Canada coach Jon Cooper has not ruled out captain Sidney Crosby for Friday’s semifinal against Finland at the Milano-Cortina Olympics.
Crosby was not on the ice for Canada’s optional practice Thursday, but Cooper said after the practice the two-time Olympic gold medallist might play with a spot in the final on the line.
The 38-year-old captain was injured early in the second period of Wednesday’s thrilling 4-3 overtime victory versus Czechia when his right leg bent in an unnatural direction after taking a hit from defenceman Radko Gudas.
Crosby got back to his skates, but wasn’t moving well before taking more contact along the boards from Gudas and Czech forward Martin Necas.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion then made his way to the bench and eventually the locker room, and did not return to the action. Crosby helped Canada top the podium at the 2010 and 2014 Games.
“That sucks,” Canadian defencemen Drew Doughty said of losing the team’s heart-and-soul leader. “The game goes on no matter who gets hurt. We even mentioned going out before the third, ‘Let’s try to win this one for 87.’
“Glad we did.”
Canada captain Sidney Crosby leaves quarterfinal game with lower-body injury
Nathan MacKinnon, Brad Marchand, Cale Makar and Devon Toews were also absent from the heavily attended skate.
Canada faces Finland in Friday’s first semifinal at 10:40 a.m. ET, while the United States takes on Slovakia at 3:10 p.m. ET. The gold-medal game goes Sunday at 8:20 a.m. ET. you can watch all the action on CBC and CBC Gem.
