It’s been nearly 12 years since an Olympic gold medal was placed around Sidney Crosby’s neck.
From scoring the Golden Goal in 2010 to captaining his country to the top again in 2014, it felt like only the beginning of what we’d see the star from Cole Harbour, N.S. do on an Olympic stage.
Just like that, those opportunities disappeared into thin air. NHL players didn’t play in the Olympics in 2018 due to a dispute between the league and the International Ice Hockey Federation, largely over who would foot the bill. Then, a global pandemic put the brakes on an NHL return to Beijing in 2022.
Now, at 38, Crosby is finally back on the grandest international stage, willing his way to another golden moment. That he’ll captain this team in Italy is a foregone conclusion.
“To miss them and to not know what was going to happen, and now to know that we’re finally going back, that’s motivation in itself,” Crosby said in an exclusive interview with CBC Olympics host Ariel Helwani earlier this year. “That’s kind of on my mind the most. It’s just making the most of this opportunity here.”
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The three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins will be joined by two stars who’ve dominated in the NHL for several years, but who’ve never gotten to experience the Olympics: Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid.
They form a forward group that should be Canada’s biggest strength when the team plays its first game on Feb. 12.
Like his Nova Scotia brethren, MacKinnon has lifted the Cup. McDavid has not. He’s come tantalizingly close over the past two seasons, but not close enough.
The overtime game winner at the 4 Nations Face-Off earlier this year might have been the biggest goal of McDavid’s career so far. Winning Olympic gold would cement his legacy in the sport, and finally, he’ll have a chance to do it.
“Guys like him crave that kind of pressure and crave being in that spot,” Jeff Marek, the host of The Sheet with Jeff Marek podcast on The Nation Network, said on CBC Sports’ Hockey North on Wednesday.
While McDavid scored the game winner against the United States at 4 Nations, Macklin Celebrini had to watch from home. Not this time. Celebrini will be going to Italy.
The 19-year-old star with the San Jose Sharks was only three when Crosby scored the golden goal in 2010. In Milan, they could be linemates.
Celebrini had played his way on to this team by early December, when the Canadian management group made a list of 12 forwards who were locks. GM Doug Armstrong delivered the news personally to Celebrini on Wednesday morning.
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It was a full circle moment from last season, when Armstrong met Celebrini early into his rookie season ahead of a game against Armstrong’s St. Louis Blues. Celebrini wasn’t on the 4 Nations Face-Off radar then, but was still in the mix for the Olympics, the GM told him.
That night, the teen put up a multi-point effort. Statement made.
“What Macklin is going to be able to do is start the process of learning while competing,” Armstrong said in an interview with CBC Sports.
Missing from the roster is Connor Bedard, the young Chicago star who had a stellar season before an apparent shoulder injury sidelined him in early December.
Bedard was “very close” to making the team, with his name in the mix up until the end.
But the management group favoured picking players who fill specific roles. It meant opting for the penalty-killing acumen of Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli over the game-breaking skill of a Bedard, a decision that could come back to haunt Canada if scoring becomes an issue in Italy.
Players with versatility, like Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki and six-foot-four Tom Wilson, also had an edge. The larger Wilson, who’s on pace for a career year in goals and points with the Washington Capitals, may have played his way on to the team at the expense of reigning Conn Smythe trophy winner, Sam Bennett.
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“The game changes and the skill level changes but where you score goals from very rarely changes,” Armstrong said about best-on-best hockey. “It’s in the hard, ugly areas of the blue paint, and nobody likes to go there with more joy than Tom Wilson.”
Versatility is also what got New York Islanders’ forward Bo Horvat on the team. An ace at the faceoff dot, he can play up and down the lineup. He’ll be a Swiss Army knife for head coach Jon Cooper.
“No matter what they tell me to do, I’ll do it,” Horvat said on Wednesday. “If it’s cleaning water bottles, I’ll do anything to be there.”
While there were a few additions to the forward group who didn’t win at 4 Nations, Hockey Canada decided to stick with all eight defensemen who appeared in that tournament.
That included Drew Doughty, who will join Crosby as the only Olympic medallist on this team. Beyond what he brings on the ice, the two-time Stanley Cup champion brings a veteran presence and a sense of what it takes to win at the highest level.
“He wants to win again,” Armstrong said. “His passion, he wears it on his sleeve and that’s infectious to everybody.”
It’s a defensive group that Cooper and his staff are quite familiar with, headlined by the best defensive-pairing in the NHL over the last few years: Devon Toews and Cale Makar.
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If there’s one gap in Canada’s defensive armour, it might be on the power play, should Makar go down with illness or injury. Evan Bouchard, Jakob Chychrun and impressive rookie Matthew Schaefer were all left at home, and could have added more insurance behind Makar.
But the much bigger concern is in the crease. If the forward group is Canada’s superpower, then its goaltending might its kryptonite.
Canada has Jordan Binnington, Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper at the ready. All three have won Cups, and Thompson and Kuemper have been among the best netminders in the NHL this season.
Binnington was solid for Canada in a nail-biting 4 Nations Face-Off overtime win against the United States, something that played a role for Armstrong and his staff, despite a dismal season in St. Louis.
Gone are the days of Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur and Carey Price, who were legitimate difference-makers in net, goaltenders who came without question marks.
That Canada’s weakness lies in net is a point Armstrong can understand, but he’s comfortable with the goaltenders who will be representing Canada.
“I think it’s stronger than maybe they get credit for,” the GM said.
Canada opens the tournament against the Czech Republic on Feb. 12 at 10:40 a.m. ET.
The gold-medal game is set for Feb. 22.
