Ice hockey-Poulin injury worry overshadows Canada's comfortable Czech win

MILAN, Feb 9 : Canada were left fretting over their captain Marie-Philip Poulin after she took a heavy hit in the first period of her side's 5-1 win over the Czech Republic in the women's Olympic ice hockey tournament on Monday.

Poulin, appearing in her fifth Games, was smashed into the boards by Kristyna Kaltounkova in the ninth minute and struggled to get back on her feet as she grimaced in pain. Canada were 1-0 up at the time.

Poulin could be a doubt for Tuesday's meeting with rivals the United States.

"If she's fine, then I would play her, we want her in that game if she's able to play," Canada coach Troy Ryan told reporters.

"If it's something that, you know, 24, 48 hours rest is going to benefit her, then we'll obviously take that rest."

Ryan said he was not yet aware of the extent of the injury or where Poulin was hurt, saying it looked like a lower body injury.

After returning to the action shortly afterwards with Kaltounkova in the penalty box for the illegal hit, Poulin left the ice with her side still on the power play and was led down the tunnel by one of the medical staff.

There were loud cheers from the large Canadian support in the crowd when Poulin returned to the bench in time to see her teammates score the fourth goal before the end of the period, with Kaltounkova one of two Czech players in the penalty box when Julia Gosling scored.

When the buzzer went at the end of the first period and the players headed down the tunnel, Poulin appeared to be testing herself briefly on the ice but she did not return to the bench after the interval.

Poulin was not on the bench for the second period, and with her side 5-0 up going into the final period, a spokesperson for Team Canada told Reuters that the 34-year-old would not