American forward Hilary Knight (left) reacts as her team scores on Canada's goalkeeper Ann-Renee Desbiens (right) in Tuesday's preliminary round game, which the U.S. won 5-0.-/AFP/Getty Images
When Marie-Philip Poulin injured her knee this week in Milan, Team Canada head coach Troy Ryan said he didn’t want to contemplate playing without the world’s best women’s hockey player for more than a few games.
“I don’t want to know what that would be like,” Ryan said. “She’s so reliable, so valuable. She’s the heart and soul of this group.”
In a 5-0 loss to archrival Team USA on Tuesday, they found out.
Poulin, nicknamed ‘Captain Clutch’ for her history of tournament-winning goals at the Olympics, watched from the sidelines. On the ice, Canada attempted a defensive, grinding, physical game against the Americans, while the U.S. came out speedy and offensive. It was no contest.
The U.S. got to work early, when blueliner Caroline Harvey’s shot found its way through traffic in front of Canadian goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens to open the scoring. It was an ominous sign: the team that has scored first when these two teams have met at the Olympics has gone on to win seven out of their 10 games.
Hannah Bilka put the U.S. up by two with three minutes remaining in the first period, before Canada then fell behind 3-0 in the opening minutes of the second on a Kirsten Simms goal Ryan unsuccessfully contested for goaltender interference.
Bilka added another in the second period to go up by four. Laila Edwards sent a decisive shot into the top corner past the midpoint of the third period to make it 5-0. At no point in the game did the U.S. not look in control of the outcome.
Canada struggled to generate offence, particularly on zone entries, and was routinely forced into turnovers or offsides at the U.S. blue line.
“I think this group understands where they went wrong,” Ryan said after the game. “We’ll watch some video, we’ll talk about any potential line changes that we’ll make. We’ve just got to be better.”
Laura Stacey (7) and her Canadian teammates wanted to play for the injured Poulin, who has had numerous big-stage moments for Canada through the past four Olympics.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
The team struggled at both ends of the rink.
“I think our team can score goals, I think our team can play defensively if need be; I think neither of them were there tonight,” Ryan said. “So that’s a perfect storm when you’re not finding ways to even get inside. We weren’t getting inside on them at all. All our shots were perimeter shots and one and done.”
After talking to team doctors, Ryan is confident Poulin will return to the ice in Milan, but couldn’t say when: “Definitely optimistic that she will be back at some point,” he said.
Poulin, a three-time gold medalist playing in her fifth Olympics, is considered the core of Canada’s offence and one of its most dangerous power play weapons. She injured her knee in the first period of Monday night’s 5-1 win over Czechia, after being taken hard into the boards on a hit by Czech forward Kristyna Kaltounkova.
On Tuesday afternoon, several hours before the U.S. game, Team Canada officials announced Poulin would not play.
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There was no urgency for Canada to play her. The women’s tournament has a different structure than the men’s tournament, with the world’s top five teams all in one grouping, and all advancing to the quarter-finals. At stake in the seeding round are favourable matchups in the playoffs, but the game was not crucial to Canada’s Olympic fortunes.
Brianne Jenner, who stood in as captain in Poulin’s absence, praised the Americans’ poise, but said Canada took too many penalties and was not aggressive enough on the attack.
“Too many chances where we were kind of sinking back a bit,” Jennner said, adding the game doesn’t change how Canada approaches the bitter rivalry.
“I think we’re as hungry as it gets, and we’re going to do everything we can to learn from this,” Jenner said.
Brianne Jenner (19) of Team Canada filled in as captain for Team Canada, with Poulin dealing with the lower body injury she incurred in Monday's win over Czechia.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
The last time Canada played the U.S. without Poulin was at the 2021 world championships, which they won 5-1. Heading into the U.S. game, the Canadian players said they wanted to play for Poulin.
“She’s picked us up so many times. She’s led the way,” Canadian forward Laura Stacey said after the win over Czechia.
Without the captain in the lineup, though, Canada will need to find other ways to score. Poulin’s 17 goals in her four Olympics prior to Milan are one less than Hayley Wickenheiser, who has the most in history.
Canada brought a defensively minded, veteran-laden team to Milan. Speaking after the win against Czechia Monday, Ryan said the team will need to lean on that in Poulin’s absence.
“The core group being together for so long, we’ve had so many line combinations that we’ve worked on,” Ryan said. “That’s where some of the experience kind of shines through.”
Sarah Fillier and Julia Gosling will be looked upon to generate offence. In their first two games in Milan, Gosling put up a team leading three goals, while Fillier had two goals and an assist.
However, Canada’s inability to generate a sustained attack against the U.S. is a concern as the seeding round draws to a close. After the loss to the U.S., Canada will play its final game of the preliminary round against Finland on Thursday.
That game was intended to be their opener in Milan, but was delayed a week after the Finnish team was hit hard by stomach flu, which forced half of its roster onto the sidelines last week.
Watching from the stands Tuesday, Poulin at times appeared frustrated. Even before the puck was dropped, her absence could be felt.
As Canada’s players left the ice after warm-up, Stacey remained behind to pull all the pucks out of the Canadian net and place them in a bucket – a ritual the team does before every game and one that Poulin likes to do herself.
The U.S. has rolled over Canada in the months leading up to the Olympics, winning all four games of the Rivalry Series, a tune-up tournament in November and December. During those games, where Canada didn’t necessarily ice its top roster, the Americans outscored the Canadians 27-4.
Those losses have sparked talk that Canada, the defending gold medalist from 2022, comes into these Olympics as an underdog against its rivals. Tuesday’s game indicated the Americans are on top of their game; how far Canada is behind them is difficult to know without Poulin healthy.