MILAN (AP) — Sidney Crosby will not play for Canada in the men’s gold medal hockey game against the U.S. at the Winter Olympics on Sunday, four days after suffering an apparent right knee injury.
Crosby’s status was revealed just over an hour before puck drop when the lineups came out. Crosby skated in a closed-to-reporters practice Saturday, according to coach Jon Cooper and other players.
Being without the two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time Stanley Cup champion is a huge loss for Canada in a showdown with the also-unbeaten Americans. Connor McDavid will again wear the captain’s “C” in Crosby’s absence. McDavid leads all Olympic players with 13 points over five games.
Cooper made it clear that Crosby would only be in uniform if he could play a regular role.
“No, no, it’s too important," Cooper said Saturday. "We don’t want to have somebody in there as an inspiration when we could have a player that could be capable of helping. You never know if guys are going to get hurt in the game. He wouldn’t want to do that, either.”
The 38-year-old center left the quarterfinal game against Czechia with the injury and he missed Canada’s semifinal game against Finland.
Even without Crosby, the U.S. against Canada for Olympic gold is a titanic showdown.
As the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago showed, the North American powerhouses are atop the hockey world on the international stage. They proved it at this tournament, with the U.S. going through Sweden and Canada getting past Czechia and Finland to make the most-anticipated final possible happen.
A gold medal would still mean everything to the players and coaches involved, but it feels right to have the two border rivals as the last teams standing in Milan.
“If you’re going to get through to your goal, you’re going to probably have to go through them at some point,” U.S. winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “They’ve had the success in pretty much all the Olympics that NHL players have been going to. Two great teams, and I can only speak for ourselves, we’re just so excited for this opportunity, honored to represent our country and honored to be in this position.”
Canada won the past two Olympics where NHL players participated, in 2010 and 2014. The U.S. has not taken home gold in men’s hockey since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team.
That’s ancient history. These countries have more recent history from two epic 4 Nations games, including the first one that opened with three fights in nine seconds. Fighting is not allowed at the Olympics, though Canada’s Tom Wilson didn’t care about the automatic ejection when he dropped the gloves against France.
“There’s no fighting (but) I expect a hard-fought game, the same as it was the last two times we played them,” U.S. forward J.T. Miller said.
The U.S. is at full strength after winger Tage Thompson — tied for the team lead in goals with three — left the semifinal against Slovakia after blocking a shot. Thompson is expected to be good to go for what is the biggest game of a lot of players’ careers.
“Everybody that’s playing is going to be 50 years old one day, not playing in the NHL anymore and playing thousands of games hopefully, and you’re going to remember start to finish a handful of games,” Tkachuk said. “This is probably one of them.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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