Blackouts, Coffee, and a Walter Cup: How I accidentally spent the entire morning with the Victoire
Hi everyone! Now that the season is officially over and our beloved team are finally the champions, I wanted to share a little bit about my experiences in Ottawa earlier this week, when me and my family accidentally found ourselves spending all of Tuesday morning with the Victoire at our hotel during a power outage. I know Kori briefly mentioned the power outage in an interview, but I thought everyone would enjoy an in-depth story about what really happened and how funny the experience really was. Just a note in advance, I didn’t ask any of them for pictures or anything, I’m very shy and didn’t want to bother them after a loss. I wanted to let them have a day off in peace.
Day 1
So I’ll start with Monday, when we arrived at the hotel in the early afternoon. Coming up from Toronto to watch the game, I chose a hotel pretty close to the CTC, as I had a feeling that if the game went to OT (or triple OT), I would be too exhausted to drive back downtown to the hotels there. Therefore, we ended up a hotel that was pretty isolated from the world, surrounded by construction and empty company buildings due to it being Victoria Day. On our way in, we noticed a huge white bus parked in the lot out front, and my family joked to one another that maybe it was the team bus, but we just laughed it off. We didn’t know it yet, but were definitely in for a surprise.
Once we went inside to check in for the night, the hotel staff hit us with our first curveball. They handed us a paper that said there was a planned emergency blackout that would cut almost all power to the hotel for 10 hours, starting at 11:30pm and would last until the early morning (from our experience when we left at 11:30am in the morning, the power was still gone.) I was slightly annoyed by this, but we were so tired from our early morning trip to Ottawa that we didn’t say anything or ask for a discount.
After freshening up in our hotel room, we waited for the elevator, and as we were waiting, we saw the bus drive away through the front window of the hotel. We joked that we had just missed seeing the whole team getting into the bus due to my sister’s insistence to nap a little longer. After that, we drove to CTC and enjoyed the game. During the game, I had my first few run ins with the extended Victoire family, including running into Julie Chu and her kids about three times (they must have been in our section) as well as standing on line next to ARD’s family. I thought it was so cool to see Julie, as she was the only American player I was a huge fan of growing up. By the end of the trip, I think she might have been the person I ran into the most, and she seemed like such a friendly, kind person. I think she plays a bigger unofficial role for the Victoire than most people realize.
After the loss, my family and I were sad the Victoire weren’t able to close it out and hoist the Walter Cup that day, but we were also low-key happy the Ottawa goal was allowed (Ottawa is our second favourite team and we really respected their effort and hard work) and most of all, we were happy that there wasn’t triple OT waiting for us at the end of a very long travel day. It took us an entire hour to get out the parking lot, and by the time we got back to the hotel, the big white bus was already back. My family and I joked again that we had just narrowly missed seeing the players again due to the parking lot fiasco, and went to park the car under the hotel.
We entered elevator from the parking garage, chatting about the game and our regret about our team losing, delirious and hungry from our long day of travel. We were wearing our Victoire fan gear, and as we entered the lobby we once again joked about running into the players. Little did we know that staring right at us was Coach Kori and Ouellette. They were having a post game meeting right in the middle of the lobby, and after awkwardly avoiding their eye contact, we made a beeline to the elevator that went up to our rooms. They didn’t seem stressed after the loss, just discussing game plans I think.
Chatting excitedly in our room about seeing the coaches, we once again joked about how now that the team had to stay an extra two days to play Game 4, that maybe we would possibly run into a player or two in the morning, but honestly we felt like we would probably miss them again due to our bad luck. Knowing the blackout was coming soon, we showered and went to charge our phones before all the lights and power and wifi would be cut for the rest of the night and morning. It was a pretty hot sleep, because even though the hotel staff (half-heartedly) assured us that the AC wouldn’t be affected by the black out, it was low-key was not working and the random heat wave was pretty intense in Ottawa this long weekend. I felt bad for the players.
Day 2
Waking up early in the morning, I had to take a cold shower in the dark, led by the flashlight of my iPhone, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how ridiculous it was that this hotel was forcing the team (a team of Olympians!) to also have cold showers in the dark during their playoff run. Would they do this to a NHL team? After getting dressed (in normal clothes, no fan gear), my family and I decided we would do our work-from-home in the lobby until the check out time at 11am, as our bedroom was still pretty dark and the wifi was still down and the coffee machines in the rooms didn’t work.
