the sport right now. That is all these like, like that's like I know for our brand, we're like, wow, what a like could we dream that up? Like, could we even get there? Right. And I think that's I think so it's just really, really cool to watch it happen, and I think, and really nice for our audience, I think, to see like the process of what you went through and how you got there, because you described this all the way, you know. Again, if you wouldn't have won the championship a couple of days ago, maybe we're having a different conversation. But the fact is, you did all these things and you said you were going to do these things. So I think that's like a great lesson for every person that listens to the podcast: boys, girls, hockey players, basketball players, whoever, to really get uh, you know, an inside look of the mind of somebody who accomplished the goals that said they were gonna accomplish those goals. So really cool. And and and Haley, we're gonna have to sign you to a 10-year contract before anybody else. Uh as much as I would love to say we knew this was gonna happen in terms of what we asked you to be. Uh, the the the real person that knew this was gonna happen this season was you, Haley. All right, and you've been saying it every day. And it's funny because Mike, you did make that point of like, well, if if if it didn't go this way through our conversations, we knew that was not a thought for for you and for us. It was no, it's this is what's going to happen. Yeah, uh, and we will talk about that. So let's get into the game. I know that's why the audience is here. Audience, just quick for you, we will do a QA with Haley. I know you have been asking us for this. Uh, let her get through her parade because you're gonna have questions about that. Uh, and we'll do a QA episode, I promise you. Um, we've had a lot of requests for that, Haley, and I we'll get to it. We had to do that. Perfect. Um, we'll we'll we'll start like this. When we left last you, when we left, when we last left you, that's what I'm trying to say. Say that on our girls play hockey. Uh, we were ending the playoffs. So just to very quickly recap the season, Victoire had a had a pretty you know hot and cold start. You were winning some games, you were losing some games. Um, as we went into the Olympic break, towards the top half of the league, but not quite near the top of the league. And then after the Olympic break and the gold medal for you, uh the team went on an absolute tear, went all the way to the top of the league, clinched first place, got to choose their first playoff opponent, which was the Minnesota Frost. Um, and that is literally where we left off with that. So let's dive into the playoffs, right? Because now you have all the momentum. First place team, you go in and you lose the first game five to four to the frost. Uh, tell me about that process and uh how that first game kind of went. Oh man, that first game was crazy. I mean, the amount of goals that were just being scored was we were like, okay, this is a weird game. Like, this is something is crazy going on right now. Um, and I think I was super proud of our team that game because we just kept coming back. Like we just kept um we kept fighting. We were like, and then the ability of us to score multiple goals in the comeback and then to continue doing that um just showed the resiliency of our team that we've always had. But to do that in the first playoff game was massive. Um, we knew it wasn't our best game, kind of like top bottom, like just we were a little bit off, maybe a little nervous, maybe a little excited. Um, and you know, obviously it was frustrating to lose that first game because of course everyone's talking and like, oh, you picked them, and right are you regretting your choice now? And it's like it's it's a series, you know. And so I think with the series, it's so uh important to be able to like flush those games as quickly as possible. Like you can't, you don't have time to ruminate on them because it's like you got to focus on the next one and and you can't you can't be thinking about them for that long. And so I think we did a really good job of that um going into the second one, but um yeah, I just think it was a huge character game for us. We we should also mention this was an overtime loss and yeah overtime something that became very common uh for your team in the playoffs. We're gonna get into that obviously as we move to the second game. I think it's also important to note, Haley, that yeah, Minnesota comes into that game. You did choose them, so there is a chip with that. Also got to mention that Minnesota has been here before multiple times, they've won back-to-back Walter Cup championships, so they do have the experience of of being there and understanding what it means to win. Um, I bring up the overtime thing because I think when you look at the parody of a league in the playoffs, overtime is such a great uh sounding point to prove the parody. And again, it's so razor thin, right? I mean, there are so many series whether you look at the NHL or the PWHL that could be a one or lost based on the outcome of an over overtime. Uh it gets through it gets really thin. And to prove that, we move to the second game. Why have one overtime when