Team Canada will wrap up Milano Cortina 2026 without Sidney Crosby, as the captain has been ruled out of the men’s hockey gold-medal game against the United States on Sunday morning.
“He won’t put himself in harm’s way,” head coach Jon Cooper said after practice on Saturday. “He’s not gonna put the team in harm’s way. Obviously, we’d love to have him. That determination will be made.”
Sidney Crosby is OUT of the gold medal game. Not playing today.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 22, 2026
Defenceman Josh Morrissey was confirmed to be unable to play with a lower-body injury on Saturday after he was injured during the tournament’s opener.
Goaltender Darcy Kuemper is also scratched for Sunday’s final.
Nick Suzuki slots into the team’s second line in between Mitch Marner and Mark Stone in place of Crosby.
Last look. 🇨🇦
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) February 22, 2026
Trios et duos pour ce dernier affrontement. 🇨🇦#MilanoCortina2026 pic.twitter.com/YsWWOYBQko
Crosby, 38, who has two goals and six points in the tournament, was hurt when his leg bent in an unnatural direction after taking a hit from Czech defenceman Radko Gudas.
The 5-foot-11 centre got back to his skates but wasn’t moving well before receiving more contact along the boards from Gudas and Czech forward Martin Necas.
Crosby then made his way to the bench and eventually walked gingerly to the locker room with Canada’s medical staff and did not return to action.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist skated prior to Canada’s tight 3-2 win over Finland in the tournament semifinal on Friday, but was unable to play.
Connor McDavid took over the captaincy against Finland and recorded two assists in the victory.
“He’s still around and doing his leadership things,” defenceman Drew Doughty said of Crosby prior to their win against Finland. “But we’ve got tons of guys that can step up and fill the leadership void.
“It’s almost impossible to fill the player void, but we’ll do our best.”
More to come.
