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Sarah Nurse, Vancouver Goldeneyes (Photo credit: PWHL)

Canada Women’s Olympic Hockey: 3 Players to Watch

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Feb 5, 2026 12:52 PM ET

The 2026 Winter Olympics are underway for some, and many of the athletes have already arrived in Italy to get ready for their respective games, and that includes women’s hockey, which starts about a week before the men’s. Obviously, the two favorites are Team USA and Team Canada, both of whom have a lot of star power on their rosters.

Every single player on Team Canada now plays professionally in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), and in previous Olympics, this wasn’t possible. Now these players have access to everything in the professional league, and they’re playing as much as possible. In this article, we’ll look at a few players who everyone should have their eye on during the Olympics for Team Canada, starting with one of the best to ever skate, Marie-Philip Poulin.

Poulin Leads Canada

In the same way Hilary Knight is synonymous with Team USA for women’s hockey, the same can be said for Marie-Philip Poulin and Team Canada. She’s easily one of the best women’s hockey players to ever play the game, and this will be her fifth Olympic games just like Knight. She has three gold medals and one silver in her previous Olympic games, and she registered 17 points in seven games played in the 2022 Olympic Games.

Poulin is a dangerously fast player who’s shown she can score some amazing goals and has been leading the Montréal Victoire well with 14 points in 15 games played. She’s tied for sixth in the league currently, behind a few Minnesota Frost and Ottawa Charge players. One more thing that Knight and Poulin have in common, they were both named captains of their respective teams.

She has a lot of strong teammates on Canada, but she’ll also have some teammates with whom she has even more chemistry because they play on the Victoire alongside her. Erin Ambrose, Laura Stacey, Ann-Renée Desbiens, and Kati Tabin will all be on Canada with Poulin.

Canada’s Spooner & Nurse Can Contribute

This pick was basically a tie as they used to be teammates with the Toronto Sceptres before the expansion, and that is Natalie Spooner and Sarah Nurse. Every player in the Olympics should be watched closely because they all have amazing talent, which is why they were picked to represent their respective countries. However, Spooner and Nurse are players to watch because they can find another level to their game, and that’s on the national stage as well.

Both Spooner and Nurse participated in the 2022 Olympics and put up respectable numbers, as Spooner had 15 points and Nurse had 13 points. They step up in high-pressure situations and are great personalities on the team as well. They keep things light when needed but can turn to serious as well.

It wouldn’t be impossible to see them on a line together as well, because they’ve played together on the world stage before, and they were teammates on the Sceptres for two seasons. It’ll be interesting to see how Canada picks their lines, but it would be fun to see those two together before the Olympics are over.

Canada’s Jaques Highlights Defense

Most of this article has been spent talking about Canada’s forwards, but they have a strong defense as well. The player to keep an eye on, however, will be Sophie Jaques. She was great when she was with the Minnesota Frost, as she was on both Walter Cup-winning teams and played a strong part in both championship runs.

She’s the double threat when it comes to defense, as she can stop goals but also score them, plus she has a slightly physical side. She was tied for eighth place in scoring for the PWHL last season with 22 points, and the season prior, she had 10 points. She made quite the jump from her first season to her second. This season, she currently has seven points in 16 games played with the Vancouver Goldeneyes.

This is her first Olympics, and it’ll be interesting to see how she does on the biggest world stage. She finds a way to level up her game when they need her the most, and she did that in both Walter Cup runs for the Frost. She was one of the top point getters, and it’ll be fun to see what she can do in the Olympics.

As stated multiple times, Canada is full of talent on both their women’s and men’s rosters. The women won gold in the 2022 Olympics, and they’ll be the favorites to win it again. They’ll have strong competition, and it’s going to be fun to see how it all unfolds.