Canada’s Poulin doubtful for final women’s Olympic preliminary game
Canada’s women’s hockey team is reeling after what head coach Troy Ryan and forward Sarah Nurse called a “sloppy” performance in a 5-0 loss to the United States in Milan Cortina 2026 preliminary action on Tuesday, the first Olympic hockey game played without captain Marie-Philip Poulin since Torino 2006.
Following the loss, Ryan told reporters that Poulin is unlikely to play in the Group A finale against Finland on Thursday, but that the injury she sustained in a 5-1 win over Czechia due to Kristýna Kaltounková’s hit was not as severe as it initially appeared.
“I’m not sure [about Poulin’s return]. Tomorrow she’ll be reassessed,” he said. “I think it’d be doubtful that she’d be (ready) for our next one, but we’re optimistic that she will return during these Olympics.”
Poulin suffered the injury while playing on the powerplay Monday, before being checked into the boards by Kaltounková and collapsing on the spot. She made her way back to the Canadian bench under her own power and immediately went down to the locker room. She returned briefly at the end of the first period, but did not take another shift before being pulled entirely from the matchup.
By missing the game against the USA, she ended a 24-game uninjured run at the Olympic Games, dating back to the opening game of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
All of Canada can relate to Poulin😅
“Just lower body. All I’ve been really told from medical staff is that it’s not as bad as they originally thought, so we’re definitely optimistic that she’ll be back,” added Ryan. “She’s irreplaceable. It changes a lot of things. I don’t think that’s why we had the performance we had tonight, but you just miss her everywhere. Your power play’s a little less lethal, your penalty kill even at times, and then you just have the face off, winning those puck possession plays.”
Canada’s loss to the U.S. was scheduled to be their final Group A matchup, but a Norovirus outbreak among Finland’s roster forced the tournament opener to be rescheduled for Thursday, making the assured quarterfinal matchup either on Friday or Saturday.
Should Canada advance past the quarterfinal, it would play a semifinal on Feb. 16, before a medal game on Feb. 19, either for bronze at 8:40 a.m. ET or for gold at 1:10 p.m. ET.
“I have full trust in this team and confidence in this team that we’re going to learn, we’re going to get better,” added veteran defender Jocelyne Larocque. “We’re going to grow from it. So definitely not worried, but there are things we definitely need to clean up.”