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MONTREAL – The hype hasn’t faded for the Montreal Victoire heading into a second Professional Women’s Hockey League season.

After a momentous inaugural campaign, team names, logos and an influx of new talent are generating more excitement in Year 2.

“It’s a second season, but it’s like it’s a first one for the Victoire because we have a name, unlike last season, and the level of play has increased,” general manager Danièle Sauvageau said after Montreal’s first on-ice session at training camp on Thursday.

“It keeps going. The fervour hasn’t dipped at all, I think it has gone up a notch.”

Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin expects the league to reach even higher with a record-breaking year under its belt.

“Every time I start a new season, it reminds me of why I do it,” she said. “I love doing this, I’m still passionate, we have girls from all over the world, five languages in the locker room, it’s incredible. It’s fun to experience this, the second season is only going to be better.”

The Victoire are also eager to avenge a gutting playoff exit last season.

Montreal finished second in the regular season before suffering three straight overtime losses to Boston, despite dominating the shots in the semifinal series.

“We’re extremely excited. In Year 1 we were, but coming back after a playoff loss we didn’t want to happen, we’re refreshed, we’re rejuvenated,” forward Laura Stacey said. “We have a new group here. It’s a new era.”

The Victoire hope they’ve addressed one of their most glaring issues from last season: a lack of depth.

Star players Poulin, Stacey and Erin Ambrose, among others, stacked up an exorbitant amount of ice time during the playoffs, while those deeper down the lineup barely saw the ice.

But several new names entered the rink on Thursday at Verdun Auditorium, namely sniper Lina Ljungblom — the Swedish league’s player of the year last season — and forward Abigail Boreen, who won the inaugural Walter Cup with Minnesota.

“Those are two players who can play in our top six, which then moves some players around the lineup and allows us to just breathe a little bit from the first line to the fourth line,” head coach Kori Cheverie said.

With a new crop of players out of college and several Europeans flocking to the PWHL after their contracts expired overseas, Cheverie expects better teams across the board.

“The level is going to be upped quite a bit,” Cheverie said. “Every team got better from the draft or through free agency, so we’re looking forward to it.”

One player who didn’t practise Thursday, however, was first-round draft pick Cayla Barnes.

Barnes, selected fifth overall this year, sustained a lower-body injury in Game 1 of the Canada-U.S. Rivalry Series on Nov. 6 in San Jose.

The 25-year-old defender from Eastvale, Calif., collided with Canada’s Poulin and fell hard into the boards feet first.

“I felt pretty bad, honestly. You never want to see that happening,” Poulin said. “Right away, I sent her a message, and she was pretty awesome about it. It was a hockey play. I think she’s in great hands here in Montreal to be taken care of and come back as fast as possible.”

Sauvageau said the team doesn’t yet have a timeline for Barnes’s return, but that signs are encouraging.

Forward Catherine Dubois (medical reasons) was also absent, while Defenders Amanda Boulier and Dominika Laskova and forward Kennedy Marchment wore non-contact jerseys.

“We lost 65 games last year in injuries,” Sauvageau said. “Hopefully this year, I did come in this morning (and say) ‘stay healthy,’ but we don’t control those things.

“We have more depth, I believe, and then obviously we want to do everything to stay healthy, to have our players back quicker.”

Among the 31 players at Montreal’s training camp, 19 are already under contract for the upcoming season (11 forwards, six defenders and two goalies).

That means only four roster spots and three reserve contracts are up for grabs. Each PWHL team must finalize their roster of 23 active players and three reserves by Nov. 27.

“This roster will be extremely hard to crack, because of the players we drafted but also the players that we’ve invited to complete what we thought we needed,” Sauvageau said.

The Victoire will play pre-season games against the Boston Fleet and Ottawa Charge next week at Verdun Auditorium as part of the PWHL mini-camp in Montreal.

They’ll open their season against the Charge on Nov. 30 at Place Bell in Laval, Que. A mark of the league’s success, the 10,000-capacity facility will be the Victoire’s primary home arena this season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.

PARIS (AP) — There was a brief altercation between a small number of fans early into Thursday’s Nations League soccer game between France and Israel despite heavy security inside the stadium, a week after violence erupted in Amsterdam in connection with an Israeli club team’s visit.

Around 10 minutes after the game kicked off as scheduled at 8:45 p.m. local time, there was scuffle in the top section of the stand behind one of the goals, with some of those involved having Israeli flags draped over their backs. It was not clear what caused the altercation and security intervened after around one minute.

The match finished in a 0-0 draw with no further incidents at Stade de France. However, Israel’s national anthem was whistled by some fans when the players lined up and Israel players were jeered at times when they got the ball.

