Marie-Philip Poulin

 Marie-Philip Poulin-Nadeau (born March 28, 1991) is a Canadian ice hockey forward, currently with the PWHPA and who serves as captain of the Canadian national team. Having scored the game-winning goal in the gold medal games in the first two Olympics in which she competed, in 2010 and 2014, and having captained Canada to a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics, she is widely considered to be among the best women's hockey stars of all-time. In addition to her international achievements, she has also won the Clarkson Cup twice and was named CWHL MVP three times.
Playing career.
Montreal Stars.
Poulin spent 2007–08 with the Montreal Stars of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. She appeared in only 16 games, but managed to lead all rookies in scoring with 22 goals and 21 assists. So dominant was she in half a season as a 16-year-old rookie that she finished runner up in the CWHL Most Valuable Player vote by club captains. She was also a recipient of the Montreal Canadiens scholarship program in January 2008. In 2008–09, she played with her school team (Dawson College), but also played as an associate player with the Stars. At year's end, she helped the Stars win the Clarkson Cup over the Minnesota Whitecaps in Kingston, Ontario in March 2009. In the championship game, she assisted on a goal by Caroline Ouellette.
Boston University.
Poulin debuted with the Boston University Terriers women's ice hockey program during the 2010–11 season. On October 2, 2010, she scored the first goal of her NCAA career, during a 5–4 loss at North Dakota. With her third shorthanded goal of the season on October 15, 2010, she tied BU's single-season record for shorthanded tallies in just four games. She led all NCAA freshmen in goals (9) and points per game (2.00) during October 2010. In addition, she led all Hockey East freshmen in goals, assists and points, and ranked during the month. She was ranked first among all Hockey East players in shorthanded goals with three. In the first seven games of her NCAA career, she had a seven-game point-scoring streak consisting of nine goals and seven assists. On December 7 and 10, two wins over Northeastern and Harvard, Poulin registered three goals. In both games, she had a total of 11 shots on goal and a +2 rating. On December 10, she scored two goals and a game-high eight shots as BU prevailed by a 5–3 mark over Harvard.
On January 15 and 16, 2011, Poulin recorded five points (2 goals, 3 assists) in BU's two wins over Boston College and Maine. Against BC, Poulin notched a power-play goal and two assists. Versus the Maine Black Bears, she registered a goal and an assist. On January 22, 2011, Poulin recorded a hat trick, including two power play goals as BU prevailed over Vermont in a 4–0 win. The win was the Terriers 100th win in program history. Poulin broke BU's single-season points record with her second goal of the game and later tied the single-season goals record with her third marker. She became the first Terriers player to be honoured as Hockey East Rookie of the Year in March 2011. A fracture of the shoulder did not hold her outside the action for the 2011–12 season.
On May 11, 2012, Terriers head coach Brian Durocher announced that the captains for the 2012–13 campaign would be Poulin and Jill Cardella. For the 2014–15 Boston University Terriers women's ice hockey season, Poulin was appointed team captain. As captain, she would lead the team to its fourth consecutive Hockey East championship. In the aftermath of the 2015 Hockey East tournament, she would join Shannon Doyle and fellow Montreal resident Kayla Tutino on the All-Tournament Team.
Les Canadiennes de Montreal.
Poulin returned to the CWHL in the autumn of 2015. Selected in the 2015 CWHL Draft, Poulin would finish the season as the recipient of the Angela James Bowl. At the conclusion of the 2015–16 CWHL season, she was the inaugural winner of the Jayna Hefford Trophy.
Poulin scored two goals in the 2017 Clarkson Cup final in Ottawa.
Poulin decided not to return to Les Canadiennes after the Olympics for the run up to the 2018 Clarkson Cup.
Poulin scored a hat trick against the Toronto Furies on January 5, 2019 in a 3–1 match played in Brossard, Quebec.
PWHPA.
After the CWHL collapsed in May 2019, Poulin joined the ForTheGame movement that led to the creation of the PWHPA. As a member of the PWHPA, she took part in the Elite Women's Showcase at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game. She was afterwards voted as the best female hockey player in the world by NHL players, after having finished second in the vote the year before. In December 2019, she had been named among the top-4 Québecois athletes of the 2010s decade by the readers of "La Presse".
She was among several high-profile PWHPA members who reacted indifferently to the news of the NWHL's expansion into Canada with the addition of the Toronto Six, stating that "I think there's a reason why many of us are not playing in that league."
International.
At the age of sixteen years, she made her Team Canada debut with the Under-18 national team during a three-game exhibition series in Prince George, BC between Canada and the United States in the fall of 2007. Playing for Canada Red, Poulin racked up four goals and one assist in two games against Sweden's national women's team, the 2006 Olympic silver medalists. Her 2.5 points per game put her atop the all-time list for the national women's team.
She participated at the 2008 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship in Calgary and was Canada's leading scorer. In a January 9, 2008 contest versus Germany (contested at the inaugural World Women's Under-18 hockey championship), Poulin notched one goal and two assists in a 10–1 win. She was part of the team that won a silver medal. She finished the tournament with eight goals and six assists in five games. In two seasons with Canada's national women's under-18 team, Poulin became the all-time leading scorer in U18 team history with 31 points in 17 games. She helped Canada to back-to-back silver medals at the IIHF World Women's Under-18 Championship in 2008 and 2009.
She made her debut on the Canadian senior national team, earning silver at the 2009 World Championship in Hameenlinna, Finland.
Poulin scored both goals during Team Canada's 2–0 win in the gold medal game against the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics. At the end of the tournament, Poulin was named to the tournament all-star team. In the 2010 Four Nations Cup, she scored a hat trick vs. Finland on November 12.
In a March 31, 2012 exhibition game versus the United States, Poulin assisted on a goal scored by Laura Fortino in a 1–0 win at the Ottawa Civic Centre. It was the first international goal scored by Fortino. In a game versus Russia at the 2012 IIHF Women's World Championship, Poulin put in a three-point performance (one goal, two assists) in a 14–1 victory. By claiming the gold medal at the 2012 IIHF Women's World Championship, Poulin (along with Catherine Ward) became the sixth and seventh members of the (not yet recognized by the IIHF) Triple Gold Club for Women (having won gold in the Olympic Games, the IIHF World Championships, and the Clarkson Cup). In August 2012, Poulin was named the captain of the Canadian Under-22 team that competed in an exhibition series versus the United States Under-22 squad in Calgary, Alberta.
Poulin scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in Team Canada's 3–2 overtime win in the gold medal game against the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics (the former goal with 54.6 seconds left in regulation, the latter on a 4-on-3 power play at 8:10 of overtime).
Poulin finished the 2018 Winter Olympics with six points for Team Canada, including a goal in the Final.
Personal life.
Her brother, Pier-Alexandre Poulin, played 116 games in the QMJHL with the St. John's Fog Devils and the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. She studied psychology while playing for Boston University.