Poulin injury clouds comfortable Canadian victory in physical contest against Czechs

Hours before the puck dropped on Canada’s second Olympic women’s hockey game against Czechia, defender Erin Ambrose told reporters that she was expecting things to be physical.

The Czechs play a gritty game. Their players know their best chance at beating Canada is to grind them down.

Ambrose wasn’t kidding. The game inside Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena was physical from the start, and Canada’s stars were often the targets of the Czechs’ hits.

Both Marie-Philip Poulin and Sarah Fillier were on the other end of big checks from five-foot-10 Czech star Kristýna Kaltounková in the first period. Both hits drew penalties.

Right away, there was concern when Poulin was slow to get up from the ice. Poulin doesn’t go down easy. She’s one of the toughest players on this Canadian team.

Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin injured during Canada's win over Czechia

Her linemate Emma Maltais immediately skated over to Kaltounková to defend Poulin.

"I won't tell you exactly what I said,” Maltais said. “But it's our responsibility to protect our captain, our players, especially when it's Pou. I think there's respect that she's earned. So, yeah, I just shared my thoughts on that with her."

The cameras showed Poulin in great pain on the bench, a rare sight for a captain who’s used to taking the brunt of physicality in the PWHL. She returned to the ice on the power play, but quickly went back to the bench, keeping weight off her right leg. She went down the tunnel shortly after.

"It's just two teams fighting out there, that's the reality,” Czechia head coach Carla MacLeod said. “You never want to see anyone go down, but we lost a couple of players in that game too. That's just what a hard fought hockey game looks like.

“Certainly hope that