Marie-Philip Poulin does not plan to hang up her skates anytime soon. The Team Canada captain is currently enjoying a well-deserved break from the ice after winning gold at the Beijing Olympics, but she still has no plans to announce her retirement from the sport.
The 30-year-old striker is even considering donning the uniform for her fifth career Olympic Games, in Milan-Cortina, in 2026. “If my body holds up, if I can still follow the young players of the team, so I would love that, said Poulin in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press. My heart and my head are still there, so I’m going to take it one year at a time. But I still love it [jouer au hockey]. »
Nicknamed “Captain Clutch” for her ability to step up her game in critical moments, Poulin once again led Canada to the gold medal after scoring twice in the final last month at the Beijing Games. . She has now scored in the last four Olympic women’s hockey finals, even tallying seven goals in that span.
Rumors have swirled about the career of the three-time Olympic medalist, with some sending her to take on a role with an NHL team.
Poulin, however, is not ready to trade the icy surface for an office chair. “Hockey is a big part of my life and after my career I would like to get involved, and I would love to play a role in hockey,” she said. I would love that, really. But I would still like to play a little, and then we’ll see. »
” Everything has to be done again “
The general manager of the Trois-Rivières Lions, in the ECHL, recently expressed his interest in offering a contract to Poulin. Momentum Hockey, the agency that represents the player, quickly put an end to the rumors, issuing a press release in French in which it was indicated that she had no intention of joining the Lions.
The statement noted that the star player was totally dedicated to the development of women’s hockey, and that she would continue to work towards the creation of a professional women’s hockey league.
Women’s hockey is “constantly in discussion” in Canada, Poulin said. “We really believe in our product, and we come back to the fore every four years with the Olympic Games, but everything has to be redone every four years,” she said. We will change our approach and try to discuss it every year, in order to maintain the interest [dans le hockey féminin]. »
When the Canadian Women’s Hockey League suddenly died out in 2019, Poulin and other star players founded the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.
The group wants to create a profitable professional women’s hockey league that would give players a reasonable salary and conditions similar to those of professional hockey players.
“We believe in it. We are fighting to create a league not only for ourselves, but also for the next generation of players, Poulin said. It needs patience. It takes time to accomplish great things, and I believe in that, so we’ll see what happens. »
The Quebecer admitted that it has already taken a lot of patience on everyone’s part to develop the professional women’s hockey league project. “I hope it will come soon,” she said.