Poulin pushes Team Canada into women’s hockey gold medal game
Team Canada will play for women’s hockey gold at Milano Cortina 2026.
On the strength of two goals from Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada secured their spot in the gold medal game with a 2-1 win over Switzerland in semifinal play on Monday. Goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens only had to face eight shots in the victory.
Canada will play the rival United States in the gold medal game, which will take place Thursday at 1:10 p.m. ET. The Canadians will be looking to bounce back from a rough 5-0 loss to the Americans in the preliminary round, the team’s lone loss at these Olympic Games.
Canada has appeared in the gold medal game of every women’s hockey tournament since it became part of the Olympic Winter Games at Nagano 1998. Canada has won five of the previous seven gold medal games, which includes a 3-2 win over the Americans at Beijing 2022.
READ: Poulin returns as Team Canada defeats Germany to advance to Olympic semifinals
This was the second straight Olympic Games that saw Canada and Switzerland meet in the semifinals of the women’s hockey tournament. The 2026 edition proved to much tighter than in 2022, which saw the Canadians cruise to a 10-3 victory on the strength of two goals from Poulin.
Canada went to the penalty kill at 10:32 of the first period when Emma Maltais was called for an illegal hit. The Canadians were able to produce a strong kill, not allowing the Swiss to record a shot. Switzerland was outshot 13-1 in the opening frame but only allowed the Canadians to have a couple of dangerous scoring opportunities.
Canada had a great chance early in the second period when Sarah Fillier found an open Poulin who was stopped by Swiss netminder Andrea Brändli. Soon after at 1:49, Poulin fired a one time shot from the high slot that hit a body in front and rolled past Brändli, giving Canada a 1-0 advantage and 19 career Olympic goals for the Canadian captain, surpassing Hayley Wickenheiser for the most all-time.
Poulin extended Canada’s lead and her record with a goal at 8:21. Ella Shelton fired a shot that produced a rebound and Poulin, who had charged to the front of the net, quickly got a shot off that beat Brändli, giving Canada a 2-0 advantage.
READ: Team Canada closes women’s hockey preliminary play with win over Finland
Poulin’s play seemed to inject some energy into Canada’s offense as the team came close to making it 3-0 on a few occasions.
After killing off back-to-back penalties, Canada went to the power play with 2:31 remaining in the second. It was once again Poulin generating Canada’s best chance, sending a pass through the crease that Natalie Spooner couldn’t quite get a stick on.
Shots were 35-4 in favour of Canada through two periods but it would be Switzerland getting on the board first in the third. Swiss star Alina Muller had the puck behind the net and found Rahel Enzler in front, scoring on Switzerland’s seventh shot of the game to cut Canada’s lead to 2-1.
With 4:39 to play, Laura Stacey had one of Canada’s best chances of the period but was stopped by Brändli. Shots were 11-4 Canada in the final frame.
READ: Team Canada falls to United States as Olympic women’s hockey rivalry is renewed
The Swiss pulled Brändli with a couple minutes remaining only for Ivana Wey to get called for an illegal hit at 18:08, sending Canada to the power play for the rest of the game. Switzerland pulled Brändli again to make it five-on-five but they could not generate any shots at even strength.
This was Canada’s fifth win – and second against Switzerland – of Milano Cortina 2026. They defeated the Swiss in the preliminary round along with Czechia and Finland. In the quarterfinals, Canada downed Germany 5-1 to advance to the semis.
Earlier on Monday, the United States defeated Sweden to advance to the gold medal game. Sweden and Switzerland will meet in the bronze medal match, which will be played Thursday at 8:40 a.m. ET.
