When she saw her mother crying, Marie-Philippe Paulin didn’t know how to deal with it. She was ten years old at the time, watching the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City on television and watching Canadian ice hockey players celebrate their victory in the final against the USA. It was in 2002 when the Canadian women’s team won gold for the first time in most Canadian sports, which has also been an Olympic event for women since 1998. Little Mary-Philip could not understand the historical dimension of that moment, and certainly not why her mother was sitting next to her and crying. “My mother looked at me and said: one day you will understand.”
Marie-Philippe Paulin, now 30 years old and captain of the Canadian ice hockey team, has told the story several times in Beijing these days. And she has long understood what brought tears to her mother’s eyes at that moment: “When I cried for my first sleep, I knew what she meant.” Marie-Philippe Paulin of Beauceville, Quebec province, has been a three-time Olympic champion since Thursday. In the final against the United States, he scored two goals in a 3-2 (2-0, 1-1, 0-1) victory over his longtime rival from the South – and tears of joy flowed again: ” It’s good. It’s a great feeling,’ Palin said.
Seven goals in four Olympic finals: no other woman has scored so far
No one who bets on the final between Canada and America can get rich. The two countries have faced each other in 19 of the 20 World Cup finals, and in the seventh Olympic final it was the sixth time between Canada and the USA. The maple leaf on her jersey for women was her fifth win since 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014, with the Americans – Olympic champions in 1998 and 2018 – remaining silver medalists for the fourth time. But no one is as successful in the finals as Marie-Philippe Paulin. In his first coup in 2010, in Vancouver, he scored both goals to win the final 2–0, four years later in Sochi he equalized 55 seconds before the end and 3–2 in extra time. He also scored Canada’s only goal four years earlier in a 2–1 loss. His coach at the time, Kevin Dineen, had a simple winning formula: “Bring the puck to the pow.”
“Winning Paw” again created hockey history on Thursday at the Wukesong Arena in Beijing. Following the lead of Sarah Nurse (8th minute), a cousin of NHL professional Darnell Nurse, Leon Dressital’s teammate in Edmonton, Polin decided the game with two goals (16th/30th) – four of the Olympic finalists. Six and seven hits. No other player has done this yet. “To lead this group means the world to me,” said the Canadian captain, with a proper passage in his voice.
Despite Polin and Canada’s 4–2 success in the group stage, the duel between the two arch rivals was once again the expected close match. America did not give up even after 0:3. The Americans were ranked 1:3 over eight-time world champion Hilary Knight (37th). And then Pauline of all people made the final stage exciting again when she had to go to the penalty box for tripping. 2:3 came too late for USA, 13 seconds before the final siren. Marie-Philippe Paulin left the penalty box with twinkling eyes.
