Czechia's Radko Gudas hits Canadian captain Sidney Crosby during their men's Olympic quarter-final at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan on Wednesday.ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images
Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper didn’t rule Sidney Crosby out for Sunday’s gold-medal game at the men’s Olympic hockey tournament. But he didn’t say he’d return, either.
“He’s got a better chance of playing the gold-medal game than he did tonight,” Cooper said following Canada’s 3-2 win over Finland in the semi-final.
Crosby, Canada’s captain, missed Friday’s game after being injured in the quarter-final against Czechia.
Connor McDavid stood in as captain in Crosby’s absence. He said Crosby was doing some coaching in the dressing room Friday, even though he wasn’t on the bench.
“He’s got a great hockey mind and he’s watching the game closely and trying to dissect what they’re doing,” said Connor McDavid. “Giving pointers here and there about what we can look for. He’s there and having those conversions.”
Crosby left Canada’s overtime win against Czechia after taking a hit in the neutral zone in the second period of Wednesday’s game. He left the ice favouring his right leg and didn’t return. He hasn’t been ruled out of the tournament, but the team hasn’t shared the nature of the injury or how serious it is.
“I think he’s going to try to do whatever he can to get back in the lineup,” Team Canada forward Bo Horvat said. “We want to do this one for him. Go get it for Sid.”
Crosby’s absence has loomed over the men’s hockey tournament the last two days. He’s the heartbeat of the Canadian team in Milan, which will play for the gold medal on Sunday against the winner of the other semi-final between the United States and Slovakia later Friday.
Crosby, 38, has two goals and four assists so far in the tournament. He’s playing in his third Olympic Games, having won gold medals at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014. He holds the career record for points by a Canadian NHL player at the Olympics Games with 16.