Canadas Captain Clutch Poulin heads to fifth Games seeking more ice hockey gold

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FILE PHOTO: 2022 Beijing Olympics - Victory Ceremony - Ice Hockey - Womens Gold Medal - Wukesong Sports Centre, Beijing, China - February 17, 2022. Marie-Philip Poulin of Canada celebrates with her gold medal during the medal ceremony. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

Jan 5 - Canadas Captain Clutch Marie-Philip Poulin heads into her fifth Winter Olympics as a rare blend of longevity, leadership and big-moment brilliance, qualities that have made her the face of womens ice hockey for more than a decade.

Poulin made her Olympic debut in 2010 and has reached the final in all four of her appearances, winning three. She is the only player, male or female, to score in four consecutive Olympic gold medal matches.

Her nickname stems from her ability to not only score goals but to score them when it matters most, netting three game-winning goals in Olympic finals.

Poulin made her senior debut for Canada in 2007, the then 16-year-old scoring four goals and delivering one assist in two games against Sweden. A year later she was the leading scorer at the inaugural under-18 world championship.

Canada took her to the senior world championship the following year where she scored in both preliminary group games, and after impressing at the Olympic tryout camp Poulin was selected for the 2010 squad.

With Canada shouldering the burden of expectation as the host nation, Poulin was not expected to play a