Watch as Hockey Canada announces the men’s Olympic hockey team

Click on the video above today at 12 p.m. ET as Hockey Canada will reveal the roster of the men’s Olympic hockey team.

This is the first time since 2014 that NHL players will be returning to the Olympics since the Sochi Games.

The first six players were announced in June. 

They include two-time Olympic champion Sidney Crosby — who scored the golden goal in 2010 at Vancouver and helped Canada repeat four years later in Sochi — along with fellow forwards Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Brayden Point and Sam Reinhart. Cale Makar was the lone defenceman on the early list.

Canada has captured three gold medals since NHL players were first allowed to compete at the 1998 Nagano Games in Japan, winning in 2002, 2010 and 2014. 

The 12-country tournament begins Feb. 11. The teams will feature a 25-player roster with Canada set to play its first game against the Czech Republic on Feb. 12.

“We’re not selecting an all-star team,” Canadian GM Doug Armstrong said in an interview with CBC Sports earlier this month. “We’re selecting a team, and on a team, you have to have every aspect covered. That’s five-on-five, four-on-five, six-on-five. Every area needs to be done, and we want to make sure we give [head coach] Jon Cooper the appropriate tools in his toolbox to be ready to play in any situation.”

GM Doug Armstrong on building Canada’s Olympic hockey team

Canada and the U.S. gave a glimpse of what to expect in Italy last season, where the Canadians produced a spine-tingling victory at the 4 Nations Face-Off on McDavid’s dramatic overtime winner.

“You can feel the energy of coming off 4 Nations,” Crosby, the 38-year-old captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, said at Canada’s summer orientation camp in Calgary. “That was huge, and I think everyone got a taste of international hockey and what the Olympics is going to look like.

“A lot of different emotions, but just excited, motivated and grateful for the opportunity to be at it again.”

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Armstrong and Cooper will have some interesting choices as decision day looms.

Among them is second-year star Macklin Celebrini.

Drafted No. 1 overall at the 2024 draft by the San Jose Sharks, Celebrini has already established himself as one of the game’s best players as he sits third in the NHL points race behind McDavid and MacKinnon.

While it’s been rare at past Olympics for a 19-year-old to even get a look, the Hockey Canada brain trust will be hard-pressed to ignore what the centre with offensive flair and an outstanding 200-foot game has done this season.

Could Bedard, Celebrini or Schaefer make Canada’s Olympic roster?

Then there’s Chicago forward Connor Bedard, who was also having a stellar start to his season before a recent upper-body injury has him currently sidelined.

But Bedard returned to practice on Monday, giving the 2023 first overall pick hope that he’ll make Canada’s Olympic team.