Minutes before the puck dropped on Canada’s semifinal Olympic women’s hockey game against Switzerland, the cameras on the broadcast showed Marie-Philip Poulin travelling to the ice on a golf cart.
Grimacing, the captain looked to be in discomfort as she sat beside Swiss goaltender Andrea Brändli, who would frustrate the Canadians all game long. Only Poulin would be able to put the puck past her.
Poulin injured her knee earlier in the Olympics, keeping her out of her team’s preliminary-round games against the United States and Finland.
But it wouldn’t keep her out of the tournament, and it wouldn’t stop her from hunting, clawing and fighting for her fourth Olympic gold medal.
Even as she looked to be in pain on the bench, Poulin has played with desperation and hunger. It was the captain who smothered a German breakaway with a backcheck in the quarterfinals.
And in the semifinals, it was Poulin who scored the only two goals Canada needed to defeat the Swiss, 2-1. On the second, she scored as she fell to her feet, willing the puck into the net with her heart as much as her stick.
Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice as Canada defeated Switzerland 2-1 on Monday, in the Olympic semifinal at Milano Cortina 2026.
In the process, she took hold of the all-time goal scoring record at the Olympics, surpassing her former teammate, Hayley Wickenheiser.
“I’m surrounded with such a great team, honestly,” the always-humble Poulin said after the game.
You see the big goals on the biggest stages, but what people don’t see is the work behind the scenes that Poulin puts in to come up big in these moments. It’s not just the clutch gene that’s in her DNA.
“I know we all know it, but she shines in moments like this,” assistant captain Renata Fast said. “It’s the work she puts in every day that allows her to do it. It’s not by fluke. It’s not just by pure skill.”
Next up is an American team that’s steamrolled through this tournament so far, outscoring opponents 21-5. They dominated Canada in the preliminary round, 5-0, albeit with Poulin watching and agonizing from the stands.
The sixth Olympic gold-medal final between the cross-border rivals is set for Thursday at 1:10 p.m. ET. You can watch all the action on CBC and CBC Gem.
The Olympic goals record is one of many accolades that Poulin has racked up during her career. But to her, it won’t matter.
Marie-Philip Poulin became the Olympic women’s hockey goals leader, scoring both goals for the Canaidan in their semifinal against Switzerland.
Last season, Poulin took home the league’s MVP and top forward awards after a great year with the Montreal Victoire. But she finished her season without a Walter Cup and a gold medal. For her, it wasn’t good enough.
Front-row seat to magic
The score was closer against the Swiss than anyone on the Canadian team would have liked. But it was still a mostly-dominant effort from the Canadians, who outscored Switzerland, 46-8.
Head coach Troy Ryan felt his team started slow in the first period, which ended without anyone on the board.
There was a conversation in the dressing room in the intermission, and the Canadians came out attacking, led by their captain.
A one-time shot from Poulin sailed through the bodies in front of the net, past Brändli, and into the history books.
“Probably the best part of my entire coaching career is to have a front-row seat to some of the magic that she’s been able to provide for our team and for our country and sport in general,” Ryan said. “Nothing surprises me anymore.”
Poulin, always eager to deflect to her teammates, pointed to Emma Maltais and Brianne Jenner putting pressure on the Swiss, before her line with Daryl Watts and Sarah Fillier came on the ice and cashed in.
The captain added a second goal less than seven minutes later in the second period.
“Every accolade that she’s achieved, every goal she’s scored has not come from just how skilled she is,” assistant captain Blayre Turnbull said. “It’s come from her grit, her determination, how hard she competes every single shift. We’re extremely lucky that she’s on our team and that she gets to lead us.”
After Swiss forward Rahel Enzler scored in the third period, off a behind-the-net pass from Alina Müller, only one goal separated the two teams: one, a giant in women’s hockey, and the other, a team that’s only made it on to the podium once.
But there are few blowouts in women’s hockey these days, a sign of how the game is growing beyond North America.
Swiss captain Lara Stalder said her team came out flying with “nothing to lose” in the third period. Had they played that way all game, Stalder believes her team could have upset a “shaky and beatable” Canadian squad.
“We’re closing the gaps to the big two teams and you see that in the results now,” Stalder said.
It wasn’t easy, but the Canadians didn’t expect it to be. That, more than anything else, may prepare them for what’s ahead against the Americans.
“We scratched, we clawed, we battled hard,” forward Laura Stacey said. “We got a lot of shots through. Obviously we’ve got to find a way to put a few more in. But at the end of the day, the gold medal’s going to be a battle.
“I think today, giving it our all, battling, finding a gritty win, that’s what the next game is going to be like. So I think this can give us some confidence that we’re able to do that.”
One-game showdown
You’ve probably heard that the Americans have been the Canadians seven straight times, dating back to last year’s world championship.
In the latest loss, Ryan said he didn’t feel his team was any better than they were at the Rivalry Series, where the Canadians were outscored 24-7.
The Canadians struggled against the Americans defensively, and couldn’t generate much beyond the perimeter at the other end of the ice.
But Ryan emphasized that his team doesn’t care about the last seven games. All that matters is Thursday.
“It’s a non-factor,” he said. “It’s a one game showdown.”
To the Canadians, the Americans are mighty, but they’re not unbeatable.
“They’re nothing magical in the mix,” Ryan said. “They’ve found some success playing the game that they play and they’re committed to playing it.”
The Canadians will look to channel the 2002 team, the one that Poulin idolized, which defeated the Americans in a season where they had Canada’s number.
They’ll look to channel what kept them close to the Americans in games as recently as 10 months ago, when many of the same players were on this Canadian team.
They’ll draw on their experience, from the players who came back to win 2014 and those who built a tight-knit bubble in 2022, and their belief in each other.
“It’s one game,” Poulin said, adding that she’d like her team to be poised with the puck and create more offence. “Obviously, we know the U.S. is a talented skilled team and so are we. It’s going to be a battle.”
Most of all, they’ll look to Poulin, their leader on the ice and off, to propel them forward. No statistical model can capture the difference she makes on the ice. No box score can capture it, even when she scores the game winner.
“I don’t believe there’s any other player in the world who has the ability to instill that type of confidence in their teammates, their staff and the program in general,” Ryan said.
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