Marie-Philip Poulin has always pushed women’s hockey forward, pushing the idea of what is possible to new heights. Last week, she did so again. Poulin won the Northern Star Award, given annually to the Canadian athlete of the year. She was the first women’s hockey player to win the award, and the first hockey player — man or woman — to win the award since Carey Price in 2015.
Winning the award forced Poulin to do something she doesn’t like to do: talk about herself, but even while doing that, the new part-time skills development consultant for the Montreal Canadiens, Canadian national team captain, and PWHPA scoring leader and all-star, managed to deflect some of the credit, as she is known to do.