Women's Olympic Ice Hockey
2026 Winter
Olympics
Advertisement
live
Updated
Canada dominated Czech Republic 5-1 to remain unbeaten in the women’s hockey tournament at the Milan Cortina Games. However, Canada lost its captain Marie-Philip Poulin after taking a hard hit in the first period. She briefly returned to the bench at the end of the first frame, before exiting the game entirely.
Julia Gosling scored twice en route to Canada’s win. Kristin O’Neill, Renata Fast and Laura Stacey also added goals for Canada.
Canadian goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens, playing in her first game of the Milan Cortina Games, stopped 18-of-19 shots.
Canada will face its top rival U.S. at 2:10 p.m. ET tomorrow. Team USA blanked Switzerland 3-0 to remain undefeated.
You can follow live coverage of today’s news from around Milan here.
GO FURTHER
Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin exits game after taking hit by Czech Republic’s Kaltounková
Canadian defender Erin Ambrose left the game midway through the third period after appearing to get cut while down in the crease. Czech forward Natálie Mlýnková, Ambrose’s Montreal Victoire teammate, clipped the back of Ambrose’s leg with the blade of her skate.
She returned to the game with 7:03 remaining in the game, which was good news for an already-depleted Canadian team.
Ambrose may not be the best offensive or defensive defender in the game, but she may be the strongest at combining both elements. Over the last three years with the Victoire, she’s seventh in Offensive Rating and second in Defensive Rating behind only American star Lee Stecklein.
Canada could have wilted after seeing its captain limp off to the room, but instead rallied, scoring two goals in quick succession to blow the game open.
First, it was Fillier who threw the puck on net for a deflection off Dominika Lásková for her second goal of the tournament — her 10th in nine career games at the Olympics. Then, 39 seconds later, Stacey scored her first of the tournament to put Canada up 3-0.
There’s always a consensus with Team Canada that if you shut down Poulin, you have a chance against Canada. But we quickly saw that wasn’t the case, at least against Czechia, with goals from four different forwards from up and down the lineup.
Canada did well to stay disciplined in the immediate aftermath of the hit, too. There were no big penalties, and no egregious extracurriculars. Not with a big preliminary-round matchup against Team USA coming on Tuesday night. That said, Gosling did have an opportunity to lay a clean hit on Kaltounková along the boards in the second frame and she took her shot.
There’s no replacing Poulin, whose very presence seems to give Canada the mental edge most nights. The most clutch player in the game, Poulin scored the gold-medal-winning goals in three of her previous four Olympics (2010, 2014 and 2022). So it’s not as simple as next woman up. That said, Canada isn’t lacking for talented options to replace Poulin on the top line if she can’t suit up at Milano Santaguilia Ice Hockey Arena.
Fillier is the first player that comes to mind for obvious reasons.
“She could be Ms. Canada after Pou is gone,” said one player in The Athletic’s anonymous player poll.
She’s been the most dynamic player for Team Canada early in this tournament and actually led Canada in ice time (22:36) during their 4-0 win against Switzerland. She’s an elite offensive talent — and ranked third in The Athletic’s player ranking leading into Milan — with big-time international experience. She was among Canada’s top scorers at the 2022 Olympics and could have a massive 2026 tournament.
Her line with Sarah Nurse and Daryl Watts was the only trio that stayed together throughout the game as head coach Troy Ryan put the lines in a blender and could be a critical group if Canada is going to have success against the Americans when it matters most.
Canada opened the door early for Czechia, with Stacey taking a tripping penalty just 2:33 into the game. And the Czechs quickly went to work, with Kaltounková setting up shop in the right circle. Kaltounková had a one-timer stopped by Ann-Renee Desbiens, and another blast slip just wide of the net.
When Renata Fast then nudged aside Czech defender Noemi Neubauerova, sending her crashing back-first into the boards, it handed Czechia a 63-second five-on-three just 3:30 into the game. Unfortunately for Czechia, Kaltounková had to spend the first half of it on the bench after the long shift. Once Canada cleared and Kaltounková hopped over the boards, she immediately had a one-timer blocked. Czechia then hit a post and Desbiens made another save from close range. Over the course of the overlapping power plays, the Czechs had four shots on goal and at least three other good looks. It was a solid effort, but Czechia ultimately couldn’t capitalize on its best opportunity of the game.
