Canada hockey captain Marie-Philip Poulin left it all on the ice in Thursday's gold medal match.
Despite battling through a lower-body injury that forced her to miss two preliminary games, the 34-year-old veteran's heroic effort fell short. After US captain Hilary Knight scored the equalizer near the end of regulation time, Team USA topped their northern rival 2-1 in overtime to claim the Olympic gold medal — forcing Canada to settle for silver.
With injury limiting her mobility, Poulin broke the Olympic women's goal-scoring record just days earlier, registering two goals against Switzerland in the semifinal. She reached 20 career Olympic goals in the win, surpassing former teammate Hayley Wickenheiser's previous record.
Canada led for nearly 40 minutes Thursday, after Kristin O'Neill scored a short-handed goal in the second period. O'Neill's tally marked Team USA's first goal allowed in over 352 minutes of play — a new Olympic hockey record. Goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens then kept the US scoreless through regulation, until Hilary Knight's deflection found the back of the net in the final two minutes.
"This one hurts," Poulin admitted after the loss. "We wanted to bring it back to Canada. We showed up and played hard until the end, but we came up short."
The defeat represents Canada's eighth consecutive loss to the US, a streak that dates back to the 2025 World Championships. Head coach Troy Ryan subsequently assembled a veteran-heavy Olympic roster that averaged three years older than youthful Team USA.
As for Poulin, her future remains uncertain. While the decorated captain may have played her final Olympic game, Canada hockey must now look ahead to 2030.
"We wanted to play relentless, in-their-face hockey, and that's what we did," an emotional Poulin said. "We came up short, but I'm truly, truly proud of this group."