you can have three overtimes? Yeah, right? A one to nothing win in three over to overtimes. We're gonna have to talk about Debian in this one a little bit too. But first game's five-four, second game's one-nothing. Yeah, which means you had you had six periods essentially of scoreless hockey. Talk to me about that hourglass flip and how that game went. Oh my gosh, that game was insane. The complete opposite of the game before. Like the goalies were just on fire, like, and you knew that would happen. Like though both of the goalies are are incredible goalies, they know how to bounce back from games like that. Um, those kind of games don't happen very often, if at all. And um, yeah, they bounce back with a vengeance. And so it was uh uh we had so much, I remember we had so many chances, but then there was was it that game? There was a few, and made some incredible saves. I I don't remember if that was that the windmill. I did she have the windmill save that game. It might have been no, that might have been later. Like, yeah, I that's what I was gonna say. Like, you know what I remember about that game is yeah, the shots were not even. I'm I'm actually looking at the stat sheet. Like the shots were 52 to 38. Um, so they were they were, you know, you guys were really firing the puck. Um yes, you know, and we should we should actually give give uh hats off to Rooney in that game for the amount of time she played, too. And uh 103 minutes and 53 seconds crazy, all right. Uh it's pretty crazy. Obviously, both goaltenders for that one. Yeah, and I remember too, like with that game, like the biggest thing I noticed with our team is like our endurance was insane. Like we were we were finishing overtimes and we're like, how's everyone feeling? Like everyone's like, we're feeling great, like we could keep going, like we're fine. And I felt like that was a huge um turning point for us in a way, like the way we felt during that overtime, like we knew we were gonna win that game. It was just a matter of time. Yeah, and I think we just felt so good on the ice for those three overtimes. I'm like, we've got this, like we can beat this team. Uh, so for me, that was a big turning point for our group, and I think a huge uh confidence boost as well. Yeah, when you watch the broadcast for that game, you know, you're getting in the order. Every broadcast, I don't know if you got the chance to watch any of those. Not really, no, they were they were fantastic, by the way. Uh yeah, we'll give we'll give them a shout out when we get to the finals. Um, but one of the crazy things is you know, they do it like, hey, who do you think is gonna score in overtime? And you know, every person on the panel said, Well, for Montreal, there's only one person, yeah, it's like back to the future. There's only one person that can help me. Uh, and that's that's obviously Pooh. So yeah, uh Captain Clutch being Captain Clutch, she had eight shots in the game. Um, I want to get look, we all call her a Captain Clutch, like Americans, Canadians, everybody knows her that way. Yeah, what's it like being on the team with someone like that? And then like watching her do that. I mean, watching her during this playoffs, like with what she was battling, like injury-wise, like it's not a secret, obviously. Like you could see her leg was taped up and braced, and um, but the amount of like heart that she played with, the amount of like tenacity she played with, it was incredible to kind of see in person. She never complained, never said anything. Yeah, uh, she would never outwardly say anything uh to show that. But I mean, she gave it everything. And so when she got that third overtime winner, we were just, I'm like, of course, she finds a way to do this, right? Like that's insane. Um, but just not a surprise, honestly. Yeah. Yeah, you you know, you talk about uh you know, just that that feeling you had after the games, you know, in the overtime and feeling great. Um, but there's also that piece, especially after the first game, right? That in our game, in hockey, in the game, momentum is everything, right? You feel it. You can you can you as of whether you're reviewing it or you're on the bench, you feel momentum changing. And you feel but what you can do as a team and uh you know, as professional athletes, to kind of uh you know, kill that momentum and then say, hey, that was first game. This is a new game. Like you just said, the start conference between game one and game two were so different that it wasn't like the momentum of the first game drew, you know, it drew you into the second game. It was clearly clearly a second game for your team and a and a different game. You just talk about you know what that feeling is in the locker room, what's been what's been talked about about professional athletes about what are we doing here as far as not letting that momentum occur. Yeah, if I if I remember correctly, I want to say game two was one of our best games we had played all season. Like we were just so sound, we weren't really giving up too many grade A chances on like the defensive zone. Um, typically we've had trouble having good starts, and that was one of our best starts. Like we were just firing on all cylinders, every single line was just going. And I think I