Canada’s women’s hockey team will take on Switzerland on Monday, looking to set up an eighth straight trip to the Olympic final, dating back to when the event was introduced at Nagano 1998.
Watch the semifinal LIVE on TSN1, TSN.ca and the TSN App at 3pm ET/Noon PT.
Canada is coming off a 5-1 quarterfinal win over Germany on Saturday to advance, with captain Marie-Philip Poulin having made her return from injury. Canada defeated Switzerland in its opening game 4-0 on Feb. 7.
Poulin, who sat out two games with a knee injury, scored her 18th career Olympic goal against Germany, which tied the record held by her former teammate Hayley Wickenheiser.
“I never think about that,” the captain said. “You want to win every Olympics. I was lucky enough in my career to play with some pretty amazing players, so pretty thankful for them.”
Poulin sat out a 5-0 loss to the United States and a 5-0 win over the Finns after she was checked hard into the boards by Kristyna Kaltounkova in the first period of last Monday’s 5-1 win over Czechia.
“Missed her a lot,” defender Claire Thompson said. “She’s a huge presence both on the ice and in the locker room. We’re just really happy that she was be able to be back with us here tonight.”
Poulin’s knee was tested within the first five minutes Saturday as she chased down Laura Kluge on a short-handed breakaway, after the German stripped Renata Fast of the puck.
“The first couple of shifts for sure, you want to get your legs under and not overthink things, but happy to how it felt and looking forward to get better day in and day out,” Poulin said.
Canada and Switzerland will play in the second semifinal of the day, with the United States defeting Sweden 5-0 to clinch their spot in the gold-medal game earlier in the day.
The Americans have been dominant in Italy so far, defeating Canada 5-0 in the group round.
Canada has faced Team USA in all but one of their Olympic finals, defeating Sweden at Turin 2006. The Canadians have won the tournament five times, falling to Team USA in 1998 and 2018.
The Milano Cortina 2026 gold-medal game will take place on Thursday.
