BURST
Five players with the Montreal Victoire were named to Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team on Friday, including the only two Quebecers to make the squad.
Veteran superstar Marie-Philip Poulin of Beauceville and goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens of Clermont were named to the team at its unveiling in Toronto. “Captain Clutch” will be shooting for her fourth Olympic gold, a feat only three other Canadian women have accomplished. Desbiens is expected to be the team’s starter after backstopping Canada to gold in Beijing in 2022. She was also last season’s PWHL goaltender of the year.
“It’s always very emotional,” Poulin said in a Zoom call after the announcement. “When you’re 18 years old and you get that call, or yesterday at 34 years old, it’s the same. You get butterflies in your stomach. For us it’s a privilege — since we were kids it was our dream to be part of this team, and still today it’s an honour.”
“I had tears in my eyes,” Desbiens said of getting the call. “When you think of all the years you worked so hard. We love the competition and to push ourselves. This group of women is very special and I have a lot of confidence in us for what’s to come.”
Also named from the Victoire are forward Laura Stacey of Kleinburg, Ont., Poulin’s linemate and spouse; defender Erin Ambrose of Keswick, Ont.; and defender Kati Tabin of Winnipeg.
The 23 players named, including three goalies, will play their first game against Finland on Feb. 5 in Milan.
They will go on to face Switzerland, Czechia and the U.S. in Group A, which features the world’s top five seeds. Group B is made up of Germany, Sweden, Japan, France and host Italy.
A perennial favourite for gold — Canada has won five of seven gold medals at the Olympics since women’s hockey debuted in Nagano, Japan in 1998 — the team is facing a steep battle this time around against archrival Team USA. The U.S. won all four games of the Rivalry Series played last fall, outscoring Canada by 24 goals to seven. The Americans also beat Canada in overtime to win the 2025 world championship.
While Team Canada will be led mainly by veterans, with 16 players returning from the 2022 squad, the Americans rebuilt their team after losing to Canada in multiple tournaments in 2021 and 2022, engineering a younger group of skilled players with potent scoring potential.
Team Canada’s recent losses to the U.S. have served as a learning experience, Team Canada general manager Gina Kingsbury said Friday.
“Unfortunately, the results were not in our favour,” Kingsbury said. “But the lessons and the opportunity to grow, I believe, will have prepared us for these Olympic Games.”
Desbiens said the Rivalry Series was a separate entity from the Olympics and things will be different next month.
“That series … was a process of evaluation where we were trying new systems and techniques as a team,” she said. “We had a much better final match. We know we have to be physical and intense and take shots on net.”
The creation of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), which held its first game in January 2024, has also changed how some national teams train. In the past, chosen players gathered together six months before the Olympics to work and scrimmage together. This time around, 30 Canadian players, including 28 who play for the PWHL, came together for two-week sessions on four occasions in four cities for pre-Olympic training.
The PWHL forced Team Canada to adapt its game plan, Kingsbury said, while also improving the calibre of hockey played.
“It’s provided an exceptional platform for our staff, our teams to train and compete daily,” she said. “The level of competition, professionalism and consistency within the league has elevated our athletes to ensure they will arrive at games ready to compete at the highest level.”
Of the 23 players named to Team Canada, two are from Quebec, 15 are from Ontario, two are from Manitoba, and one each are from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Nova Scotia. The dearth of Quebec players is sure to raise questions about the province’s hockey development programs. Similar questions are being asked of men’s hockey in the province after no Quebec players were named to Canada’s Olympic team for the first time since 1952.
Why Quebec is fielding fewer female players to Team Canada is a structural issue best addressed to upper levels of hockey management, Desbiens said when asked.
“Obviously, we want to see more players from Quebec,” she said. “Marie and I do the best we can … to go into communities to encourage the kids and have an impact.
“Maybe we should look at what our neighbours are doing in Ontario and see what worked for them, and maybe do something different, too.”
Team Canada also has a Quebec connection behind the bench. Hall of Famer Caroline Ouellette of Montreal, an associate coach with the Concordia Stingers and the Victoire, was named assistant coach of Team Canada back in July. She had already served as an assistant head coach with Canada’s National Women’s Team, winning gold in 2022 and 2024. Ouellette won four gold medals and six world championships in her 17-year playing career.
She’ll be working with head coach Troy Ryan, who is in his sixth year as coach of Canada’s national women’s team and steered the team to a gold medal in 2022 and silver medal in 2018 as assistant coach. He’s the coach of the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres and was named coach of the year in the 2023-24 season.