don't know, the mindset changed. Honestly, maybe even having the loss was almost good to just get it out of the way, like experience that loss, um, but know that we could be better. Like we all knew we could be better uh in that game. And so I think it was kind of easy to flush it in a sense and be like, okay, that was like the worst of it. Now we we're not playing scared to lose anymore. Like we're just going all out, um, giving it everything we have, and and we know we can be better. Um, and I think that was shown in that game. Like we it was top to bottom, I think, one of our best games of the season. You know, I'll say this too. I'm just looking at the stat sheet, uh, which can show a lot. We did say you had 52 shots. A majority of those shots came in overtime, yeah, which is pretty interesting when you think about it. In fact, in fact, Minnesota outshot uh you in the in the second and the third. All right. I mean, it's an interesting stat when you look at it how evenly matched these two teams are. But when you take 52 shots uh and one goes in, both teams are playing great, like you said. And Haley, you know, I'm gonna say this too. In this game, you probably don't realize this. You had four shots on net, which is a lot for you in one game. Yeah, 11 for 21 of Faith Officer, 500, three hits. Um, and what I remember about this game, and you kind of alluded to this from a team standpoint, and and this is a theme you're gonna hear through the rest of the playoffs. You start to emerge here in certain key moments in the game. Yeah. All right, and we we had seen this being built. I'm gonna say this now, the season's over. Towards you know, in the second half of the season, I noticed you were getting crucial minutes at crucial times. All right. Whereas at the start of the season, I didn't feel that was happening. All right, I didn't I didn't feel you were getting put out there. Um, you know, I'm obviously you know that, right? Yeah, but now I'm starting to see you in overtime situations, key defensive moments. I'm bringing this up now, gang, because we're at the awards time of the year. Um, Kelly's not gonna be up for leading goal scorer, she's not gonna be up for MVP, but they don't have an award for the stuff that you do. Uh, you become extremely visible more each game as the playoffs go on, including in the finals. So I'm I'm gonna keep moving on here. All right, I'm gonna kind of breeze through the next two games. Uh you win the next game two to one, they win the next game three to one. We're going to a game five, which is game seven. Uh, for those of you who don't know, it's five game series. Um, and this game five is a very interesting game because I would say it is not your best game. I don't mean you, I mean the team. The team, yeah. You might have to remind me, I'm not gonna lie, I'm blanking. You're on you're on uh cloud now. It's a two to one win for the victory. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You won the championship. Everything's gonna be okay, right? Uh it was a two-to-one victory. All right. Uh, it was tied late in the game. The Minnesota outshot Montreal 26 to 17. Um, I would not be surprised if that's one of the lowest shot counts that you had on the year. Um, but the game-winning goal from guess who? All right, Pooh, Pooh once again, right? Uh, with uh three minutes into the third. And you the way it felt was that you held off. All right. Now, now I bring you up in the last game because what I remember about this game is watching you, you were out there every key face-off and moment in the third period. All right. Again, they don't they don't give points for that. But I could and and and look, I I may be biased here. Your whole team played a massive role, don't get me wrong, but I can make a real convincing argument that from a from a forward standpoint defensively, you're a big reason they won this game. All right. So talk to me about when you notice that you're being put out these in the situations. The trust is there from your coach. And then also talk to me about maybe other discussions, or is it just, hey, scams, you're out. You you know what to do. Yeah. Um, well, what's funny is like, so I'm relatively new at center. I've played center randomly throughout my career, but like not really. Like, college was probably the longest tenure of me playing center. I could have told you you were center. I'm just saying. Yeah. Um, so face-offs were something I was kind of like hot and cold with, I would say. Yeah. And during this series, I was able to turn it up. I felt like I did really well on face-offs. And so that was also a huge factor into why I was being put into more defensive zone face-offs as well, was that I was winning them and I was feeling really confident doing that. And that obviously puts you in a better position to like get the puck out and not let them get any momentum. Um, and so that was huge. And then uh they don't know, there was no discussion about me being defensive or like uh going out there for those key things. It's just like scams you're up. And I I know what I'm meant to do. And like I had matchups the whole both for both the series. I was like on the ice for those matchups to make sure those lines were not getting goals or we're not getting chances. And