Nothing sparks a team quite like killing off a five-on-three, and Canada scored in transition just 14 seconds after Fast was freed, as Kristin O’Neill batted in a fluttering Fast rebound for a 1-0 lead.
Later in the period with Kaltounková joining Barbora Jurickova in the penalty box for another illegal hit, Canada had no such trouble with its own five-on-three, with Gosling swatting in a rebound for a 4-0 lead.
Canada coach Troy Ryan spoke on the hit that injured Marie-Philip Poulin:
💬 “I think it was a penalty. I don’t know if it’s a major. I didn’t review it yet on video, but I think a call was made on the play and I don’t know if more was necessary.”
One of the great rivalries in hockey is renewed tomorrow at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Canada versus the United States in women’s hockey is always a must-watch at the Winter Olympics.
Canada has five Olympic gold medals in women’s hockey, while the U.S. has two. Entering the Olympics, the Americans won all four games of the Rivalry Series over Canada by a combined score of 24-7.
Tomorrow will be the 194th meeting between Canada and the U.S. in women’s hockey. Canada leads the series 106–86–2.
Marie-Philip Poulin's status is very much up in the air for tomorrow's game against the United States. Canada coach Troy Ryan made it clear that Poulin was not available to return to the game today, so it wasn't just a precautionary thing with the game well in hand.
Missed any of the previous action today? I don’t blame you. It was a busy day at the Winter Olympics, which included a full slate of women’s hockey games.
Below were today’s results as the round-robin is starting to form a clear picture. U.S. and Canada remain atop Group A as unbeaten teams while Germany gets a critical win to stay within a quarterfinal berth.
Simultaneous to when Canada played, Team USA was battling against Switzerland. It was another convincing performance for the tournament favorite, blanking the Swiss 5-0.
Here is our Michael Russo on U.S.’ victory over Switzerland and what it means with the matchup against Canada looming.
GO FURTHER
USA women’s hockey defeats Switzerland, improving to 3-0 as Canada matchup looms
Claire Thompson logged the most minutes out of any Canadian player tonight. She played 20:31 tonight, while recording a +1, one assist and four penalty minutes.
She is a force on the backend and clearly coach Troy Ryan trusts her given the minutes played.
Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kaltounkova spoke after the game about her hit on Marie-Philip Poulin:
💬 “You want to protect yourself, you don't want to go head first into the boards, not expecting a hit. Especially (because) I know they have it out for me, so I always have to protect myself. So I did kind of tighten up, I got ready for impact and tried to play the puck. There was no malicious intent or anything. I mean, I think you can see that on the play.”
Here are the Group A standings heading into tomorrow’s Canada-U.S. game:
Coming into this tournament, Sarah Fillier was a forward The Athletic highlighted as a potential impact player for Canada.
She’s delivered so far, scoring another goal tonight. Not only is she scoring goals, but she is playing aggressively around the net. Playing with Daryl Watts and Sarah Nurse helps, making this a fantastic second line.
Julia Gosling played a stellar game. She scored two goals and now has the most goals for Canada in this tournament thus far.
Gosling joined Brianne Jenner as the only Canada players tonight with two points. Jenner tallied two assists.
Saves:
Shots on goal:
PIM:
Time on PP:
PP goals:
As Canadian players exit the ice, they get big cheers from the Canada fans in the crowd. Two fans are waving Canadian flags near their exit off the ice.
Sarah Nurse smiles as a fan applauds her play as she skates off.
With a strong 5-1 win, Canada's tournament progresses. Next is a potential gold medal game preview against the U.S., who dismantled Switzerland 5-0 earlier today. The powerhouses will meet tomorrow, Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. local time, 2 p.m. ET.
Both teams will come off similar amounts of rest.
The big question will be Marie Philip-Poulin's health.
P3 0:00 – Canada 5, Czech Republic 1
That does it. Canada is victorious in a convincing win over Czech Republic.
But concern remains for captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who left the game in the first period but didn’t return.
Canada reignites its rivalry with the U.S. tomorrow at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
Erin Ambrose has returned, a very good sign for Canada. We are less than 2 minutes away from the end of this game, and attention will move quickly to tomorrow's meeting with the Americans.