McHaffie: Queen’s vs Montreal matchup in Belleville is “more than just an exhibition game”

By: David Foot / BSEN

The Belleville Senators are continuing their commitment to supporting the growth of women’s hockey in the Bay of Quinte region, bringing a pair of top U SPORTS programs to CAA Arena this weekend.

The Senators will host the Queen’s University Gaels and Université de Montréal Carabins for a special women’s hockey exhibition game on Sunday, giving local fans an opportunity to see two of the country’s premier university programs compete on the American Hockey League stage.

The matchup features plenty of high-end talent and championship pedigree.

Montreal enters the game as the defending U SPORTS National Champions, having captured the 2025-26 title as the No. 8 seed. The Carabins defeated No. 1 UBC, UNB and Concordia on their way to the program’s third national championship.

Queen’s is coming off an equally impressive regular season. The Gaels finished first in the OUA East with a 19-5-1 record and were nationally ranked in the top 10 for much of the season.

The Gaels also collected a number of major individual honours, including OUA East MVP and Forward of the Year Sophie Hudson, OUA East Rookie of the Year Jada Wood, OUA East Defenseman of the Year Scarlett Nowakowski and OUA East Goaltender of the Year Emma Tennant.

Hudson was also named a U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian, while Wood was named U SPORTS Rookie of the Year and earned a spot on the U SPORTS All-Rookie Team.

For Queen’s head coach Morgan McHaffie, bringing those two programs together in Belleville represents exactly the type of opportunity the Senators were hoping to create.

“Playing Montréal is therefore more than simply an exhibition game for us,” McHaffie said. “It is an opportunity to measure ourselves against one of the top teams in U SPORTS, expose our players to championship-level competition, and continue building toward where we ultimately want to go.”

Sunday’s game is the latest example of the Senators using their platform to support women’s hockey and women in sport in the local community.

McHaffie’s connection with the Senators began last season when she was invited to participate in the club’s Women in Sports Night. She joined a panel featuring women from a variety of sports and had the opportunity to connect with young girls from the community.

The experience provided McHaffie with an opportunity to see firsthand the Senators’ commitment to creating visibility and opportunities for women in sport.

“Last year they actually invited me to their Women in Sports Night,” McHaffie said. “I had the opportunity to come down and do a sort of a Coach’s Hot Stove panel with some other incredible women and some women basketball, different kind of sports.”

Following that experience, the Senators reached out about the possibility of bringing Queen’s to Belleville for a game.

“And, you know, we jumped on that opportunity,” McHaffie said. “They’ve been so great with this whole partnership and working through and getting that whole sort of AHL experience for our girls.”

The result is a unique opportunity for both visiting programs — and for the local hockey community.

Players from Queen’s and Montreal will get to experience an AHL game-day environment, while fans in Belleville and the surrounding region will get a chance to watch high-level women’s university hockey in their own backyard.

While Sunday’s contest is officially a pre-season exhibition, the level of competition makes it an important early test for both programs.

Queen’s will enter the game as part of a challenging pre-season opening, with the Gaels travelling to Syracuse University on Saturday to face an NCAA Division I opponent before heading to Belleville to take on the defending U SPORTS champions.

For Queen’s, the games offer a chance to measure the program against elite university competition as it continues working toward a return to the top of the OUA.

The Gaels’ last OUA championship came in 2013, and McHaffie said the program is focused on building toward its next championship opportunity.

“It’s been 13 years since we won an OUA Championship in our league,” she said. “So the goal is just to get back there and earn a berth at nationals.”

The growth of opportunities throughout women’s hockey has helped make that pursuit even more meaningful.

McHaffie said Queen’s has seen increased recruiting interest from across Canada and internationally, while the expansion of professional opportunities has given university athletes more avenues to continue their playing careers after graduation.

“We’re seeing a lot more opportunities from a professional standpoint,” she said. “We’re getting interest all across the country, even internationally, having female players reach out and wanting to come experience university sport here in Canada.”

For the Senators, Sunday’s game is another opportunity to help showcase those pathways to the next generation of players in the Bay of Quinte.

It is also a chance to put two nationally prominent programs in front of local fans — and demonstrate the level of women’s hockey being played across the country.

Puck drop between Queen’s University Gaels and Université de Montréal Carabins is set for 3:00 p.m. this Sunday at CAA Arena, with doors opening at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are available through Ticketmaster.