Les Canadiennes de Montreal will be battling for their second Clarkson Cup in three years this Sunday in Toronto, and they might be doing it without the best player in the world – depending on who you ask.

It took Les Canadiennes three games to get past the Markham Thunder – the reigning Clarkson Cup champions – in the semifinal. One has to wonder if a third game would have been necessary if captain and Jayna Hefford Trophy winner and CWHL MVP Marie-Philip Poulin was on the ice. Poulin went down with a lower-body injury on Feb. 24 in Les Canadiennes’ final game of the regular season.

Poulin helped off the ice with no weight on her left leg after spending several minutes in obvious pain on the bench. Looks bad. pic.twitter.com/vx0PgtR2e9 — Kirsten (@kmtwhelan) February 24, 2019

The captain of Team Canada piled up 50 points – 41 of which were primary – in 26 games in the regular season. She either scored or directly set up over one-third of Les Canadiennes’ goals this season – and she missed two games for the 2019 Rivalry Series. If she’s out for Sunday, she will definitely be missed.

Fortunately for Montreal, it has another 2019 Jayna Hefford Trophy nominee who is very much ready to go on Sunday.

MORE: Inferno's Duhamel on Clarkson Cup, ball hockey and a 'single, unified professional league'

Emerance Maschmeyer, 24, has had the kind of season that most goalies can only dream about. The only way it could be better is if she’s able to stonewall her former team on Sunday and lift her first Clarkson Cup.

As one might expect, Maschmeyer knows the Calgary Inferno well. She spent her first year in the CWHL sharing Calgary’s crease with Delayne Brian and current Les Canadiennes and Team Canada teammate Geneviève Lacasse. She’s played with and against the Inferno’s brightest stars throughout her hockey career and has played against them nine times since she was traded to Les Canadiennes on Aug. 17, 2017. She has an excellent idea of what to expect from Calgary, but she’s not the type to show her hand before a winner-take-all game.

“They’re extremely skilled,” Maschmeyer told Sporting News. “Any line [the Inferno] put out there is dangerous. We need to work to be very responsible defensively against them. Obviously, they have a couple of good goaltenders – Alex Rigsby is a great goaltender and we have to get to her. When you look at our two teams and compare them against each other, either team can win on any given day.”

Maschmeyer was in net for five of Montréal’s six games against Calgary this year. If we look deeper into the numbers, it’s clear that she performed better against the Inferno than her two wins in the season series might suggest. The average CWHL goaltender had an .886 save percentage against the Inferno; Maschmeyer had a .919 save percentage against her former team. She was also one of the two goalies who earned a shutout against the CWHL’s westernmost franchise.

Calgary wasn’t the only team that the Harvard alumna succeeded against. Maschmeyer finished the season with a .935 save percentage in 20 starts, which is the second-best save percentage posted by a CWHL goalie over the last six years (among goalies who played at least 10 games). According to Giants in the Crease's goaltending statistics, Maschmeyer led the league with a 12.032 goals saved above average (GSAA). Markham’s Erica Howe was the only other goaltender to hit double digits (10.156) in GSAA this year. Maschmeyer’s stats were simply a cut above the rest of the pack, which is why it was a surprise to see her not bring home the Goaltender of the Year Award. Instead, that award went to Calgary’s Alex Rigsby.

.@aRigs33 backstopped her way into our hearts! She’s the Goaltender of the Year! pic.twitter.com/VLrMPs4rem — CWHL (@TheCWHL) March 23, 2019

Even with the kind of year she’s had, the humble Ivy League grad was surprised to hear that she was the first goaltender in the CWHL’s 11-year history to be a nominee for the Jayna Hefford Trophy. In Montreal’s locker room, players tend to hear about the awards and accolades they are up for from each other, along with a healthy dose of the kind of grief that can only come from teammates.

“I honestly didn’t realize I was the first goaltender until I saw it somewhere on social media,” Maschmeyer explained. “It’s such an honour to even up there as a nominee with Jenner and Poulin. It means even more because players vote on the nominees … it means even more when it comes from your peers. It’s quite an honour.”

We're honoured to announce the nominees for the Jayna Hefford Award@LesCanadiennes @InfernoCWHL @briannejenner @Emerance_M and @pou29



Be sure to purchase your tickets for the award show at https://t.co/ZApPFJ0Ne2 pic.twitter.com/LDv4ZBZRPr — CWHL (@TheCWHL) March 15, 2019

Montréal’s depth was tested in a big way With Poulin out of the lineup and Defender of the Year nominee Erin Ambrose injured in Game 1 on March 8. The new top line of Hilary Knight, Mélodie Daoust, and Jillian Saulnier scorched Markham with seven combined goals – four of which came from the stick of Knight. On the blue line, Lauriane Rougeau stepped up and helped stabilized the defence with Ambrose out for Games 2 and 3.

Much like they did earlier in the season, Montréal found a way to win in the wake of a key injury.

“We went awhile this season without [Mélodie Daoust] and after that injury we said, ‘Okay, we’re alright, we have a lot of players on this team who can step up and play any role,’” Maschmeyer recalled. “Then, going into the playoffs without [Poulin] and Ambrose – you never like to see your teammates go down and they’re key players for sure, but we were never worried. We recognized the situation and made the most of it, we weren’t making any excuses.

“A lot of people stepped up in a big way,” Maschmeyer continued. “Our national team players stepped up big, so did some others who maybe played roles that they didn’t play earlier on in the season. When those moments of adversity happen, you see the character of your team. It was huge for us in that series. We made no excuses, and that last game was our best of the series and that’s pretty incredible.”

The other player who stepped up in a big way for Les Canadiennes was their goaltender. The three-year CWHL veteran had a .920 save percentage in the three games she played against Markham. That was a huge accomplishment for Maschmeyer, who had an .892 save percentage in her first four playoff starts in the CWHL.

Maschmeyer, who was cut by Hockey Canada for the 2018 Olympics, believes that she’s a different player than she was in her first year as a pro.

“Growing up it was always easier to gain new skills and make big jumps,” Maschmeyer shared. “When I graduated college and started playing in the [CWHL] I started working on little ways to elevate my game to get ahead. A lot of it was the mental side of the game and learning how to deal with different situations and scenarios. That’s been a big part of my game that I’ve worked on. I play in the moment, and don’t think too far ahead into the future … it’s about working on what I need to work on to be the best version of myself.”

Like any elite goaltender, Maschmeyer is going into Sunday’s game with tremendous focus. She knows that Poulin and Ambrose may not be in the lineup, but she also knows that is out of her and her teammates’ control. She trusts in her defence, which she credits for making her job easier all season long, and in the counsel and support of Lacasse and Marie-Soleil Deschenes. Maschmeyer knows her team can win with the lineup that bested the reigning Clarkson Cup champions on March 10.

Sunday’s final, which will be televised on Sportsnet and the NHL Network, is sure to be a classic. The Inferno and Les Canadiennes are closely matched. They share many of the same strengths and feature some of the most talented players on the planet. Few understand just how close the CWHL’s two superpowers are as much as the goaltender who played for Calgary in the 2017 Clarkson Cup Final.

“The biggest thing is that it’s 60 minutes in the Final,” Maschmeyer explained. “This isn’t a three-game series, you can’t take a couple of games to win it. You can’t waste a minute of it. We want to get out to a fast start and bring the energy right away and using that momentum. Both teams are extremely skilled. At the end of the day it will come down to effort and who wants it more.”