“Montreal Force Fighting Road Fatigue as They Aim for Home Field Next Season”
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Montreal Force coach Peter Smith has an item on his wish list for next season.
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“We need home ice,” Smith said Monday after Montreal’s women’s professional hockey team suffered a 3-2 home loss to the Minnesota Whitecaps at the Arena de la Rivière-du-Nord in St-Jérôme.
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The Force used the Verdun Auditorium as a training base for their inaugural season in the Premier Hockey Federation, but were unable to secure a permanent location for home games. After their season opener in Verdun, the Force became the nomads of the PHF, with 11 of their 12 ‘home’ games spread across the province.
“We got a late start and knew it was going to be difficult, but we can’t go on for another season and play 23 of our 24 games away,” Smith said. “The good thing is that we have been able to promote women’s football in different markets. We had 1,300-1,400 fans here yesterday.”
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No more than 300 fans attended on Monday, which was no surprise as it was a weekday and the game was not on the original schedule. The Force and Whitecaps were scheduled to play Saturday and Sunday, but the games were pushed back a day because inclement weather forced the cancellation of the Whitecaps flight to Montreal on Friday.
The delay didn’t seem to bother the Whitecaps as they won the opening game of the two-game series 4-1.
The losses dealt a serious blow to Force’s hopes of a playoff spot. The Force is 10 points behind fourth-placed Connecticut Whale with six games remaining in the regular season.
“We’re working hard, the effort is there, but we can’t put the puck in the net,” said Smith, whose team went 5-0 on the power play on Monday. “We have a young team. I think we have eight pros in the first year. Scoring two goals today was a step up because we’ve only scored one goal in most of our last games.
Source: montrealgazette.com
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