Marie-Philip Poulin is hurt and may miss Canada's Olympic game against USA
Canada’s women’s hockey team received some bad news on Monday afternoon.
Not even a period into Canada’s game against Czechia, captain Marie-Philip Poulin was hit hard into the boards by Czech forward Kristyna Kaltounkova and exited the ice in a lot of pain. The 34-year-old left Canada’s bench seemingly favouring her right leg.
Poulin returned to the bench near the end of the period, smiling and laughing with her teammates, but did not take another shift. Eventually, Team Canada confirmed that the three-time Olympic gold medalist would not return to the game.
This came at the worst possible moment for Canada, as they are set to lineup against their archrival, the United States, on Tuesday afternoon. This injury throws doubt on Poulin’s status for the game.
After a big hit on the ice, Marie-Philip Poulin will not be returning back to the ice for the remainder of the game against Czechia pic.twitter.com/c3TgsOcaqM
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 9, 2026
Her absence didn’t seem to faze Canada against the Czechs. Despite losing Poulin in the first period, the Canadians stomped over Czechia to build up a 5-0 lead heading into the third period. One of those goals came from Poulin’s wife, Laura Stacey, who scored to make it 3-0 for Canada later in the opening frame.
The Canadian squad will be anxiously awaiting an update on Poulin’s condition ahead of tomorrow’s game against the USA. She has been a thorn in the side of the Americans over the past few Olympics, having scored the gold medal-winning goals against the United States in both the 2014 and 2022 Games.
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Canada is entering this year’s Olympic tournament in a bit of an unfamiliar position. Despite being the reigning champions, the United States is widely seen as the favourite to capture Olympic gold for the first time since 2018.
Just months ago, the Americans dismantled Canada in last year’s rivalry series, winning all four games and outscoring the Canadians by an ugly 24-7 margin.
Not having Poulin in the lineup would make things that much harder for the Canadians to overcome their American rivals.