This is when everything started getting pretty crazy.
Due to the blackout, only one elevator was working, meaning that it took forever for it to arrive. After pressing the button, we got distracted when we were looking outside as we waited. In front of the hotel was a small island of grass with a few trees and a picnic table, and at that very moment, out on the little picnic table in the front of the hotel was Ambrose and Labelle, drinking coffee in the early morning light. Ambrose was wearing the same outfit from the bus photos (the Blue Jays hat) which made her easy to spot. Most players we saw were wearing shorts, warm up gear, hats and hoodies. Only a few of them were dressed up on their day off.
When the elevator doors opened (with no one else inside) we missed it as we were distracted with the sight of the players outside. We went to hit the button a second time, and waited another five minutes for the elevator to arrive. Right before it did, my sister made a joke saying something like “Imagine if the elevator doors open, and some players are inside? Would you guys die from shyness?”
And guess what? She was right.
The doors opened and guess who was staring right at us? Extremely tall, extremely good looking Catherine Dubois, all dressed up in nice clothes ( I think she wore a similar outfit for the walk in photos). Guys, she’s even more stunning and tall in person (I’m 174 cm and she made me feel small). Even my straight sister fell in love with her. The elevator was pretty packed, and it took us a second to squeeze in and realize that directly behind Dubois was JDL, also dressed nicely but with a ball cap covering some of her face. They began to speak in French to each other, and my family and I did our best to stay chill as we exited into the lobby.
We went to set up our laptops and phone hotspots in the lobby to work as Dubois and JDL sat across from us, waiting to get picked up. They soon left, and Ambrose and Labelle had moved somewhere else, leaving us alone for a moment with the few other guests in the lobby (at this point, outside of the players and staff, there might have only been about ten “normal guests”, including us. But funnily enough, it seemed like half of these “normal guests” ended up being Victoire family members.) The hotel staff was nearly non-existent and never at the front desk, and all the amenities were shut down, including the restaurant, swimming pool, gym etc. So it truly felt like a ghost town, but luckily it was a beautiful day outside, so the lobby was bright despite the power outage.
As we worked-from-home in the lobby, a ton of players began coming down one after another, no doubt wanting to escape their dark bedrooms. Willoughby came down and met with her family next to us, Irving and her family were at the front desk, the European players (Ljungblom, Mlynkova, and Abstreiter) were chilling with each other, ARD walked by us to go get picked up (she was dressed up nicely of course, she is truly such a queen IRL). They all seemed to be in good moods, minus the fact there was no power and some of them had very wet hair XD. After seeing my queen ARD, I joked to my family that all I needed to see now was Poulin and Stacey and I would be the happiest fangirl ever, but I didn’t bet on seeing them or want to get my hopes up. I’ve been a fan of Pou since I was 14 (I’m 30 now), and knew I would be incredibly star struck if I saw her, and even seeing the other players in person made me feel shy/nervous. A small part of me was hoping I wouldn't see her because it made me feel so nervous!
I soon got up to go to the washroom in the lobby (in the dark of course) and came back to see Scams and her family member sitting next to my family as they worked. They had ordered something to eat via delivery, and soon influenced us to order from the same restaurant as we were starving by now and there was no food to be seen at the hotel. After giving Scams her order, the same delivery driver was waiting with another order, and we were getting curious who it was. After five minutes of waiting the sole elevator finally arrived, and Kati Tabin came to pick up her order.
This was when we started getting curious where the players and their families had gotten the coffee they were holding, as we were dying to drink some. Leaving my sister with our work laptops, my girlfriend and I followed the trail of players and staff down the long hallway to find the coffee. There, at the end, was a dinky little table with some coffee and milk, and the players were buzzing around it like flies. It seems like almost all of them had a coffee addiction, which isn’t too surprising as professional athletes. Ambrose, Chu, Ouellette and their kids were there chatting, and we went to get coffee as Becky Keller, Cheryl Pounder, Abstretier and Ljungblom also did. Ambrose was so sweet with the kids, and we saw her playing with them outside as well earlier. It almost seemed like Julie and the kids being there really helped make the players feel relaxed and broke some of the stress of the playoffs. You could tell how much they loved them. Overall, Ambrose was the player we saw the most, and she seemed like such a kind and genuine person, definitely a strong moral backbone of this team. Maggie Flaherty came soon with her family to the coffee station, and she was very bubbly and charming with that big smile, and not surprisingly, covered in bruises.
