'Only one Captain Clutch': Marie-Philip Poulin fans defend the hockey champ's nickname
Sheena Goodyear | CBC Radio | Posted: March 7, 2025 11:00 PM | Last Updated: March 7
NHL teams keep claiming Poulin’s moniker for their captains. Sometimes, even when they lose
Olivia Huffman has made it her mission to call out NHL teams who claim hockey champion Marie-Philip Poulin's "Captain Clutch" nickname for less deserving players.
Poulin, captain of the Montreal Victoire and long-time Team Canada star, earned the moniker for her history of scoring game-winning goals in high-stakes moments, including during three separate gold-medal Olympics matches.
"In hockey, especially, like, this generation, she's really earned that title more than almost any other player I can name," Huffman, a hockey fan in Ottawa, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
So when Huffman saw the New Jersey Devils claim the title on X when its captain scored a goal in the first period of a regular season game — on March 1, the first day of Women's History Month, no less — she wasn't having it.
"Captain Clutch?," she replied. "But I didn't see Marie-Philip Poulin on the ice."
She made similar comments a few days later when the Buffalo Sabres claimed the nickname during a game they ultimately ended up losing to the Montreal Canadiens.
She also called out the Ottawa Senators for labelling their captain, Brady Tkachuk, "Tkaptain TKLUTCH" for scoring the goal that pushed the team into overtime against the Washington Capitals.
"They're Canadian. You would think they would know better," Huffman said. "And they lost that game, too. So, you know, not so clutch."
'The only name is Marie-Philip Poulin'
Ironically, the famously modest Poulin is reportedly not a fan of the nickname, preferring to share her success with her team. Her teammates told Sportsnet they dare not utter the words "Captain Clutch" in her vicinity.
But that hasn't stopped Poulin fans and hockey commentators, alike, from defending the Victoire phenomenon's nickname from would-be usurpers.
Almost every NHL team that's attempted to claim it in recent weeks has faced the snark and wrath of several Poulin fans in their replies.
When Poulin scored yet another game-winning goal on Tuesday night against the Minnesota Frost, Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) announcer Daniella Ponticelli exuberantly declared: "When we say Captain Clutch, the only name is Marie-Philip Poulin."'
Ponticelli later added on social media: "I said what I said."
Poulin's own team also took to X to declare, in both French and English: "THERE'S ONLY ONE CAPTAIN CLUTCH."
Not for run-of-the-mill goals, says hockey writer
Hockey writer Jared Book says the nickname didn't originate with Poulin, and isn't necessarily exclusive to her.
But he says NHL teams are being far too liberal with a term he says should be reserved for players who score memorable, high-stakes goals.
"There's nobody that has the history that she does in terms of coming up in big moments," said Book, deputy editor of Eyes on the Prize, a site that covers the Montreal Canadiens.
"I think NHL teams, in general, need to pump the brakes a little bit, for sure."
WATCH | A Marie-Philip Poulin hat trick:
He, too, poked fun at the Sabres for invoking "Captain Clutch" during a game they lost in the Victoire's own city, just two days after Poulin was victorious in the same arena.
"If they're going to use it in Montreal, I think they should have a standard of at least winning the game," Book said.
He says it's been hilarious to watch Poulin fans teasing NHL accounts, and that it's all good fun. But not everyone sees it that way.
Huffman, 22, says her posts have gone unexpectedly viral, drawing the ire of hundreds of angry male fans, some of whom she says have made death threats against her.
"And this is, like, over a nickname," she said. "It's really not that serious, you know?"
The rise of women's hockey
What is serious, she says, is women's hockey.
Since the PWHL was founded just two years ago, it has seen attendance steadily rise.
Huffman, a season ticket holder for the Ottawa Charge, says she's been to about 20 games so far.
"Every time I go to a game … I just take a moment to take it all in and realize that two years ago, this would have broken the world record for most attending a [professional] women's hockey game, and now it's just the norm," she said.
Book, too, has noticed a long-deserved "swelling of support for women's hockey" in recent years, and says Poulin is a big part of that.
"I think it says a lot about where the game is that … when you say 'Captain Clutch' most people know who you're talking about."