it's it's hard, especially Minnesota. They're a high powered offensive team and they know how to get to the net, they know how to evade defensively. Um and so it was a it was a battle. It was a lot of thinking, a lot of mental and physical toll. Um, but I love that kind of challenge, honestly. Like for the six on five piece, like PK, like all those things. I absolutely love ruining their offensive chances. Like I think it's so much fun. You did. Yeah. You really did. And and like again, watching these games, I mean, Haley, I gotta say, you're kind of put on a clinic about defensive hockey and just decision-making hockey. Um, just to let you know, too, because because again, I know you don't look, but you're actually you actually led your team in face-off percentage for the night amongst players who took more than two faceoffs. Yeah. All right, but um no, you were you were 60 percent, which in any league is very, very good. Yeah, and again, a lot of those six came in the in the crucial time um when you needed to do it. You know, look, what we should also say about Minnesota, you you brought up their firepower, you're going against names like Hannock, Heisey, Point Schofield. I mean, not just you know, big names, these are some of you are teammates, yeah. You know, just a few months ago in the Olympics. Um, so before we graduate out of this playoff series, you know, I want to ask this question because I was watching it, thinking it, and it's pretty cool. I like to get to ask you this. A few months ago, you're in the biggest game of your life in the Olympics, the gold medal game. I imagine that that experience helps dramatically in these game five situations of hey, I felt more pressure than this, you know. I mean, like I know what to do. Like, how did the Olympic victory play into your approach to these playoff games, especially the overtime games or the tight games? I mean, it was huge. Like to have that experience so close to like what this experience was. Like, it wasn't like comparing it to last season. It was like, I just did that like two months ago. Like, we've got this, you know, we can handle this kind of pressure. And I think um, in the Montreal organization in general, I think there was a lot of pressure on that game to get through that first round, and especially because we picked them. So I think that was probably kind of energy that was being picked up on a little bit. And um, so those last like two minutes were crazy. Yeah, just bodies flying everywhere, blocking everything you could, diving on people, like whatever you had to do to keep the puck out of the net and to win because we knew we could. Um, and then yeah, it was just absolutely insane. Yeah, I think we'll do an autopsy at some point, you know, when we caught because we did have a whole episode on you picking the number one, you know, the the the top C to play, or you know, the the the last year's champion and and all the psychology that goes around that and all of the the gamesmanship and like hey, listen, let's get past the biggest dog we think there is. Yeah, obviously, the obviously the next round wasn't a wasn't a cakewalk, but I'm just saying, you know, you've got like it was a very interesting thing to watch. And I think you know, the going back and now if the season's over and really evaluating that decision saying, wow, we our toughest mountain was our first mountain. Like, you know, really, you know, when you really look at it, you're like, that's the team. So you had to get by them at some point. But I think it's really cool that uh, you know, that you you know, it was discussed, it was strategized, there was process behind it. But like you said, the pressure then to say, well, why did you make that decision? And if made up, you thought you were right, you got to prove that you thought it was the right decision to make. So I, you know, ultimately it was, but to Lee's point, it's razor thin margins on winning and losing, and just one face-off, you know, one fore check, one bounce. And I think it we're telling we're we're having you're probably getting a lot of boos and jeers that you I can't believe you picked that team. You know, why would you pick them? You know, they're they're your biggest rival, you know. So I think it's a very interesting dynamic and getting through the first round, but it's uh but awesome to see it um come to fruition, you know, after making that decision. You know, Haley, you did mention in our last day in the life that you knew that pressure was coming with having chosen Minnesota, um, which surprised a lot of people because you are this just kind of plays into it, you're the first team that came in first to have advanced past the first round, yeah. Right. Um, yeah, I I I'm very careful with things like first time ever, it's been three seasons, right? But yeah, but it is, it's the first time ever. Well, so it's the president, it's the president's trophy curse, right? In the in the NHL, it's the same idea. It's like, okay, great, you finish first. Who cares? It's a brand new season, doesn't matter anymore. Now, my question to you is and I understood, and you you can say no to this. I understood in the last episode why you didn't want to go into the decision to pick Montreal. I'm sorry, Minnesota. Is