'Not good enough': After MVP season, Marie-Philip Poulin has sights set on Olympic gold, Walter Cup

At the end of last season, Marie-Philip Poulin left the PWHL's awards banquet in Ottawa with her arms full of trophies.

The Billie Jean King Most Valuable Player award. Forward of the year. Leader in goals scored, having potted 19 over 30 regular-season games.

But Poulin emerged from an MVP season without the two trophies she wanted the most. Her Montreal Victoire team was eliminated in the first round of the PWHL playoffs for the second year in a row, about a month after the Canadian team lost the world championship in overtime to the Americans.

"The year was good, but not good enough," Poulin said in an interview with CBC Sports in August, before she left for the national team's first training block of the year. She was doing press for a new partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee and a premium pet food company, Nulo, which included a photo shoot with her golden retriever, Arlo — the dog who shows her unconditional love, no matter the result of the game she just played.

Going into the next season, Poulin has the chance to win her fourth Olympic gold medal at her fifth Games. The only other hockey players to win four Olympic gold medals are in the Hockey Hall of Fame: Jayna Hefford, Hayley Wickenheiser, and one of Poulin's idols, Caroline Ouellette.

"Hopefully I'll be there," the always humble Poulin said about the prospect of competing at her fifth Olympics. "It's crazy how quick it goes, now to be going to my fifth. It would be quite special."

It'll also be her third season in the PWHL, with another shot at the Walter Cup. But this time around, eight teams are vying for the championship instead of six.

Poulin tries to keep herself in the present, enjoying every moment and not taking anything for granted.

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