A farm in New Brunswick is celebrating Montreal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin, after the team won the 2026 Professional Women’s Hockey League championship. To honour the captain of the winning team — the first Canadian-based team to win the Walter Cup since the league’s inauguration in 2024 — Hunter Brothers Farm has featured Poulin in its annual six-acre corn maze. Shelley Rea Hunter, whose husband, Chip Hunter, co-owns the farm, says the family are hockey fans, making the choice of who to feature in this year’s maze an easy one. “With the debut of the Professional Women’s Hockey League championship and Marie-Philip Poulin, ‘captain clutch,’ leading the Montreal team, it was easy to become Victoire fans too,” Shelley told CTV News. “Celebrating the Victoire’s championship as well as paying homage to women’s hockey was an easy choice.” The Victoire won their first PWHL championship on May 20, defeating the Ottawa Charge 4-0 in Game 4 to become the first Canadian-based team to win the Walter Cup. Poulin is a three-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Champion captain with Canada’s national women’s hockey team. She was named the International Ice Hockey Federation’s female player of the year in 2025. This year marks the farm’s 26th annual corn maze. The tradition began in the 1990s, and the Hunters say they look for an anniversary, celebration or Canadian connection that will resonate with visitors when choosing each year’s theme. Previous mazes have honoured other Canadian sports teams and athletes, including the University of New Brunswick Reds men’s hockey team’s perfect 43-0 season in 2024, the Montreal Canadiens’ centennial in 2009, the Toronto Blue Jays’ 40th season in 2016 and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ centennial in 2017. They also honoured the Toronto Raptors’ 2019 championship, Canada’s national soccer teams in 2022, the 35th anniversary of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope in 2015, Patrick Roy’s retirement in 2003 and the 40th anniversary of Secretariat’s Triple Crown victory in 2013. In addition to the corn maze, the farm offers a variety of other family activities on weekends from Sept. 12 to Oct. 31., including a jumping pillow, a slide, pedal cars, double zip line and wagon rides to its pumpkin patch, where visitors can pick their own pumpkins.
