Hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin picks up 2nd major award, named Canada’s top female athlete by Canadian Press | CBC Sports
Dubbed “one of the greatest clutch performers this country has ever produced,” Canadian girls’s hockey staff captain Marie-Philip Poulin has been voted The Canadian Press feminine athlete of the yr for 2022.
“It sure tops up the year. I think 2022, when I take a little time to myself and rethink it, it’s quite amazing, not only personally, but as a group,” Poulin instructed CP.
“A big thank you to people that voted, but this goes to the people around me, my teammates.”
The honour is the second such acknowledgement for Poulin this month. Poulin was additionally named winner of the Northern Star Award (previously the Lou Marsh Trophy) as Canada’s prime athlete of the yr.
The 31-year-old ahead from Beauceville, Que., this yr grew to become the one hockey participant on this planet, male or feminine, to attain targets in 4 consecutive Olympic hockey finals.
Her two targets, together with the eventual game-winner, drove Canada to a 3-2 win over archrival United States for gold Feb. 17 in Beijing’s Wukesong Arena.
With fast passing and taking pictures palms, peerless hockey sense and a way of event, Poulin has produced seven targets in her 4 Olympic finals, together with a late equalizer and an extra time winner in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
WATCH | Poulin named Canada’s prime athlete, ‘I nonetheless love enjoying the sport’:
Canadian hockey nice Marie-Philip Poulin speaks to CBC Sports’ Scott Russell after profitable the Northern Star Award for 2022.
She’s captained Canada to back-to-back world championships in 2021 and 2022 after a run of 5 straight titles by the U.S.
After scoring the OT winner within the 2021 world remaining in Calgary, Poulin had 5 targets and 5 assists in seven video games in September when Canada defended its crown in Herning, Denmark.
“Poulin played a massive role on one of the most successful team performances in a long time,” mentioned Victoria Times-Colonist sports activities editor Brian Drewry. “She led on and off the ice while thriving in the spotlight.”
The Canadian Press started recognizing female and male athletes of the yr in 1932. CP’s male athlete of the yr might be introduced Thursday and the staff of the yr Friday.
WATCH | Poulin’s pair powers Canada to Olympic gold medal:
Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice and had three factors, together with the Olympic gold medal profitable purpose for a 3rd time, as Canada defeated the United States 3-2 within the remaining recreation of Beijing 2022.
In ending first on this yr’s survey of sports activities editors and broadcasters throughout the nation with 22 votes out of 48, Poulin was referred to as “the ultimate big-game player.”
Swimmer Summer McIntosh ranked second amongst voters with 10.
Poulin is the second hockey participant to be voted The Canadian Press feminine athlete of the yr after Hayley Wickenheiser in 2007.
Poulin can also be simply the third lady in a staff sport to earn the excellence following Wickenheiser and soccer participant Christine Sinclair (2012, 2020).
Poulin is uncomfortable speaking about herself, however supplied some perception into why she executes when hockey stakes are excessive.
“Sometimes you ask yourself, ‘Why do you train so hard? Nobody is there, nobody is watching,’ but at the end of your life, it’s the work you put in when nobody is watching,” Poulin mentioned.
“It’s that extra rep, extra mile just to maybe one day be ready when that big moment happens. That’s how I’ve been training my whole life. That extra rep, it doesn’t matter when it’s going to show, or when it’s going to matter, you know when those big moments happen, you’re ready.”
WATCH | Poulin leads Canada to gold at world championship:
Oakville, Ont.’s Brianne Jenner scored each of Canada’s targets en path to a 2-1 victory over their worldwide rivals within the match remaining.
Canadian girls’s hockey staff coach Troy Ryan concurs that Poulin prepares for pivotal conditions day-after-day of her hockey life.
“She treats really simple moments as pretty big moments,” Ryan mentioned. “If she misses something in a typical rep in practice, you can see she’s not happy with herself. There’s hidden perfection in her.
“I’ll see a participant come down the wing in a apply, just a little bit lazy, lean on one foot and have a 75 per cent shot on purpose. I’ve coached Poulin for 5 years and by no means seen her do it. I’ve by no means seen her half-ass a play.
“When you play with that mentality, why wouldn’t you want the puck on your stick at the end of a game?”
What’s much less seen is Poulin’s captaincy model off the ice. The COVID-19 pandemic derailed the hockey lives of Canadian gamers for nearly two years heading into Beijing.
Poulin is a driver of a staff tradition wherein gamers are free to be who they’re, and really feel their contributions are valued, which interprets into on-ice efficiency, Ryan mentioned.
“She is pretty easy to follow. She does so many good things on the ice,” he mentioned. “The stuff that she does off the ice, I don’t think a lot of people would really see.
“You look as much as her because the participant and the performer she is, and the work she places into it on the ice, however then she has a capability to make you be ok with who you’re off the ice.”
With 97 goals and 103 assists in 166 career games for Canada, Poulin ranks fifth all-time behind Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford, Caroline Ouellette and Danielle Goyette.
Wickenheiser, Hefford and Goyette are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Poulin is among the women striving for a sustainable professional women’s hockey league. Her name gives the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA) the star power to pursue it.
Outside of the national team, Poulin plays in showcase games and tournaments in the PWHPA’s Dream Gap Tour.
The NHL’s Montreal Canadiens also hired Poulin as a player development consultant this year.
“I am unable to wait to see what 2023 has in retailer,” Poulin mentioned.
