Crosby, Morrissey out for Canada’s semifinal against Finland; McDavid wears the ‘C’

Team Canada was without captain Sidney Crosby for their semifinal against Finland at Milano Cortina 2026 on Friday.

With Crosby out, Connor McDavid wore the “C” against Finland, with Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon serving as alternates.

Defenceman Josh Morrissey also missed the semifinal, marking the fourth straight game he has missed after being injured in Canada’s opening game last week. Travis Sanheim has been dressing in Morrissey’s place.

Goaltender Jordan Binnington started in the semifinal with Logan Thompson backing him up. Darcy Kuemper is a healthy scratch.

Crosby was scratched from the lineup two days after exiting Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime win over Czechia in the second period with an apparent lower-body injury.

TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reports Crosby did skate Friday morning to test his injury, which is a positive sign for his potentially availability in a medal game.

Sam Bennett, who was scratched from Canada’s quarter-final win while dealing with an illness, dressed in Crosby’s place. He has one assist in three games at the tournament.

Finland made one change from their quarter-final lineup, with Oliver Kapanen coming into the lineup in place of Eeli Tolvanen.

Watch Canada vs. Finland LIVE at 10:30am ET/7:30am PT on TSN1, TSN.ca and the TSN App.

Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper said after Crosby missed Thursday’s optional skate that he had “by no means” been ruled out for the semifinal at that point.

“We’ve got the best of the best looking at him,” Cooper said. “We’re taking this day by day … we’re not going to put anyone in harm’s way. But if he can play, he’s definitely going to.

“We’ll know more in 24 hours.”

Crosby, 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 two-time Olympic gold medallist 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 the action.

“He’s still around and doing his leadership things,” defenceman Drew Doughty said Thursday. “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.”

“He’s Sidney Crosby,” McDavid added. “He’s going to have a big influence, no matter what. In the lineup, not in the lineup.

“That’s what he does.”

The winner of Friday’s semifinal will advance to the gold-medal game, which is scheduled for Sunday morning at 8:10 a.m. ET/5:10 a.m. PT.