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An injured Marie-Philip Poulin gave her Canadian teammates some hope in Monday’s 5-1 win over Czechia in Olympic women’s hockey.
Canada’s captain, who left the game midway through the first period, eventually returned to the bench that period to support her teammates, and took a few spins on the ice at the first-period buzzer.
But Poulin didn’t return to the game after that. Her status for Tuesday’s game against archrival United States less than 24 hours later was uncertain.
“There’s a lot of concern when anybody leaves the ice, but especially her,” said Canadian defender Jocelyne Larocque.
“She did try to come back and I think that’s a good sign. That, to me, shows it’s not extremely serious. It’s obviously concerning because she’s not only the best player, but the best leader.”
Poulin left the game midway through the first period after a hard check when Canada led 1-0.
She appeared to favour her right leg while skating to the bench after she was hit into the boards by Kristyna Kaltounkova at 10:52.
Poulin returned to the ice with Canada’s second power-play unit while Kaltounkova served the penalty.
But the captain left the offensive zone mid-shift and headed for the bench again, and then the dressing room.
Marie-Philip Poulin left during the first period of Canada’s 5-1 victory over Czechia with a suspected lower-body injury.
Canada’s head coach Troy Ryan didn’t have an update on the captain immediately after Monday’s game, but acknowledged the uplift on the team and on him of her returning to the bench and trying to skate.
“It felt optimistic,” he stated. “Pou came back just to be with the group, probably to ease their minds a little bit.
“She’s so reliable, so valuable, she’s the heart and soul of this group. If she’s there, she’ll continue to be the heart and soul of this group and if she’s not there, she’ll continue to be its heart and soul.”
Poulin’s teammates didn’t break stride after their captain was injured. The Canadians scored three more times before the first period ended and chased Czech starter Julie Pejsova from the game.
“You never like to see that, especially to someone like that, our leader, our rock,” said Laura Stacey, who is Poulin’s linemate and off-ice wife.
“It hurts and I think our bench did feel that a little bit. We all looked at each other, we all felt it. 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 do whatever we could to get that win for her, but also for ourselves as a group.”
Poulin has scored the most career goals of any active player in the Olympic women’s hockey tournament with 17, including seven spread across four Olympic finals. Her former teammate Hayley Wickenheiser holds the record with 18.
Julia Gosling produced a pair of power-play goals for Canada (2-0-0-0).
The U.S. led Group A at 3-0-0-0 after Monday’s 5-0 win over Switzerland (0-1-0-2).
Kristin O’Neill, Sarah Fillier and Stacey also scored for Canada with Ann-Renee Desbiens stopping 18 of 19 shots for the win. Brianne Jenner had a pair of assists.
Kaltounkova, the PWHL’s leading scorer with 11 goals for the New York Sirens, took two of the Czechs’ three illegal-hit penalties in the first two periods.
Canada’s power play went 2-for-4 in the game and 5-for-9 to start the tournament after a 4-0 opening win over Switzerland.
Natalie Mlynkova scored a power-play goal for the Czechs at 8:38 of the third period.
Pejsova was pulled after three goals on 11 shots at 13:51 of the first period. Michaela Hesova made 21 saves in relief.
The Czechs led all European countries in Professional Women’s Hockey League content with eight players.
Head coach Carla MacLeod, a two-time Olympic gold medallist for Canada, coaches the Czechs and the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge.
All 23 Canadians play in that league, in which body-checking is allowed in certain situations.
The International Ice Hockey Federation has adopted the same body-checking policy. Both teams tested the standard Monday with hard hits.
“Our physical game is a little smarter and I think it worked out for us,” said Gosling. “We don’t know the line yet because some things are let go and some things aren’t.
“We are figuring that out a bit better now. The Czechs, a few of their hits were a little dirtier. We’re playing a little bit more of that clean physical play.”
Canada and Finland (0-0-0-2) will be the last countries to complete their preliminary-round schedule Thursday. Their opener on Feb. 5 was postponed because of multiple cases of the norovirus among the Finns.
All five Group A countries and the top three in Group B advance to the quarterfinals Friday and Saturday. Canada’s quarterfinal will be Saturday.
In Group B, host Italy (2-0-0-1) was a 3-2 winner over Japan (1-0-0-2). Germany (1-1-0-1) beat France (0-0-1-3) in overtime 2-1.
