Canadian Olympic gold medalist Ann-Renee Desbiens of La Malbaie, Quebec recorded her second Professional Women’s Hockey League career shutout on Tuesday. She accomplished the feat in a 4-0 Montreal Victoire win over the New York Sirens at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec.
Desbiens made 33 saves. She made six saves in the first period, 10 saves in the second period and 17 saves in the third period. Offensively for Montreal, it was a multi-point game for Canadian Olympic gold medalist Marie-Philip Poulin of Quebec City, Quebec, as she had one goal and one assist for two points. Poulin won gold for Canada in women’s hockey at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
So far this season, Desbiens has a record of one win, one loss, a goals against average of 1.03 and a save percentage of .967. Desbiens’s first PWHL shutout came on April 27, 2024 in a 2-0 Montreal win over Ottawa.
It is safe to say that Desbiens is the clear favourite to be Canada’s number one goaltender at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo. With Emerance Maschmeyer-Lacasse of Bruderheim, Alberta struggling mightily on Wednesday night in a 5-1 Vancouver loss to Ottawa, we are continuing to see great goaltending from Desbiens.
Desbiens was Canada’s number one goalie at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. In five games, Desbiens had a perfect record of 5-0 with a goals against average of 1.80 and a save percentage of .940, as Canada won the gold medal.
