2026 Olympic Games: Canada women’s curling team in do-or-die with South Korea to reach semifinals
‘The best of the best’ are evaluating Crosby: head coach
“Sid is by no means ruled out of the tournament,” Jon Cooper, head coach of the men’s hockey team, said after Canada’s optional skate a day after Crosby left the quarterfinal game against Czechia with a knee injury.
“We’ve got the best of the best looking at him,” he said, adding that Crosby’s medical evaluation was ongoing. “Everything’s going down as we speak. We have time.”
The anxiety mirrors the knee injury sustained by Marie-Philip Poulin, the women’s veteran captain, in the preliminary rounds.
She missed two games before coming back to score both goals in Canada’s 2-1 semifinal win over Switzerland. They face the heavily favoured Americans in Thursday’s final.
Crosby might also make an inspiring return.
But the spectre of a longer-term injury to the 38-year-old raises questions about the NHL’s release of its players for Olympic duty for the first time since 2014.
If one of the game’s most beloved fixtures is lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins and their fans in the closing stages of an impressive season, the NHL may decide its participation in the Games might not be worth the cost, no matter how good the hockey has been.
