Hickey on hockey: Marie-Philip Poulin a tireless champion of women's hockey

Congratulations to Marie-Philip Poulin who this week was awarded the Northern Star Award as Canada’s top athlete in the eyes of about 30 print and broadcast journalists, some of whom have actually seen her play.

It’s the first time the award, which was until this year named for a racist former sports editor of the Toronto Star, has been presented to a female hockey player. Previous honourees include Maurice Richard, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, four-time winner Wayne Gretzky, Carey Price and Guy Lafleur, who received my vote in 1977, when the selection committee consisted of only four voters.

“It means a lot, this is pretty special,” Poulin said during a video conference Wednesday. “It’s quite amazing to be among these amazing athletes. But first and foremost is really thanking my teammates, my coaches, my family — my people have been there since Day 1. I obviously would not get that without any of them.”

Poulin, who is uncomfortable talking about herself, described 2022 as an “amazing year as a group.”

She scored twice in a 3-2 win over the United States in the gold-medal game at the Beijing Olympics. It was the third Olympic title for Poulin, who scored golden goals in Vancouver and Sochi and also picked up a silver four years ago in Pyeongchang.

The Beauceville native is the undisputed leader of Canada’s women’s team and Poulin also took the lead later in the year when Hockey Canada was rocked by allegations of a sexual assault involving members of the 2018 gold medal-winning junior national team following a golf tournament and gala in London, Ont., to celebrate their achievement.

As the government cut funding, sponsors bailed and the organization’s top executives were forced to resign in disgrace after it was revealed that Hockey Canada used its funds to settle a multimillion-dollar lawsuit launched by the victim, Poulin issued a statement from the national women’s team calling for change and a greater role for women.

“We take our role as leaders on the national team seriously and with great pride,” read the statement. “As role models for young women, we will ensure that women’s rights, whether they be players, fans or others, are protected and guaranteed.”

Poulin also spoke out last December when the IIHF cancelled its women’s under-18 championship, while the men’s world junior tournament proceeded. The 31-year-old Poulin’s leadership skills and her track record as a winner prompted the Canadiens to hire her in June as a player development consultant.

Sadly, women’s hockey too often flies under the radar. Every four years, there’s excitement surrounding the Olympics, although it’s a given that Canada and the U.S. will meet in the final. The two nations are front and centre at the world championship in non-Olympic years and also generate the occasional buzz with the Rivalry Series. One game last month drew 14,551 fans in Seattle, the largest crowd to see a women’s game in the U.S.

The professional Premier Hockey Federation recently expanded to seven teams with the addition of the Montreal Force, but Poulin and the other top players are united under the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA), which has been hinting at the prospect of a sustainable pro league ever since the Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded in 2019.

The PWHPA has staged a series of showcase events under the Secret Dream Gap Tour banner and this weekend it will hold its all-star activities in the Ottawa area, culminating in a skills competition and a 3-on-3 tournament Sunday at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Poulin hopes these events will spur interest in the women’s game.

“You see the momentum, you see more little girls, little boys coming to watch us,” she said. “It takes your parents as well to make sure that you take your kids to come and watch us because we truly believe in, ‘You can see it, you can be it, you can dream it.’ ”

But a poll conducted by the Toronto Star before the official voting took place shows there’s work to be done before women’s hockey gets the recognition it deserves. The Star asked readers to select their choice for the honour and 40 per cent of the 1,200 respondents picked Montreal tennis player Félix Auger-Aliassime.

LPGA golfer Brooke Henderson was next at 15 per cent followed by swimmer Summer McIntosh (10 per cent) and Poulin (8.8 per cent).

phickey@postmedia.com

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