Olympics-Ice hockey-Too soon to say when captain Poulin will return, says Canada coach

By Amy Tennery and Giulio Piovaccari

MILAN, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Canada’s coach Troy Ryan said on Tuesday it was too soon to say when the defending champions would get back their “irreplaceable” captain Marie-Philip Poulin, after a stunning 5-0 group stage defeat to the United States.

Canadian fans at Santagiulia Arena were left pining for their “Captain Clutch,” who sat out after suffering a lower-body injury in Monday’s win over the Czech Republic, as the U.S. handed Canada its first-ever women’s Olympic shutout.

She is unlikely to return for Canada’s final group-stage game against Finland on Thursday, said Ryan, adding that he was “optimistic” she would be back during the Olympics.

“She’s irreplaceable,” he told reporters. “I don’t think that’s the reason why we have the performance that we have tonight, but I mean, you just miss her everywhere.

“Your power play’s a little less lethal, your penalty kill… and then just having the face-off, winning those puck possession plays, she’s just very valuable.”

In a battle of Canada’s experience versus U.S. youth, the team in red, white and blue had all the firepower on Tuesday, and Ryan said some “soul-searching” would be needed to get their title defence back on track.

“You’ve got to play the game with confidence,” he said. “You can’t be scared to make mistakes, and that’s how it looked at times tonight.”

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Milan; Editing by Bill Berkrot)