there any chance you could give us a little insight into what maybe some of the decision making was on that, or or do you want to hard pass on that? No, I don't I don't mind. I actually think I want to say Ann may have said it in an interview or something, but it was like in order to be the best, you have to beat the best. And so I think that was a cool little phrase. Uh, and like we knew how good Minnesota was, and we knew how good Ottawa was like it both teams have their like their different strengths, and they're they're both great teams, but like Minnesota definitely we knew they've won back-to-back championships, like they're gonna be a good playoff team to play, and I think that helped prepare us for the second series like immensely. I gotta say it. I love it. You look into the face of the lion and you fight the lion. And I'll tell you what, for the kids and the parents listening that go to your youth tournaments and you have these discussions of who would be the easiest. The pros don't do that. They want the hardest. All right, I'm gonna say again, echoing you, everyone's hard in this league. Don't get well that worked that that works now, but I mean, but I will say this there's got to be some front office discussion because it does come down to business too, right? Like, how do we how do we squeak out? Can we get seven games? Can we get you know six, you know, give four more home games or two more home? Like, come into like these are these are real life decisions getting made at the professional level. Like, this isn't some weekend tournament up in Rochester. Like, this is a this real tournament that that that has implications to say, wow, if we make it through the first round, we've made a lot more money and we've got a lot more you know exposure to who we are. So it's a real risk, it's a real thought process of saying, you know, it's not just a hey, you know, we think we're we're just gonna go after the big dog. What you know, we're gonna we want to expand this out as long as we can. What where I'm gonna add on to that, Mike, is to the to the kids listening and the coaches listening. I agree with you on this too, but I do think that there's a certain competitive honor in in understanding that your brain should not just default to who's gonna be easiest, right? Because I I I'm not gonna say that's like a loser's mentality. I'm not, I'm really not, but the other one is a championship mentality, all right. And and and look, there's uh there could be matchups that you're looking at, there could be a lot of things, you know. Something nobody talks about, Haley, is the other teams you have to choose from, right? It's not like Boston is like you know, a pushover here. Now, I I'm gonna be honest with you, as a fan of the league. Um, I know Ottawa had been to the final previously, but I was a little surprised that they defeated Boston in the way that they did. Ottawa kind of into that final. Yeah. Um, what were your thoughts on that, watching? Because again, just just reiterating what I was saying, you choosing Montreal kind of almost created this. I mean, it did it created this other matchup, right? So was there any thought into that? And then what were you just your general thoughts on on the Ottawa-Boston series from what you could see? Yeah, no, no thoughts necessarily on what the other matchup would be based on our pick, I would say. Um, excuse me. Um, it was more so what was interesting is Ottawa had beaten Boston in the regular season in their series, but again, they were all razor thin. It was like overtime shootouts, right? So we kind of knew uh for viewers watching it, it would be a tight series, right? For sure. And I mean, I think Gwen Phillips has proven like what she does during playoffs, which is like insane. And Frankel too, she played incredible. There was just some, you know, there were a few crazy bounces. There was, you know, uh Boston just not able to get it past Gwen at times. I think um Ottawa also plays really, really physical. They do. So I think that ramped up quite a bit in playoffs. And so I think those were huge factors in that series. And um yeah, it was it was interesting. I was surprised as well. I thought I thought Boston was maybe gonna find a way to close it out, but uh they had that weird like six-day break between the games, which I think was also kind of like uh was interesting. You know, we also had a back-to-back game during our series, so there was like the two extremes a bit, uh, which, you know, I don't think that really factors in necessarily to like an advantage for either team, but it was something that was interesting. I I know Lee's gonna get into the second round here, so I just wanted to end kind of the first round is that you know you get you get you get past the really the big mountain that you picked. How do you go from that and that and not just say we did our job like wow, that was the biggest challenge. We got over it. Now it's easy, you know. Now we're gonna run through because now you now you're facing another, you know, you just talked about the the good thing about the league, the bet the great thing about the league is it is a player or two. Like that's really the difference in these games. And you know, so you get by, you know, someone who you