PWHL Montreal coach 'happy with the progression' following league-wide camp in New York

PWHL Montreal didn't look like the skilled, offensive team many were expecting to see in its first pre-season game.

The team came out flat against a faster New York squad on Monday, failing to score a regulation goal in the loss.

Montreal finished with one win in three pre-season games in Utica, N.Y., this week, completing its exhibition schedule with a 4-3 loss to Minnesota on Thursday. But progress was the key word among Montreal's leadership, as the team prepares for the games that count in the standings in January.

"We've learned a lot as a group and we're happy with the progression that we've seen over the week," head coach Kori Cheverie said. "Our D core definitely started moving pucks a little bit quicker and getting it into the forwards' hands."

Together in training camp for less than a month, and with many players who have never played together before, the team is still building chemistry on the ice.

"Finding lanes for people, knowing where people's tendencies are, where they like to be on the ice, where they like the puck on one timers," Stacey said. "Those are all little things that all of us don't really know yet about our teammates."

That includes the line of Tereza Vanišová, Marie-Philip Poulin and Maureen Murphy, none of whom had ever played together before training camp began last month. The three were paired together throughout all three pre-season games, and still seem to be figuring each other out. 

Both Vanišová and Poulin had goals in Thursday's loss.

"It's going to take time," Poulin said about building chemistry with her new linemates, who she described as skilled.

"I think for us we need to talk, communicate a lot. But there is potential. I'm very excited to see them grow and for us to play together."

It's a challenge every team in the league is facing after building their rosters from scratch via a draft in September and free agency.

Players have been getting to know each other in training camps since mid-November, but this week in Utica was the first chance to play with their new teammates in a game environment. 

It's one of the unusual quirks of starting a league from scratch. Teams are starting from zero with players learning new systems, meeting new people and in many cases, learning their way around new cities.

It means that what each team showed on the ice in pre-season, after less than a month together, may be quite different than a team looks two months from now.