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Team Canada may have a major boost to their lineup in their Olympic gold medal matchup against Team USA in men’s hockey on Sunday: the potential return of captain Sidney Crosby.
Crosby, 38, did not play in Canada’s 3-2 semifinal victory against Team Finland on Friday after sustaining a lower-body injury in the quarterfinals against Czechia, but did skate during practice on Saturday. Canada head coach Jon Cooper said Crosby will be a game-time decision.
“We’ll see,” Cooper said, according to NHL.com. “I watched him skate today. I haven’t spoken to him yet. We’re going to meet tonight and have a determination of what’s going to happen tomorrow.
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Sidney Crosby of Team Canada reacts during the men’s ice hockey quarterfinal game between Canada and Czechia on day 12 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Milan Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena. Milan, Italy, on Feb. 18, 2026. (Stefano Guidi/Getty Images)
“He won’t put himself in harm’s way. He’s not going to put the team in harm’s way. Obviously, we’d love to have him, but that determination will be made tonight.”
Cooper insisted that Crosby will not play unless he is able to impact the team.
“It’s too important and we don’t have somebody in there as an inspiration when we could have a player capable of helping, and you never know if guys are going to get hurt in the game,” Cooper said. “He wouldn’t want to do that either.”
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Canada’s Sidney Crosby (87) is attended to after being injured during the second period of a men’s ice hockey quarterfinal game between Canada and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Milan, Italy, on Feb. 18, 2026. (Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)
The International Ice Hockey Federation states that teams must have a player wearing the “C” on their jersey. With Crosby out against Finland, Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid wore the “C” in Crosby’s place.
McDavid said the team wanted to give Crosby an opportunity to play on Sunday after missing the semifinal.
“We definitely wanted to give him an opportunity to play one more,” McDavid said, according to NHL.com. “We’ve done that and we’ll see.”
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Canada’s Connor McDavid wears the team captain’s letter C on his jersey in place of the injured Sidney Crosby during the second period of a men’s ice hockey semifinal game against Finland at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Milan, Italy, on Feb. 20, 2026. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)
McDavid said Crosby has been “extremely positive” and has still contributed to the team despite not playing.
On the other hand, Team USA’s Tage Thompson was on the ice for the team’s skate on Saturday after leaving the team’s 6-2 win over Team Slovakia in the third period on Friday. Thompson was held out of the third period for precautionary reasons.
The highly anticipated gold medal match is at 8:10 a.m. ET on Sunday.
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