Montréal will hit the ice captain-less this November, as 2026 Walter Cup champion Marie-Philip Poulin announced she’ll undergo knee surgery next month — with the injury sidelining her for the start of the 2026/27 PWHL season.
Poulin revealed she tore her ACL and meniscus in Canada’s Olympic silver medal run, going on to lead the Victoire to its first-ever title despite the injury.
“I wanted to be part of this journey that led us to hoist the Walter Cup,” she said. “It has become clear that if I want to continue playing at a high level, surgery is necessary.”
The Canada captain’s availability for November’s World Championships also remains in doubt, potentially ending a 17-year major tournament streak.
“In the short term, it’s a difficult choice,” she continued. “But if I take a step back and think about the years ahead, the decision is obvious.”
The PWHL continues to make women’s sports history, as the players association voted to publicly disclose their salaries in an effort to promote transparency.
“This decision reflects our belief that greater salary transparency gives players clearer information and stronger context in individual negotiations, while also supporting a more transparent and credible marketplace for the league overall,” said PWHLPA executive director Malaika Underwood.
Only 10 PWHL players made more than $100,000 last season, led by Ottawa’s Emily Clark at $126,090 and New York’s Sarah Fillier at $125,000.
Reigning Walter Cup winner Montréal averaged just under $58,000 per player, with captain Marie-Philip Poulin and other top-paid stars opting to take pay cuts to maximize team depth.
Many players earned closer to the league low of $37,131.50, with 17 players on minimum contracts while others hovered around $40,000.
The Montréal Victoire sealed the deal last night, lifting its first-ever Walter Cup trophy with Wednesday’s 4-0 win over the Ottawa Charge.
The 3-1 series came down to the wire, as Montréal scored three times in Game 4’s final 10 minutes to put the title out of the Charge’s reach.
“I tried to live through every moment,” said Montréal Head Coach Kori Cheverie.
“There were highs, there were lows, and we were able to kind of get through all of those adversity moments as a team. Whatever team we had on the ice was a team we were able to win with, so it’s been absolutely amazing with this group.”
Montréal’s Marie-Philip “Captain Clutch” Poulin won Playoff MVP. She racked up a record-tying eight postseason points after falling just short of Olympic gold with Canada earlier this year.
“It’s been a tough year, I’m not going to lie, since February,” she said after the win.
“It was ups and downs, coming back to this group, just fighting through. It hasn’t been easy — injuries, sickness, a lot of things — but we stuck together. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy in this building when we showed up today, but we remained patient with our game.”
The 2026 Walter Cup is headed North, after Canadian titans Montréal and Ottawa won their PWHL semifinals in dramatic fashion.
The Victoire knocked off two-time reigning champions Minnesota on Tuesday to reach its first-ever finals, with captain Marie-Philip Poulin’s game-winner sealing the deal.
“It’s our biggest win in organization history,” said Montréal head coach Kori Cheverie. “We had to fight tooth and nail against a team like Minnesota. It wasn’t easy.”
“We're not done yet,” Poulin added. “We want to get to work here, and we're excited to get going on the 14th.”
The Victoire faces a Charge team with ample Walter Cup experience, after Ottawa fell just short of the Frost to finish as 2024/25 runner-up.
The Charge ousted Boston in Sunday’s double-overtime thriller, with final goal-scorer Michela Cava sending the Fleet packing.
“That was a big one,” said midseason Ottawa addition Cava. “I have been so close so many times and it feels really good just to get this one for the girls.”
Where to Watch the 2026 PWHL Walter Cup Finals
The 2026 Walter Cup Finals kick off Thursday at 7 PM ET, live on ION.
Minnesota Frost forward Taylor Heise called the 2026 PWHL playoffs scheduling "inappropriate" this week, as her team prepares for back-to-back games against Montréal Victoire in this year's semifinal series.
