‘We’re taking this day by day:’ Cooper does not rule Crosby out of Olympics
Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper met with the media on Thursday in Milan to deliver an injury update on captain Sidney Crosby.
According to NHL insider Frank Seravalli, Cooper declared that Crosby is “by no means ruled out of the tournament.” Canada will take the ice again for its semifinal matchup against Team Finland on Friday, leaving little time for Crosby to recover.
“We’re taking this day by day,” Cooper added.
Crosby left the game against Team Czechia after an awkward collision with veteran defenseman Radko Gudas put his leg in a bad position. Crosby was able to skate to the bench but quickly required attention from the training staff before heading down the tunnel for further evaluation. Crosby was ruled out of the game at the start of the third period.
“It sucks,” forward Tom Wilson told reporters after the quarterfinal. “He’s our leader. He’s the best in the world, but that’s hockey. The next guys have to step up. We’ll regroup and see what’s going on.”
To a man, the Canadians were insistent that Crosby’s absence motivated them to come back and win to give him a chance to return to the tournament.
“It’s tough when you lose a guy like that, one of the best to ever play the game,” Brad Marchand said. “Such a big character on the bench, in the room, but you don’t have a choice, you’ve got to keep going. It was great the way the team came together and battled through that adversity tonight.”
The prohibitive favorites to win the gold medal, Canada was tested by the Czechs, who they dispatched with relative ease during the group stage.
Czechia found a go-ahead goal from Ondrej Palat with about seven minutes left in the game. The players, coaches and fans alike later realized that goal should not have counted, as the Czechs had six players on the ice for the entirety of the play, but it was not caught in the moment.
Nick Suzuki tied the game on a nice deflection with a few minutes left to force overtime, and a magical backhand goal by Mitch Marner sealed the win for Canada, kickstarting the first of three dramatic overtime finishes in Milan.
The winner between the Canadians and Finns will advance to the gold medal game where they will meet the winner of the other semifinal between Team Slovakia and Team USA. The losers of the two contests will battle for bronze.