MILAN — Marie-Philip Poulin has given Canada plenty of golden moments over her historic career at the Olympics.
She scored the game-winning goal in 2010, 2014 and 2022. She’s done it at women’s world championships, too, scoring the winner in 2021.
And now, she’s giving Canada hope.
On Monday night, in the semifinals against Switzerland, Poulin made history, scoring her 19th career goal at the Olympics, passing Hockey Hall of Fame forward Hayley Wickenheiser in career goals at the Olympics. Then she added another — for 20 career goals — to lead Canada to a 2-1 win, setting up another Olympic gold medal game against the United States.
“She doesn’t care for records like that, it’s just how humble she is,” said defender Renata Fast. “But it’s pretty incredible for her to break a record like that. And I don’t think there’s anyone more deserving.”
Team Canada’s road through this women’s hockey tournament has been anything but smooth. Its first game of the preliminary round was postponed because of a norovirus outbreak on the Finnish national team, disrupting its schedule. Then, Poulin, the team’s captain and best player, was injured and missed two games, including a 5-0 loss against Team USA – Canada’s worst loss at the Olympics since 1998.
Now, after Monday’s victory, Canada will get another shot at an American team that has dominated the tournament. No team has scored more goals than the U.S. (31), which has scored at least five goals in five straight wins. The U.S. also haven’t been scored against for 331 minutes, 23 seconds, with starting goalie Aerin Frankel becoming the first goalie in Olympic women’s hockey history to record three shutouts in a single tournament.
With young stars like Caroline Harvey, Hannah Bilka and Abbey Murphy pacing the tournament in scoring, there’s little doubt that Team USA has the best, most talented roster in Milan.
But Canada has Poulin.
She is the best all-around women’s hockey player in the world and is always at her best on the biggest stage. She’s the only player (male or female) to score in four consecutive gold medal games at the tournament. Over half of her goals (12) at the Olympics have come in the knockout stage, with Canada facing possible elimination, including Monday in a tight contest against Switzerland.
After a scoreless first period, it was Poulin who finally broke through with the first goal of the game, breathing life into Team Canada.
“Nothing surprises me anymore,” said head coach Troy Ryan. “We have a bit of a flat start. We have a conversation in between periods. And of course it’s going to be Poulin that takes the lead in those situations. You just, you grow to expect it.”
Her second goal of the game, a diving attempt through Swiss goalie Andrea Brändli’s crease, proved to be the game-winner after Canada failed to score in the third period. It was her fifth career multi-goal game at the Olympics in her 26th career game, which tied Wickenheiser and Jayna Hefford for the most games played by a Canadian at the Olympics.
“She’s one of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever seen,” said goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens. “She’s gonna put her body on the line. She’s willing to do anything it takes to win. We saw her go at that, that crazy dive, like it was the most important play ever, and it was a very big goal for us in the moment.”
Switzerland pressed hard in the third period — so well, in fact, that Swiss captain Lara Stalder called Canada both “shaky” and “beatable.”
Without Poulin, they might have been.
She led all skaters with seven shots on goal — almost as many as the entire Swiss team combined (8) — and her line with Daryl Watts and Sarah Fillier was consistently dangerous in the offensive zone.
Just one week ago, Poulin’s status for the remainder of the Olympics was in question. She took a big hit in Canada’s 5-1 win over the Czech Republic on Monday night and was in obvious pain on the bench. She tried to take another shift in the game, but ended up limping to the dressing room not long after.
That Poulin was able to return so soon — and make an impact with three goals in her last two games — is a testament to the work Poulin puts in behind the scenes. She’s dedicated in the gym and one of the strongest athletes on the ice on a nightly basis.
“Just to see the work that she puts in every single day to shine in moments like this (is incredible), ” said Fast. “It’s difficult for players to be the greatest year after year. That’s really hard to sustain — but she does it.”
The U.S. team has been a force in these Olympics, and even before these Games. They’ve now beaten Canada in seven straight games, making them the favorite to win gold on Thursday. Canada enters as the clear underdog.
But if there’s any player who can single-handedly change a team’s fortune it’s Poulin. She made that much very clear on Monday.
“She puts our team on her back, she puts our entire country on her back,” said Laura Stacey. “Knowing you have that type of goal scorer, knowing that you have that type of leader in your locker room, who is willing to lay it on the line continually, I think it makes everybody else want to do the exact same thing.”
While 36-year-old U.S. legend Hilary Knight has announced this is her fifth and final Olympics, Poulin, 34, has made no such proclamation. After the game on Monday night she said she hasn’t thought that far ahead yet.
What we do know is that Poulin, the most clutch athlete in the sport, has one more game at this year’s tournament. And one more opportunity to meet the moment, as she’s done so many times before.
