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Team Canada may have a major boost to its lineup in its Olympic gold medal matchup against Team USA in men’s hockey Sunday with the potential return of captain Sidney Crosby.
Crosby, 38, did not play in Canada’s 3-2 semifinal victory against Team Finland Friday after sustaining a lower-body injury in the quarterfinals against Czechia but did skate during practice Saturday. Canadian head coach Jon Cooper said Crosby will be a game-time decision.
“We’ll see,” Cooper said, according to NHL.com. “I watched him skate today. I haven’t spoken to him yet. We’re going to meet tonight and have a determination of what’s going to happen tomorrow.
“He won’t put himself in harm’s way. He’s not going to put the team in harm’s way. Obviously, we’d love to have him, but that determination will be made tonight.”
Cooper insisted that Crosby will not play unless he is able to help the team.
“It’s too important, and we don’t have somebody in there as an inspiration when we could have a player capable of helping, and you never know if guys are going to get hurt in the game,” Cooper said. “He wouldn’t want to do that either.”
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The International Ice Hockey Federation states that teams must have a player wearing the “C” on a jersey. With Crosby out against Finland, Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid wore the “C” in Crosby’s place.
“We definitely wanted to give him an opportunity to play one more,” McDavid said, according to NHL.com. “We’ve done that, and we’ll see.”
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McDavid said Crosby has been “extremely positive” and has still contributed to the team despite not playing.
Team USA’s Tage Thompson was on the ice for the team’s skate on Saturday after leaving the team’s 6-2 win over Team Slovakia in the third period on Friday. Thompson was held out of the third period for precautionary reasons.
The highly anticipated gold medal match starts at 8:10 a.m. ET Sunday.
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