The two-time defending Walter Cup champions face an unprecedented challenge Friday night, when they play Game 4 less than 24 hours after Thursday's Game 3. The slate marks the first back-to-back games in PWHL playoffs history, as Minnesota and Montréal gear up to play three games in four days while traveling more than 2,000 kilometers between cities.
"That simply wasn't what the league wanted," Heise said after Game 3, criticizing the compressed schedule.
The scheduling creates a stark disparity between the two semifinal series matchups. Boston and Ottawa receive a six-day break between their Game 2 and Game 3, while the Frost and Victoire are forced to squeeze their series into a tighter window.
Both venues face scheduling conflicts with other playoff commitments. The NHL's Minnesota Wild are using Grand Casino Arena for their Stanley Cup playoffs match on Saturday. And up north, Montréal's Laval Rocket need Place Bell.
However, the sizeable gap between series conditions raises competitive fairness concerns.
Montréal captain Marie-Philip Poulin appears far from full health heading into Game 4, after playing through the grueling schedule. Poulin scored in triple overtime to win Game 2, but the physical toll is beginning to take hold as fatigue sets in.
Taylor Heise leads all PWHL playoffs scorers with 17 career points, as Minnesota chases its third consecutive Walter Cup title.
The Victoire is off to a 2-1 semifinal lead, sitting one win away from punching a first-ever PWHL finals ticket. Conversely, the Frost are facing PWHL playoffs elimination for the first time since 2024.
Where to Watch Montréal vs. Minnesota in the PWHL Playoffs
The Victoire visits the Frost for Friday's Game 4 showdown at 8:30 PM ET, live on YouTube.
If necessary, the teams will return to Montréal on Monday for Game 5.
Marie-Philip Poulin scored her first career PWHL playoffs goal in dramatic fashion on Tuesday, securing Montréal's 1-0 triple-overtime win over Minnesota to take Game 2 of the Frost vs. Victoire semifinal series.
After three scoreless regulation periods and two additional overtime periods, Poulin finally broke through a little more than four minutes into the game's third overtime.
"Captain Clutch" drifted to one knee and hammered home the game-winner off a cross-ice feed from Abby Roque, following a setup pass from Poulin's fellow Canadian international — and wife — Laura Stacey.
"It was truly a team effort," Poulin said after the Game 2 win. "We had that intensity, that drive to win. It was shift after shift, and we stayed confident. We're rolling up our sleeves and getting to work."
The game lasted 104:02, making it the fourth-longest match in PWHL history.
It proved to be a defensive showdown, as goaltenders on both sides registered exceptional performances.
Montréal's Ann-Renee Desbiens made 38 saves in the shutout — the third most in her post season career. Minnesota's Maddie Rooney stopped 51 shots, surpassing her previous 37-save career high.
"It was a tight game," said Frost head coach Ken Klee. "Both goalies played well, and both teams played very hard. Certainly proud of our group and how hard they battled. They had to play almost two games — six periods of hockey is a lot."
Poulin's goal evened the best-of-five series at 1-1 after defending champion Minnesota took Game 1 5-4 in overtime.
Now, the series shifts to Minnesota for the next two games, with little turnaround time after Tuesday's marathon matchup.
Where to Watch Frost vs. Victoire PWHL Playoffs Game 3
The Frost vs. Victoire series returns for Thursday's Game 3 at 7 PM ET, live on PWHL YouTube.
Game 4 will follow on Friday night.
The PWHL is back in action on Thursday night, as the Winter Olympics' brightest stars rejoin their club teams just one week after the gold-medal game — with the third-year pro hockey league racing toward the 2026 playoffs.
With two months remaining in the 2025/26 regular-season, the Boston Fleet currently tops the PWHL standings with 30 points, trailed by the No. 2 Minnesota Frost (28 points), No. 3 Montréal Victoire (27 points), and No. 4 New York Sirens (24 points).
