Poulin named Canada’s Athlete of the Year, first female hockey player to win Northern Star award

Team Canada hockey player Marie-Philip Poulin has won the 2022 Northern Star Award as Canada’s Athlete of the Year, making her the first female hockey player to claim the honour in the award’s history. 

Poulin was the captain of the Canadian women’s hockey team that won gold at both the 2022 Beijing Olympics and the 2022 IIHF Women’s World Championship. She was instrumental in Canada capturing both titles - scoring twice in a 3-2 win over the U.S. in the Olympic championship game and notching 10 points in seven games at the world championship in Denmark. This year, she also became the first hockey player to score in four Olympic gold medal games.

Poulin is the first female hockey player to win the award and the ninth hockey player overall. Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price was the last to win back in 2015. She won from a shortlist of Canadian athletes that included tennis player Felix Auger-Aliassime, golfer Brooke Henderson, soccer player Alphonso Davies and fellow hockey player, NHL defenceman Cale Makar, among others.

Poulin’s award comes a little over a week after she played in the latest Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association Dream Gap Tour event in Pittsburgh. She leads the scoring this year with eight goals and four assists in seven games. She was also named Player Development Consultant with the Montreal Canadiens in June – a part time role for now as she continues her playing career.

She’ll be taking to the ice again this weekend at the first-ever Canadian Tire PWHPA All-Star event, which will see top players from the PWHPA compete in a skills competition and 3-on-3 tournament at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. The All-Star weekend event will be broadcasted on TSN.