Marie-Philip Poulin: Breaking Barriers
When you think of Ice hockey, the names that come to mind are probably Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, and Connor Mcdavid. This is because the media has portrayed the whole sport of hockey as just the NHL and, more importantly, a “Man’s sport.” Recently women in hockey have been becoming more noticeable and are finally getting the recognition they deserve.
Back in October, Sarah Nurse became the first female ice hockey player to be on the cover of an NHL video game. This caused controversy as she didn't actually play in the NHL, and therefore people believed she shouldn't be highlighted in the game. More recently, on December 7th, 2022, it was announced that Marie-Philip Poulin would be the first female hockey player to receive the North Star award.
The North Star award (formerly known as the Lou Marsh award) is given to Canada's top athlete of the year. Top ice hockey names like Crosby, Lemieux, and Price, have all been recipients of this award, and now we can add Poulin to this list.
Poulin said she was “shocked” to hear that she had been the first woman in ice hockey to receive this, "It's a real honor because the ladies have been there before us, before me, I've watched them on TV. They're my idols and my role models." Poulin said in an interview on Wednesday.
Marie-Phillip Poulin is the National Canadian Women's team's captain, leading them to the Olympic and World Championship gold in 2022. She has been an asset to the team, finishing second in scoring with 17 points during the winter Olympics in Beijing and racking up 10 points in only 7 games while at the world championship in Denmark. Not only is she an essential component of the team on the ice, but she is a natural-born leader off the ice. The Canadian women’s team would not be where they are right now without this award recipient.
Marie-Philip Poulin is an inspiration for little girls as she is proof that you can lead and succeed in a male-dominated sport. This is just the beginning of women in ice hockey, and I'm sure more breakthroughs will come.