Marie-Philip Poulin makes history as Canada books Olympic gold medal rematch against USA
Was there ever any doubt?
After defeating Switzerland 2-1 in the semi-finals on Monday, Team Canada’s women’s hockey team has booked their ticket to the Olympic gold medal game against the USA.
It was an oddly close game for the Canadians, who played to a scoreless first period before captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice in the middle frame. Those two goals gave Poulin a total of 20 career Olympic goals, passing Hayley Wickenheiser (18) as the highest-scoring women’s Olympic player of all time.
It was a special moment for the Beauceville, Quebec native.
Unstoppable🤩
Marie-Philip Poulin breaks the deadlock and scores to make it a 1-0 game for Canada over Switzerland! pic.twitter.com/d8EJk35lWU
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 16, 2026
Though the score was tight, Canada dominated just about every other facet of the game, outshooting the Swiss 46-8.
Now, all eyes will turn to Thursday’s gold medal game, where a fierce American team awaits Canada after thrashing Sweden 5-0 in the semi-finals.
This is the seventh time since women’s hockey was introduced in 1998 that Canada and the United States will meet in the Olympic gold medal game. The only time it hasn’t happened was back in Turin 2006, when the Canadians defeated Sweden to capture gold, while the Americans settled for bronze.
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While Canada is the defending Olympic champions, they will be in tough against a very good American squad. The USA has dominated Canada over the past few months, sweeping them in the Rivalry Series late last year and coming off a convincing 5-0 victory over the Canadians during the Olympic preliminary round last week.
Though it should be mentioned that Canada did not have Poulin in the lineup during that disappointing loss. It remains to be seen if her being healthy can help the Canadian women tip the scales against the favoured Americans.
The gold medal game will go on Thursday morning at 1:10 p.m. EST/10:10 a.m. PST.