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Marie-Philip Poulin has accomplished just about everything in her career: three-time Olympic gold medalist, multiple world championships and becoming an icon both in women’s hockey and Canadian sports.
Now, she’s faced with a new challenge: Helping to grow the Professional Women’s Hockey League, whose inaugural season begins on Jan. 1. The promotional images for the league have Poulin front and center in her Montreal jersey, as one of the true established stars for the pro women’s league.
“It just feels amazing. People talk about it,” she said. “They can see it when we jump on that ice. We’re happy. We’re smiling. We just can’t wait to get this season started.”
Poulin joined ESPN’s “The Drop” hockey podcast this week to discuss the PWHL, the intense USA vs. Canada rivalry, whether NHL players have ever been fanboys to her, and having her fiancée Laura Stacey as a teammate.
“The Drop” is available on all podcasting platforms and YouTube, and can be found by searching “NHL ON ESPN.”
We’ve seen a couple of women’s pro hockey league try to succeed but fall short. From your perspective, what feels different about the PWHL?
Poulin: It’s been years in the making. There’s so many people that have been working behind closed doors to make sure that was the right one. Obviously just feeling the professionalism, all the resources that we had so far from training camp to having the team named to having the staff coming in, day in and day out, to make sure everything feels professional. It’s been unbelievable.
It’s been such a long journey for you and the other players to try and get that concept of “one league” to become a reality. Have you had a chance to savor this moment, within the context of how hard to was to get here?
Poulin: Yes. I can tell you that when the [PWHL] draft happened, I think that was the moment for us. When we walked in on that carpet. When there was little girls watching us, girls that could one day get drafted, how excited they were. There were some nerves…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39162792/marie-philip-poulin-olympics-women-hockey-pwhl-canada-usa
Author : ESPN staff
Publish date : 2023-12-21 21:13:13
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