After years of patience, Poulin sees momentum in women's hockey

Three-time Olympic gold medallist Marie-Philip Poulin said she was optimistic about the future of women's professional hockey after a meeting between the National Hockey League (NHL) and two key factions in the sport.

The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) and Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association (PWHPA) met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in New York last week in an effort to bring the two sides together, after years of speculation over the potential for a unified league.

"There is momentum for women's hockey right now, just depending where that momentum goes, what we want to do as a group," said Poulin, who led Canada to a 3-2 victory over the United States in the Olympic final last month.

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The PHF — formerly the National Women's Hockey League - was once seen as North America's sole pro option. But the creation of the PWHPA, which puts on showcases of women's hockey and provides training and programming opportunities for players, attracted some of the sport's brightest talent, including Poulin.

She is one of more than 200 players who joined the PWHPA when it launched in 2019, aiming to reshape the trajectory of the sport.

Poulin said she was not at the meeting but that she and her contemporaries at the PWHPA were working to "create something that's bigger, that's never happened before." She added: "And it's either with the PHF or not."

The PHF did not respond to a request for comment on the meeting.

"Obviously that meeting happened. Some meetings (in the past) with the NHL where nothing happened, and then we try to be patient," Poulin told Reuters.

"I think we're almost there. We're being patient. We're being patient — it's been a long three