Montreal Victoire fan donning custom-knitted sweater for playoff run

Montreal Victoire season ticket holder Virginia Champoux will be wearing her custom-knit sweater for the playoffs.

It’s clear that Virginia Champoux wears her passion on her sleeve.

The Montreal Victoire season ticket holder crafted her own custom sweater featuring the names and numbers of each member of the roster; a project that took three evenings of planning and 15 hours of knitting.

“The math to make it fit in one sweater was extremely aggravating,” she told CTV News, “especially since the day I started it the team drafted somebody new.

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“I refused to not have somebody on the sweater, so I had to start over to put her put Mattivi on because I wasn’t going to knit the sweater if they weren’t all on it,” she said.

Champoux got the idea to sport her own creation after seeing the viral sweater created by Karla Courtney during the 2025 World Series run.

That hand-knit sweater was recently showcased at the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

“I thought, ‘oh my God, that’s so cool.’ I need to come up with a way to create my own thing,” she said.

Champoux says she’s been knitting “since I can remember,” and her right forearm has two knitting tattoos, including one marking centimetres so she can measure against her own skin instead of pulling out a measuring tape.

She’s connected with similar crafters in the league, including an Indigenous beader who is creating an Abby Roque jersey and a crocheter she met at an Ottawa Charge game.

“It’s so cool to see how makers in general and especially women makers, are finding their way to bring creativity to women’s sports.”

Champoux only knit while watching the Victoire, both in the stands at Place Bell and at home during away games.

“There was one game on a Saturday afternoon that I was watching, and I had to keep redoing it because I was paying too much attention to the game and not enough to the sweater,” she said.

Even as the weather turns warmer for the Victoire’s playoff run, which starts on Saturday, she’ll be wearing her sweater to games.

The Montreal Victoire will face off against the Minnesota Frost in round one of the PWHL playoffs.

“The arm was left intentionally blank,” she pointed out. “I don’t want to jinx myself, but there’s room to add something should we need to add something at the end of the season,” alluding to the Walter Cup.

“I’m just not going to say it out loud, because at this point, I’m starting to be really nervous.”

With news of league expansion expected in the coming weeks, Champoux says this sweater will honour the team members from the 2025-2026 season.

Next year, she wants to create a new item for the team.

“I’m pretty much going to have to make this a yearly thing,” she said. “Now, I’m not saying it’s going to be the same sweater every year, but I like the idea of having the whole team.”