Marie-Philip Poulin has accomplished just about everything in her career: three-time Olympic gold medalist, multiple world championships and becoming an icon both in women's hockey and Canadian sports.
Now, she's faced with a new challenge: Helping to grow the Professional Women's Hockey League, whose inaugural season begins on Jan. 1. The promotional images for the league have Poulin front and center in her Montreal jersey, as one of the true established stars for the pro women's league.
"It just feels amazing. People talk about it," she said. "They can see it when we jump on that ice. We're happy. We're smiling. We just can't wait to get this season started."
Poulin joined ESPN's "The Drop" hockey podcast this week to discuss the PWHL, the intense USA vs. Canada rivalry, whether NHL players have ever been fanboys to her, and having her fiancée Laura Stacey as a teammate.
"The Drop" is available on all podcasting platforms and YouTube, and can be found by searching "NHL ON ESPN."
We've seen a couple of women's pro hockey league try to succeed but fall short. From your perspective, what feels different about the PWHL?
Poulin: It's been years in the making. There's so many people that have been working behind closed doors to make sure that was the right one. Obviously just feeling the professionalism, all the resources that we had so far from training camp to having the team named to having the staff coming in, day in and day out, to make sure everything feels professional. It's been unbelievable.
It's been such a long journey for you and the other players to try and get that concept of "one league" to become a reality. Have you had a chance to savor this moment, within the context of how hard to was to get here?
Poulin: Yes. I can tell you that when the [PWHL] draft happened, I think that was the moment for us. When we walked in on that carpet. When there was little girls watching us, girls that could one day get drafted, how excited they were. There were some nerves as well. But Billie Jean King really started the day when she spoke to us. I think we all had shivers after that. It was just a day to remember, and that was the start of something big, so I couldn't be more proud that it'd be part of the PWHL.
Montreal is a pretty stacked team between yourself and of course Ann-Renée Desbiens in goal. What has you most excited about this team?
Poulin: It's going to be exciting, I think every team is going to be very hard to play against. That's the best part about this league is that the six teams are going to be talented. It's going to be competitive all across the league.
But for us, it's very much a mix of everybody: Players graduating from college, players that have been part of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, players that were a part of the Premiere Hockey Federation, part of the Czech team and the American team, all of it together. It's starting from from scratch, starting from zero. It's starting that culture altogether. We're gonna be a fast team. And for us, we're gonna have to improve every day to make sure that we want to be in the championship game at the end of the season.
You have the unique chance to play on the same team as your fiancée, Laura Stacey, both on the national team and in the PWHL. How does playing that benefit a work/life balance?
Poulin: [Laughs] Well, I mean, it's awesome. We've been pretty lucky, but I think we know when it's time to be professional and when it's time to be on a personal life. And for us, we've been pretty lucky. We're passionate about hockey. We've been able to be part of the Montreal team in Montreal.
But just being able to balance that, being able to push each other to be better as well and being good leaders on the team. All of it is on the both of us.
You've caused the U.S. great pain and anguish through the years in the Olympics. That said, Canada vs. USA continues to be the best rivalry in hockey. Is there real animosity between the players in this rivalry? How intense has it gotten?
Poulin: I gotta tell you, it is very real. Every time we have the chance to play each other -- a game in the Rivalry Series or world championships or the Olympic Games -- every game is like a gold medal game. That's the best part about it. There's so much pride on that ice.
Both teams are working for the same goals. We want to win. We want to get that gold medal. And we're all aware of that, and that's what makes it even better. Being part of it for many years. It just gets better every time. You have new players coming in, and I'm sure they feel it right away when they jump on that ice and you're able to play against the U.S.
But obviously there is mutual respect. We do grow the game together at the end of the we've been pushing for many years to [create] the PWHL. But when we're part of the Canadian vs. U.S. rivalry, when we put that jersey on, it's all friends aside. Everybody wants to win. You want to play against the best, with the best. When you play against the Americans, it just makes you better and you want to compete even harder.
Does the animosity carry over to off the ice?
Poulin: [Laughs] There's moments. Obviously, after you lose, you never want to see them off the ice. It's not necessarily the [usual] conversations. We're both competitive and we're all aware of that. But at the end of the day, there's a respectful conversation again. We're passionate about this game. But at the end of the day, we're all humans.
I wanted to ask you a question about winning Olympic gold in 2010 against the U.S. I actually took this photo of you that night after your teammates hit the ice with Molsons and cigars. What do you remember about that celebration on Canadian home ice?
Tomorrow on THE DROP: pic.twitter.com/jXpnn2OVf4
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) December 20, 2023
Poulin: That moment was just surreal. I think I blacked out. It was just unbelievable. I was lucky enough to have my first Olympic Games in Vancouver, in Canada, on home soil. Having my family there was such an amazing moment.
After we got our gold medals, we went back into the dressing room. I remember just looking at the veterans on the team and they were like, "Come out on the ice with us and we'll take some pictures." Obviously, as a rookie, I was just following them. I never thought twice about my age or anything like that.
[Poulin was 18 at the time of the victory celebration, a few weeks shy of the legal drinking age in British Columbia.]
We got on that ice. We had a beer. We had a cigar. I enjoyed the moment. If you ask me if I would do it again, I would 100% do it again, because this was a dream come true.
In Vancouver. In Canada. Where I was able to celebrate with my teammate and be able to be with my family, to share that moment where it's not only myself, but it's all the people have been there for many years with me.
Finally, you have teammates now that say they grew up idolizing you. I was curious if you ever had any stories about an NHL player fanboying about meeting or training with a Canadian hockey icon like you?
Poulin: I mean, I don't think so. But I've had the chance to meet Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and those are players that I've always admired throughout my career.
But the way NHL players are has really stuck with me. They wanted to know about how it's going in women's hockey. They want to know about our part of life as well, and that's something that's so much more meaningful. To see Crosby still at his age be so dominant is unbelievable, but off the ice you have those conversations where he actually cares where we are as a program and with Hockey Canada and with our league. He's actually interested in that. I think it's pretty amazing.
It's just a mutual respect when we have the chance to actually connect with those NHL players, because at the end of the day we do play the same game and we do train as much as them and we love it as well. Having that mutual respect is something I think about that a lot when I get a chance to meet NHL players.