Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin was injured after being hit into the boards in the first period of play on Monday against Czechia in preliminary round action at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan.Carolyn Kaster/The Associated Press
Canada’s gold medal aspirations in women’s hockey lay crumpled on the ice in Milan Monday night when team captain Marie-Philip Poulin was hit hard into the boards and left the game with an apparent injury.
After skating gingerly off the ice favouring her right leg, Poulin came back to the bench briefly at the end of the first period, but would not return. After the second period, Team Canada officials announced she was out of the game.
Canada won the game in dominant fashion, beating Czechia 5-1. But it was the injury to Poulin, and her questionable status heading into Tuesday’s game against the rival Americans, that overshadowed the win.
“Obviously you never like to see that, especially to someone like that, our leader, our rock. It hurts, and I think our bench did feel that a little. I think it kind of hit us,” forward Laura Stacey said after the game.
“She’s picked us up so many times. She’s led the way and it was our turn to pick her up. It was our turn to support her and try and do whatever we could to get that win tonight for her, but also for ourselves as a group.”
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Team Canada head coach Troy Ryan said he had no update on Poulin’s status for Tuesday’s game against the United States. He expected to have a briefing from team doctors on Tuesday.
Canada is undefeated after two games in the seeding round, after also beating the Swiss 4-0 on Saturday.
After the hit, Poulin tried to take her spot on a Canadian power play, but left in the middle of her shift, lifting her right skate as she went to the bench.
“She wanted to go, but then she made the smart decision to kind of turn back,” Ryan said.
Canada’s Julia Gosling (88) and Brianne Jenner (19) celebrate Gosling’s goal against Czech Republic goalie Michaela Hesova (1).DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The hit came with Canada leading 1-0 halfway through the first period. Czech defender Kristyna Kaltounkova put a hard shoulder into Poulin, who appeared to twist her knee as she fell.
Considered the world’s best women’s hockey player, an injury to Poulin would be a catastrophic blow to Canada at the Olympics, if she ended up having to miss playoff games.
“I don’t want to know what that would be like,” Ryan said. “I mean, she’s so reliable, so valuable. She’s the heart and soul of this group.”
Kaltounkova said after the game there was no malice in the hit, but the Czechs did plan to play an aggressive game against Canada.
“It’s a physical game. We knew that we wanted to be physical. And that’s really about it,” Kaltounkova said.
“We knew that’s the way we were going to go and that’s the way we disrupt those teams. So we were following our game plan.”
Canada adopted a more physical game against the Czechs in response. Asked if the Canadians had a problem with the play, forward Emma Maltais said, “You can tell by our reaction how we felt about it no matter if it’s a clean hit or not.”
Canada kept scoring in Poulin’s absence – with Sara Fillier, Stacey and Julia Gosling each finding the net. Poulin returned to the bench late in the period and seemed in good sprits, though she did not take a shift.
Prior to the injury the Czechs appeared to be targeting Poulin, with multiple players hitting her whenever she was near the puck.
Sarah Fillier (10) of Team Canada controls the puck against Kristyna Kaltounkova (98) and Adela Sapovalivova (3) against Team Czechia.Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
As they did with the Czechs, the Canadians can overpower most of the field at these Olympics without Poulin. But if they are to challenge the United States, their biggest rivals for gold, a healthy Poulin is crucial.
Playing in her fifth Olympics, Poulin, 34, is a three-time gold medal winner who has become known as ‘Captain Clutch’ over her storied career.
She scored the deciding goal over the Americans to win gold in Vancouver in 2010, then did it again at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and again four years ago in Beijing.
Prior to the tournament, Ryan described the seemingly inevitable feeling that Canada could end up in a tight game against the Americans for gold at these Olympics. “In those moments, you hope Poulin comes up big again and scores another big goal,” Ryan said at the time.
Even before Poulin’s injury, though, Canada came into the tournament knowing it would have to rely more on defence in Milan, and get scoring from throughout its lineup.
O’Neill said prior to the game that Canada can’t afford to rely only on its core players, such as Poulin, for goals.
“With these tournaments being so many games back-to-back and lot of volume within two weeks or so, I think it’s important that everyone is stepping up and not just relying on two or three people to give us offence,” O’Neill said.
Their first two games have seen just that. In their first win, 4-0 against Switzerland on Saturday, Canada got scoring from four players not named Poulin, with goals from Olympic rookies Daryl Watts and Gosling, as well as core veterans Natalie Spooner and Fillier.
Against the Czechs Monday, it was the same kind of game, with Canada taking a score-by-committee approach.
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O’Neill got the scoring started early in the first period after Renata Fast bolted from the penalty box, picked up a loose puck in her own end, and led a rush in the other direction. Fast’s backhand bounced off the Czech goaltender to O’Neill, who recorded her first Olympic goal.
Later in the period, Fillier and Stacey scored 39 seconds apart to put Canada up 3-0, ending the night for Czech goalie Julie Pejsova.
Gosling closed out the first period by firing a rebound on net, which deflected up over replacement Czech goalie Michaela Hesova, putting Canada up 4-0.
Gosling’s second of the game, 17 seconds into the second period, put Canada up 5-0 as they pivoted to a more physical, defensive stance.
The Czechs broke Canadian goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens’s shutout midway through the third period, on a goal by Natalie Mlynkova.
Canadian defender Jocelyne Larocque said she hoped Poulin would be back in the lineup for the U.S. game, but said her leadership is still felt, even if she can’t play.
“There’s definitely concern, if any player leaves,” Larocque said. “She can still make an impact whether she’s playing or not.”