June 25 (Reuters) – Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin, widely considered the best women’s ice hockey player in the world, will undergo surgery on her torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn meniscus, her PWHL club Montreal Victoire announced on Thursday.
Poulin first injured her knee at the Milano Cortina Olympics, where Canada lost to the U.S. in overtime of the gold-medal game, and aggravated it in March before returning to lead Montreal to their first PWHL title while being named most valuable player of the playoffs.
• Poulin’s surgery is scheduled for late July, and the Victoire will provide updates as appropriate
• “If I want to continue playing at a high level, surgery is necessary,” Poulin said in press release
• She missed Canada’s final two preliminary round games at Olympics with injury but returned for quarter-finals
• Owns the women’s all-time Olympic scoring record with 20 career goals
• Poulin scored the gold-medal game-winning goals in three Olympic finals for Canada (2010, 2014, 2022)
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; editing by Clare Fallon)
