Marie-Philip Poulin named IIHF female player of the year, beating out 5 Americans

Canada's "Captain Clutch" Marie-Philip Poulin has another honour add to her already celebrated hockey career in being voted the International Ice Hockey Federation female player of the year.

Poulin earned 33.1 per cent of the votes in finishing ahead of five Americans, with Ottawa Charge rookie goalie Gwyneth Philips second with 22.3 of the votes, the IIHF announced Wednesday. Hilary Knight, U.S. national team captain and the inaugural winner of award three years ago, was third at 20.2.

The IIHF did not reveal the specific totals submitted by more than 100 voters made up of media and federation officials.

The 34-year-old Poulin is coming off a year in which she earned MVP honours at the world women's championship in April with a tournament-leading 12 points (four goals, eight assists) for Canada's silver medal-winning team.

The Montreal Victoire captain is also a Professional Women's Hockey League MVP finalist after leading the league with 19 goals and finishing fourth with 26 points in 30 games.

Poulin is a four-time Olympian and earned her "Clutch" nickname for scoring key goals, including the game-winners in Canada's past three gold-medal championship wins at the Winter Games.

She's the second Canadian to earn the honour, following Natalie Spooner's win last year.

Philips, meantime, made a splash both professionally and internationally this season by capably stepping in as a backup.

From Athens, Ohio, she went 3-0 at worlds, including a 17-save performance over the final 32 minutes of the Americans' 4-3 overtime win over Canada in the title game. Philips entered the game after starter Aerin Frankel was hurt in the third period.

In the PWHL, Philips won the Ilana Kloss Trophy as playoff MVP despite Ottawa losing the Walter Cup finals to defending champion Minnesota. Philips went 4-4 in the post-season in allowing just 13 goals on 270 shots for a .952 save percentage and 1.23 goals-against average.

Drafted by the Charge out of Northeastern, Philips took over the starting duties and helped the Charge clinch their first playoff berth after Emerance Maschmeyer was sidelined by a lower body injury in mid-March.

Also receiving votes were Wisconsin's Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards, and Finland national team and Charge defenceman Ronja Savolainen.