While no team's been officially eliminated, the No. 5 Ottawa Charge, No. 6 Vancouver Goldeneyes, No. 7 Toronto Sceptres, and No. 8 Seattle Torrent all have post-Olympics ground to make up if they want to keep their postseason dreams alive.
Thursday night's matchup will see two Olympic foes team up, as Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin joins US star forward Hayley Scamurra on Montréal's line for the Victoire's clash with New York.
Then on Friday, US captain Hilary Knight and Team USA's 2026 Olympic leading scorer Hannah Bilka again join forces for Seattle as the Torrent host Toronto, before US veteran Kendall Coyne Schofield takes the ice for back-to-back champion Minnesota’s Sunday showdown in Montréal.
With 61 players — 30% of the entire league — returning from Milan, the PWHL is anticipating a further boost in interest after the Olympic tournament garnered record viewership this month.
"It's just the reality that women's hockey isn't going to go silent. It's not going to go dark," Coyne Schofield said ahead of last Thursday's gold medal final. "You'll be able to see every one of these players in tomorrow night's game a week from now, which is pretty awesome and hasn't been the case for the existence of women's hockey."
How to watch the PWHL on Thursday
The 2025/26 PWHL season returns to the ice on Thursday, when No. 3 Montréal visits No. 4 New York.
The puck drops at at 7 PM ET, live on YouTube.
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."
The US is one win away from gold, as the undefeated USA women's hockey team aims to top the Winter Olympics' podium for the third time when they take on rival Canada on Thursday afternoon.
The US enters Thursday's final on an historic tear, outscoring opponents 31-1 while pitching an Olympic-record shutout streak — including a dominant 5-0 win over Canada in pool play.
"I think we're all just playing together as a group, and that's our strength," said Team USA goaltender Aerin Frankel. "That makes us a pretty hard team to score on."
While the US hasn't won Olympic gold in the sport since 2018, tides have recently shifted, with Team USA besting its northern neighbor in a winning streak dating back to April's 2025 IIHF World Championship.
As for Canada, the defending Olympic champions overcame their group-stage loss to the US and battled through the 2026 knockouts by relying on captain and all-time leading scorer Marie-Philip Poulin, whose second-period brace secured their 2-1 semifinal win over Switzerland on Monday.
Despite dealing with a lower-body injury, Poulin is on track to lace up against USA captain Hilary Knight for the last time on Olympic ice, with the newly engaged Knight announcing that this year's Games will be her last.
How to watch USA Hockey vs Canada in the Olympic gold medal match
The puck drops on the gold medal match at 1:10 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage airing on USA Network.
Canada hockey captain Marie-Philip Poulin made Olympic history Monday, breaking the all-time women's goal-scoring record in Canada's 2-1 semifinal win over Switzerland.
The 34-year-old scored twice in the second period to push her career total to 20 goals, passing fellow Canadian and Hockey Hall of Famer Hayley Wickenheiser, who previously held the record with 18 goals.
Poulin netted the record-breaking goal 1:49 minutes into the second period. Sophie Jaques set her up with a pass from the blue line, with Poulin nearly whiffing on her one-timer before sending the puck skipping past Swiss goaltender Andrea Braendli to open the scoring.
A little over six minutes later, Poulin struck again. She drove to the front of the net and roofed the puck over Braendli after the goalie stopped Daryl Watts's initial shot, with Watts assisting on both goals.
The victory sent Canada hockey to its seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal game. The defending champions face arch-rival United States on Thursday, February 19 at 3:10 PM ET.
Poulin recently returned from a lower-body injury that forced her to miss two preliminary round games. She came back to tie Wickenheiser's record on Saturday with a goal in Canada's 5-1 quarterfinal win over Germany.
Playing in her fifth Winter Olympics, Poulin is known as "Captain Clutch" for her ability to deliver in crucial moments.
What's Next for Canada hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics
The defending champions next face arch-rival Team USA, as Canada hockey seeks its fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.
The puck drops on the gold medal match this Thursday at 3:10 PM ET, live on Peacock.