Chants of “Israel, Israel” could he heard from visiting fans for several minutes before the final whistle.

French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police officers and security staff were deployed in and around the stadium, with another 1,500 police on public transport.

Several buses carrying Israel fans arrived under police escort and some were waving flags inside the stadium. Only about 16,600 of 80,000 tickets were sold, with around 150 Israel supporters present.

Paris authorities have been on high alert following the violence in Amsterdam before and after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Dutch authorities said fans from both sides were involved in the unrest. The assaults on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and were widely condemned as antisemitic.

“What we learned from Amsterdam is that we need to be present in the public space including far away from the stadium,” and in public transport, Nuñez said Thursday on French news broadcaster France Info.

A couple of hours before the game, a pro-Palestinian demonstration attracted several hundred people to a square in Saint-Denis to protest against the match taking place.

Israel’s team bus arrived at the stadium shortly after 7 p.m. local time. Around one hour before kickoff, Nuñez visited the stadium’s video surveillance facilities along with French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.

Three months after hosting the Olympic closing ceremony, the atmosphere has gone from festive to fearful. French President Emmanuel Macron and Retailleau was present, along with former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.

“We will not give in to antisemitism, anywhere. And violence, including in the French Republic, will never prevail, nor will intimidation,” Macron told BFM TV channel before the game.

The low number of visiting fans on Thursday came after Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad to avoid sports and cultural events, specifically Thursday’s match.

Retailleau told French news channel TF1 earlier this week that exceptional measures were justified, despite no official threat being received.

The elite tactical unit of the French National Police, known as RAID, was in the stadium and some police in plain clothes mingled with fans. There was also heavy surveillance within Paris, including at Jewish places of worship and schools.

“It is out of the question that we take the risk of seeing a repeat of the dramatic events, of the manhunt, that we saw in Amsterdam,” Retailleau said, adding that postponing or moving the game elsewhere was ruled out.

In Amsterdam, a number of Maccabi fans attacked a cab and chanted anti-Arab slogans while some men carried out “hit and run” attacks on people they thought were Jews, according to city Mayor Femke Halsema.

After the match, parts of a large group of Maccabi supporters armed with sticks ran around “destroying things,” a 12-page report on the violence issued by Amsterdam authorities said.

There were also “rioters, moving in small groups, by foot, scooter or car, quickly attacking Maccabi fans before disappearing,” it said.

Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday night against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel.

Nine years ago, Stade de France was one of several locations during the Nov. 13 terror attacks in which 130 people died. France was playing Germany that night when two explosions happened outside the stadium.

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AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin and Associated Press writer Tom Nouvian contributed to this report. ___

AP soccer:

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The world’s tallest teenager might have to wait a year to become the world’s tallest college basketball player.

Florida coach Todd Golden said Thursday that Olivier Rioux, a 7-foot-9 freshman who owns a spot in the Guinness record book, is planning to redshirt. Had the popular Canadian played in even one game, he would have burned one of his four seasons of college eligibility.

Instead, Rioux will spend the 2024-25 season practicing with teammates and honing his skills — and still be a freshman next fall.

“I should have made that clear (before),” Golden said. “Honestly, it’s put him in a tough situation. He’s sitting over there at the end of games and everybody’s yelling at him and trying to get him out there. They just hadn’t understood that that was our potential plan for him.

“So that’s where we’re at at this moment. I’m not saying that’s 100% going to be the plan. We’ll continue to talk to him and see if he changes what he wants to do. But as of right now, that’s the plan that we’re going to have with him as we move forward.”

Florida students chanted for “Oli” in both of the team’s home games this season. Golden emptied the bench in the final minutes of an 86-62 victory over Grambling State on Monday night and even said a few words to Rioux during the chaotic scene.

“I was just explaining to him, ’Hey, the reason why I’m not putting you in right now is what we’ve talked about a little bit,’” Golden said. “This wasn’t a choice that I made for him. This is something that people (from) our program have talked with him and his family and his parents, his AAU coach and just kind of trying to figure out what the best route for him is.

“I just went up to him and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m not trying to be disrespectful with you. I’m just not trying to burn your year putting you in for 30 seconds.’”

Rioux handled the decision well, Golden said.

“He’s a great kid, and he’s a pleaser,” Golden said. “He wants to do what others think is best for him. And he’s coachable. Again, if this is what our staff, his parents, the people around him that care about him, think is best, I think he’s going to be comfortable. Ultimately, it’s his decision. But I think that’s where he’ll land.”

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AP college basketball: and

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