Marie-Philip Poulin injured in Canada win

Four games took place on Monday, and while Canada won their game, it wasn’t all good news. Italy qualifies for the next round, and an expected collision course for Canada and the USA for top spot in Group A.

Update: Hockey Canada confirmed that Marie-Philip Poulin is out for Tuesday’s game against the United States and remains day-to-day.

Italy 3, Japan 2 (Group B)

Toronto Sceptres forward Kristin Della Rovere scored 37 seconds into the third period to put Italy up 3-1, and that ended up holding up as the winning goal in a 3-2 win for Italy against Japan in Group B action.

The win moves Italy into the quarterfinals by clinching a top-three finish in Group B. Italy is the first host country to make the quarterfinals since Russia in 2014, but that team was later disqualified from the tournament.

Akane Shiga scored for Japan to cut the lead to one, but that was as close as Japan came. Matilde Fantin scored twice for the Italians, and the 19-year-old born almost a year after the 2006 Olympics has solidified herself as a rising star.

Miyuu Masuhara made 20 saves for Japan in the losing effort, while Gabriella Durante made 27 saves for the Italians.

Germany 2, France 1 [OT] (Group B)

Katarina Jobst-Smith of the Vancouver Goldeneyes scored 1:07 into overtime as Germany secured a big win over France, as the French earned their first point in the standings in their final game at the Olympics.

The win for Germany isn’t as big as a regulation win would be, earning them only two points instead of three, however they still hold the edge over Japan for the third playoff spot. Germany enters their final game against Italy with five points, while Japan sits at three and Italy has six.

Laura Kluge scored Germany’s goal in regulation. Estelle Duvin scored for France. Victoire backup goaltender Sandra Abstreiter made 13 saves for Germany. Alice Philbert made 45 saves for France.

USA 5, Switzerland 0 (Group A)

Caroline Harvey and Joy Dunne both had a goal and two assists as the United States beat Switzerland 5-0.

Hilary Knight had two assists, Alex Carpenter had a goal and an assist, and Hannah Bilka had the other American goal.

Switzerland generated a bit more offence than they did against Canada, getting 21 shots on American goaltenders. The US had Gwyneth Philips making her first Olympic start, and was perfect through 58:12. The team then put third goaltender Ava McNaughton in for the final 1:48 to get her some Olympic game action.

Canada 5, Czechia 1 (Group A)

Julia Gosling scored two goals and Ann-Renée Desbiens made 18 saves but the big story is the injury to Canadian and Montreal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin.

Poulin took a hit from Kristyna Kaltounkova and fell awkwardly, hurting her right knee. She tried to return briefly and then went back to the room. She came out at the end of the first period to sit on the bench, and then did not come out for the second period. She was ruled out for the rest of the game.

“It’s hard to see it happen, especially to someone like that,” said Laura Stacey. “[Poulin’s] our leader and our rock. It kind of hit us, we all looked at each other, we all felt it. At the end of the day she’s picked us up so many times, she’d led the way and now it’s our turn to pick her up, support her and do whatever we could to get that win for her, but also for ourselves as a group. We regrouped, we tried to keep it simple and we tried to adjust with the lines changing since she was out. There’s a lot to be proud of in terms of sticking together like that.”

“That’s where some of the experience shines through,” said head coach Troy Ryan. “The core group being together so long; we’ve had so many line combinations that we’ve worked on so I didn’t have to dig too deep to find combinations we were comfortable with. We go through those scenarios all the time as coaches and the cool thing for me in that situation is that we can put a Clark-Turnbull-Stacey line back together. That’s such an anchoring type of line that allows you to get your feet back under you.”

Stacey, Kristin O’Neill, and Sarah Fillier also scored for Canada. Victoire forward Natálie Mlýnková scored in her third straight game, and had a point in her fourth straight game.

The Czechs started third goaltender Julie Pejsova, who was making her first senior appearance at age 23. She was pulled from the game after 13:51, allowing three goals on 11 shots.

Erin Ambrose briefly left the game after Mlýnková landed on her leg after scoring, but did return.

The Poulin injury

We do not know the extent of her injury, but I would be surprised if she plays the game against the United States on Tuesday. Canada announced that they will not have a morning skate nor media availability before their game, which only will add to the intrigue.

For Canada, a short term injury or taking precautions isn’t the worst thing in the world. If she misses the game on Tuesday and Thursday’s game against Finland, then that means that she’ll have until February 14 when Canada’s quarterfinal will take place, with the semi-final two days after that. The gold medal game is scheduled for February 19.

I don’t think this will be how Poulin’s Olympic career ends, regardless of whether she returns in this tournament or not, but because of her age, and the potential worst-case scenario of any knee injury, the uncertainty right now is the worst part.

I am not a huge fan of the way Kaltounkova played in this one. It was clear that Czechia wanted to be physical, and it was clear that they were targeting Poulin. I don’t think Kaltounkova’s hit on Poulin was just an incident in a physical game, although the injury did not happen solely because of the contact itself. Kaltounkova also hit Sarah Fillier on a play that looked even worse than the Poulin hit, but Fillier got up unscathed.

I also don’t buy Kaltounkova’s excuse that she was just protecting herself. She was the aggressor in the situation.

I don’t think there will be supplemental discipline, or even that there should be, but even putting aside the fact that Canada and Czechia may meet again in this tournament, the Montreal Victoire open their post-Olympic schedule in New York… against Kaltounkova and the Sirens.

She will likely be met a bit differently by players in one or both of those games.

Up Next

Tuesday was supposed to be the last day of preliminary play for the women’s tournament, and for four teams it will be. Canada and Finland will still play their game on Wednesday.

Japan is in a must-win game against Sweden if they want to qualify for the next round. That is followed by Italy and Germany in a game that will likely decide which team plays Canada and which team plays the United States.

Canada and the United States battle for top spot in Group A, while Finland plays Switzerland.