Elaine Chuli shines in net for Sceptres against former team Victoire at Bell Centre

By Canadian Press on December 27, 2025.

MONTREAL — After watching two Professional Women’s Hockey League games at the Bell Centre from the home bench, Elaine Chuli finally got her chance to play in the arena, only this time as a member of the visiting Toronto Sceptres.

Chuli played 19 games over the first two PWHL seasons for the Montreal Victoire, but signed with Toronto in the off-season. In her first start against her former team, she made 29 saves in a 2-1 victory. It was her third straight victory as she moved to 3-0-0-0 on the season.

“It’s a pretty special building,” said Chuli. “I tried to just approach it like any other game in any other building but, yeah, really happy.”

The Waterford, Ont., native said she had butterflies before the game, but that it wasn’t any different from any other game she’s played.

“They’re good, and you use them to your advantage,” she said.

“We know she’s a good goaltender,” said Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin. “She showed today that she’s a key goaltender in this league and I’m really proud of her, to be honest. We got to see her over the last two years. She took the chance to go to Toronto and be one of their goaltenders there which is great for her.”

Chuli’s play sent most of the 18,107 in attendance home disappointed, but it was also due to a team focus and execution on the defensive side of the puck.

Toronto was without two of their top-four defenders, Renata Fast and Allie Munroe, due to injuries, but the team kept the Victoire to one goal.

“That says a lot about our team,” said Sceptres forward Emma Maltais. “They’re a very strong team offensively. Every time their top line is on the ice, we have to pay attention to that. I think we did a really good job of that tonight. Being the away team, everyone had to step up so it was cool to see that too.”

It was Toronto’s first game since losing in overtime to Ottawa on Tuesday after opening up a 3-0 lead.

“We didn’t have a great finish to our last game against Ottawa,” said Toronto head coach Troy Ryan. “I don’t think we managed the game very well and I thought in this game, we did manage the game quite well.”

“It’s not perfect, obviously,” Ryan added. “But I thought we did a lot of things you need to do to be successful on the road against a pretty good team and had some timely scoring, some great saves.”

It wasn’t as though the Victoire didn’t have opportunities to get the game in their favour. The closest they came was late in the second period, when Laura Stacey’s shot got past Chuli but hit the post. The puck crept towards the goal line, but was cleared away by Sceptres defender Kali Flanagan. Montreal went 0-for-3 on the power play, extending an 0-for-13 slump with the extra player over their last four games.

“We had a lot of pucks on net, we just need to find a way to put it in,” said Poulin. “Chuli did really well, they blocked some shots, the chances were there but it’s on us to capitalize and put it in the net.”

“She played a great game,” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie about her former goaltender. “I think we missed four open nets and we had 85 shot attempts towards her. At the end of the day, we have to take responsibility and be able to solve a goalie. There were tons of opportunities for us, rebound-wise, to stop at the net front, find an east-west play, get a stick on a puck and put the puck over the line and we just didn’t do that.”

“At the end of the day,” Cheverie said later, “advanced analytics only get you so far.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2025.

Jared Book, The Canadian Press