Canada’s captain Marie-Philip Poulin offered a sobering update on her knee injury Saturday morning acknowledging she had feared her Olympic tournament might be over after suffering the injury earlier last week.
TSN’s Claire Hanna reported that Poulin revealed she ‘tweaked’ her knee during Canada’s preliminary round game against Czechia. The injury occurred when she took a hard hit into the boards from Czech forward Kristyna Kaltounkova. While Poulin initially tried to return to the game, she was unable to continue.
“You don’t want to think that way,” Poulin said when asked if she thought her Olympics were over.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t think that… I think with the people I have around me kinda put things in perspective, go one day at a time and go from there.”
The 34-year-old forward admitted that while her knee feels better than it did on Monday, it still hurts heading into Canada’s crucial quarterfinal matchup against Germany scheduled for Saturday.
Poulin’s absence has been felt over Canada’s last two games. She was ruled out of the team’s 5-0 loss to the United States on February 10th and their 5-0 victory over Finland on Feb. 12th.
Troy Ryan Shared an Update on Marie-Philip Poulin
The captain was seen skating Thursday morning with a goalie and medical staff, showing signs of progress that have kept hope alive for her potential return.
Canada head coach Troy Ryan noted that Poulin appeared positive and optimistic during Thursday’s session. He mentioned that the captain is trending in the right direction. However, she remains listed as day-to-day, and her status for the quarterfinal against Germany is uncertain.
“She felt well, obviously not good enough right now to put her in the game, so an extra couple days will do her justice,” Ryan said.
The timing couldn’t be more critical. Canada finished second in Group A with a 3-1 record during the preliminary round securing wins against Switzerland (4-0), Czechia (5-1) and Finland (5-0), while suffering their only loss to rival USA (5-0). Now they face a win-or-go-home situation against Germany as they look to defend their Olympic title.
Poulin has been the heart and soul of Canadian women’s hockey for over a decade. She scored gold medal-winning goals in both the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Olympics.
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