Picking Canada's all-century women's hockey lineup

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Editor's note: We recently picked an all-century lineup from Canada's Olympic men's hockey teams. Today we're doing the same for the best Canadian women's players of the last 25 years.

Four straight gold medals.

That's what the Canadian women's Olympic hockey team accomplished at the beginning of the century, starting with the country's historic first gold in Salt Lake City in 2002. It was a moment that changed the course of women's hockey in Canada, and inspired young players who would have their own golden moments years later.

In the last 25 years, Canada has reached all six Olympic women's hockey finals and won five of them. The only loss came in a shootout to the United States in Pyeongchang in 2018.

Along the way, there was gold on home ice in Vancouver, a win over the upset-minded Swedes in Italy in 2006 and a nail-biter over the archrival Americans in Russia in 2014 (with some help from the goal post). Most recently, one of the most dominant Canadian teams in history reclaimed gold inside the bubble in Beijing in 2022.

When you think about the best Canadian women to wear the maple leaf at the Olympics over the last 25 years, one player comes to mind immediately. She's synonymous with gold, and my all-century lineup begins with her.

Forwards: Marie-Philip Poulin, Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford

Poulin has scored more Olympic gold-medal winning goals than any other person, male or female, on the planet. They call her Captain Clutch for a reason.

Poulin was the lone goal scorer in the 2-0 win over the United States in Vancouver in 2010. It was the moment she