As we were making our coffee, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, and I only had a second to see the text from my sister (“Warning, they are coming your way!”) when I looked up and saw them. I knew immediately who she was talking about. My heart stopped as they walked up right in front of us. Poulin and Stacey.
They were both dressed comfortably, Pou in baseball cap, an oversized plaid hoodie and spandex, and Stacey in a oversized white crew neck sweater and spandex (maybe professional hockey players hate wearing pants?)
Pou was so adorable, very cute and smiley in the morning as she greeted the other players and coaches. You would never guess what a GOAT she was from seeing her in person. Her aura was honestly so chill and sweet, not intimidating at all. She was chatting with the kids and my girlfriend is pretty sure she overheard Pou saying something along the lines of “I don’t like school either” to the kids. So funny. Glued to her side was Stacey, and guys she is seriously so tall and beautiful in person. Like wow. She also has a very chill presence but more forthright/commanding(?) than Pou who was more shy and lowkey. I can absolutely see her becoming a coach when she retires, she has that aura. They were both chatting with the Chu-Ouellette family and playing with the kids near the coffee station, it was so cute I couldn’t believe it.
I didn’t want to post this before the playoffs were over and Stacey confirmed this herself, but yes, Stacey’s knee looked pretty banged up. It was black and blue and red and was covered in black trainer tape. She definitely dislocated it during that game (I’ve done the same with my shoulder during hockey, so I knew right away it was a dislocation). I didn’t see anything wrong with her shoulder at the moment but it seems like it was also injured. But no matter what, she looked like she was in good spirits and was so friendly to everyone at the coffee station.
My girlfriend asked me if I wanted to ask Pou and Stace for a photo, but honestly I didn’t want to bother them or the rest of the team, and I was too shy to ask. Ironically another guest (an old man) went up and asked Pou right away for a photo after that and she was so kind to do it but I didn’t have the guts. Instead, my girlfriend sent me to go get another cup of coffee, right when Pou and Stacey were filling their own. I was shaking as I filled it up next to them, but they were so kind and smiley as I grabbed the milk and sugar next to them. I was taller than Pou but felt so short next to Stacey. I brought the coffee back to my girlfriend and just tried to stay chill as the players chatted away.
Not too long after that, the players began dispersing, and Pou and Stace went back to the elevator together. We ate our delivery breakfast (thank you Scams for the idea) next to the European players outside on the patio. We soon had to check out, and saw a few more players at the end, including Boulier, Gosling, and Murphy.
When we were driving away, it looked like all the players had gathered back at the picnic table at the front of the hotel and were sitting on the grass, just enjoying the warm weather despite the power outage. It was so cute and idyllic to see them all gathered there, and I’m so happy they were able to have a day off to rest, even if it was at a weird hotel with no power in the middle of nowhere! They really seemed like a family, and I thought that was beautiful. Sometimes the best bonding moments happen when you are thrown a curveball like a power outage.
A Few Extra Notes
- One of the funniest things I realized is that you could tell right away who was a professional hockey player just from how they walked. They were all bowlegged and walked like cowboys, either from the fact their legs were sore from the game or just because their bodies are permanently adapted to skating and they forgot how to walk like a regular person XD.
- I expected Pou to have the strongest aura when we saw her, but like I said, she was so cute and smiley that she seemed so approachable and chill. Instead, which makes more sense to me now, the people with the strongest aura by far were the former pros Ouellette and Pounder. Ouellette was so intimidating and focused every time we ran into her, fully focused on the playoffs, and Pounder seemed like a real celebrity even when she was walking around in her normal clothes.
- In the end the only players we didn’t see were: Roque, Grieg, Darkangelo, DiGirolamo, and Mattivi. I'm assuming they might have slept in or were already gone for breakfast with each other/their families.