Canada’s Poulin unsure of Olympic future after silver medal

In the moments after Canada lost the women’s gold medal game in overtime at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics, superstar and captain Marie-Philip Poulin made her way down the line of Canadian teammates awaiting their silver medals. 

It was just minutes after throwing her stick in frustration on the bench, and as tears still dripped down her cheeks. Yet, she went one by one through her teammates, giving each a hug and an embrace for the fight they put up against a heavily favored American team. 

She’s not sure herself, but those moments may have been the final ones for her on Olympic ice.  

“I am not sure yet,” the 34-year-old Canadian captain said after the game when asked about the potential of returning for another quadrennial with the aim of the French Alps 2030 Olympic tournament. “I’ll be in the present and go from there.”

While her American legendary counterpart, Hilary Knight, had stated before the Games that this would be her final foray, Poulin is two years younger and would be the same age as men’s captain Sidney Crosby come the next Olympics. 

At the same time, Milan Cortina wasn’t a smooth ride for her — playing through pain in the gold medal game, after missing two contests due to a lower-body injury suffered against Czechia. Even with the setbacks, she finished the tournament with three goals and an assist, earning her fifth Olympic medal, joining a select group of the nation’s top athletes. 

“I’m very proud,” she said. “We came out, we wanted to play, we wanted to make it difficult for them, and we did. Honestly, we knew it was going to be a battle, it was going to be up and down, and it was.”

For Canada, the loss comes at a formative time. Unlike the 1998 or 2018 silver medal teams, the 2026 team is in transition, with few young players on the roster who will be spurred to step up at a higher level in 2030, given the average age of 29. 

Still, as much as there will be players that never set foot on Olympic ice again, some will come back chasing that golden feeling one more time, even as time eventually comes for every athlete’s career in the end. 

And until then, it will leave many Canadians wondering — were those weeping hugs, the final scene of Poulin’s Olympic story?