know uh everybody would would assume is like your biggest challenge, right? From an outsider's point of view. How do you do that as a player then and mentally reset and say, okay, what an accomplishment, but now you know, now we know where we're going with this. Yeah, I think um we celebrated, you know, when we won that game five. I think we we cherished that, we were pumped, and then I think the next day it was like, all right, we know what we got to do because the second series started pretty quick. There wasn't that much time to like uh soak in it or rest or anything like that. I think we literally had one day, maybe, because we also had the whole postponement thing. So um oh yeah, we didn't talk about that game five. Like that's right, we were we were down and out, you guys. Like, there was so many sicknesses that we came to. Let me let me rewind back to the audience. So, game five. I'm glad you brought that up because I forgot about it too. I did too. Game five of of the series uh was postponed due to illness. And um I'm gonna be honest with the Haley, like I was I was we all of us here at the at the our girls crew were like, like, we don't want to bother you to win the playoffs. But even I was like, Hey, are you okay? Because the only report we got was illness. I'm like, I actually had flashbacks to COVID uh with the FUHL when you know they canceled the tournament. But thank goodness you texted me back, like, yeah, it's just something going through okay. You know, I'm gonna guess enough people were sick, you weren't gonna have a team to play, and that's why they chose to do this. It was a lot of girls, and it was uh not something you can play through necessarily. So it was uh it was wild, but I you know, you found out like during the day. I'm like, oh okay, I guess we grew. But um do you know if that was a mutual decision by the teams or the league or how that came to be? I I honestly have no clue. Right. Well, that was the right decision. Yeah, let me ask you let me ask you something too, because I'd love to hear your opinion on this. You're what do you what would you rather be? The Carolina Hurricanes, you know, getting those 14 days difference, but want to go right into it. Like you just said, like the game was over, you celebrated for a little bit, and like, okay, we're playing in two days, you know. So where you know, where is your thought process as an athlete, you know, and and being prepared and ready and and and and willing to to you know play in that short period of time. For us, I kind of liked that we just went right into it. I think it leaves less time for like ruminating or thinking too much. It's just like just go, like just play. That's why I didn't honestly mind our back-to-back game. I'm like, honestly, I think it's good. We just get right back into it. You forget about the last game. Um, and I think that helps the mindset a little bit. Um, obviously, in like the Stanley Cup finals with them, I think rest is probably crucial in the fact that it's like so physical and stuff. Not that ours isn't, but like we had time to rest prior, sort of thing. And it's not like Ottawa had that much rest over us. Um, so I think in that sense, I liked that we played right away. Yeah, I'll I'll say I'm like you with it, Haley. Like, I like to keep going. Uh a lot of it depends on injuries. Also, we got to rem remember that in, you know, NHL is a seven game series. That that does change the different. Yeah, there's there's I think I did hear an article on uh from one of the NHL guys, and they were just they were talking about like like if you have a quick turnaround, you don't get your body doesn't get a chance to know it's hurt, like it doesn't remind you, oh my god, that really hurts. Like I'm in real pain. Like you just go, but when that sometimes you get that too long a break, you start going, oh, I'm healing, and now it feels normal, but you don't want you can't feel normal because you have to you have to be able to play and play through some things. So yeah, I know it's not apples to apples, but there is wear and tear. There is the the strain of playing those games after game. Like you said, maybe you were lucky that you know Boston played Ottawa in a much maybe it was a you know more physical contest. You're like, well, they don't need the break, we don't want to be in the break, we let them beat each other a couple of times. Yeah, exactly. Well, I'll say this too that I'm glad you brought this up, Helly, because again, I don't know how many of you would love to play in a game five, game seven scenario after having the stomach flu, but they did and they won. All right, gang. That's gonna do it for part one of this championship edition. As you can see, Montreal has now advanced to the Walter Cup final, which we will dive right into here next week on a fresh episode of Our Girls Play Hockey with Haley Skimura. We will see you then. Thanks for listening. Have a great day.com. Also, make sure to check out our children's book, When Hockey Stops, at when hockey stops.com. It's a book that helps children deal with adversity in the game and in life. We're very proud of it. But thanks so much for listening to this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey, and we'll see you on the next episode.