By Amy Tennery and Trevor Stynes
MILAN, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin broke the women’s all-time Olympic goal-scoring record during her team’s semi-final game against Switzerland on Monday, and the champions will lean on their captain as they prepare to defend their title against rivals the United States.
Poulin reached the milestone with her 19th goal, and added a 20th minutes later, proving she is back to her best after her recent return from injury and just in time for Thursday’s gold medal showdown.
The five-times Olympian hit a slap shot that bounced off the ice and hopped over Swiss Andrea Braendli’s pad to make it 1-0 for the Canadians in the second period at Santagiulia arena, breaking compatriot Hayley Wickenheiser’s record.
Poulin flipped in another score less than seven minutes later as she was diving towards the net in the game which Canada won 2-1.
“It goes above the goals she got us,” Canada goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens said.
“It was just the way she was all over the ice, that she was physical. She wasn’t in that crease, and they were pushing her and stuff, and she stayed there. And it’s just the person she is, and we love her forever.”
The future Hall of Famer missed Canada’s final two group-stage games with a knee injury in Milan but returned for Canada’s 5-1 quarter-final win over Germany on Saturday, where she tied the record with her first goal at Milano Cortina.
Canada are aiming to win their sixth gold, and ‘Captain Clutch’ Poulin has scored the game-winning goal in three finals against the Americans.
After suffering a 5-0 loss to their rivals in the group stage, which Poulin missed, having her back on the ice for the game that really matters will be a massive boost to Canada.
“She has this presence to her and has a lot of heart,” teammate Julia Gosling said.
“So it’s nice having her in the locker room and having that voice and just watching her on the ice, it gives you a lot of motivation.
“So it’s just huge having her back in the lineup and seeing her perform like that is just incredible, and it’s so fun to watch.”
After coming through the injury, Poulin is ready for one last fight.
“It’s going to be a battle, we all know that,” Poulin said.
“It’s always really competitive out there, so I’m gonna have to be ready at puck drop and go from there, but truly excited with that, having the opportunity to be in that gold medal game.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery, Trevor Stynes and Giuio Piovaccari in Milan; Editing by Ken Ferris and Lincoln Feast.)
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