Canada captain Crosby out of gold-medal hockey game against United States

By Canadian Press on February 22, 2026.

MILAN — The Canadian men’s hockey team will be without captain Sidney Crosby when it closes the Milan Cortina Olympics with a gold-medal showdown against the archrival United States.

Crosby sustained a lower-body injury during Canada’s quarterfinal win over Czechia after his right leg bent awkwardly on a hit.

He sat out Canada’s 3-2 semifinal win against Finland on Friday.

Connor McDavid will serve as captain in Crosby’s absence for a second straight day.

The Canadians and the Americans renew their rivalry after meeting at last year’s 4 Nation Face-Off tournament. After the Americans won a preliminary-round game that featured three fights in the first nine seconds, Canada won the final on a McDavid overtime goal.

Canada has beaten the U.S. for Olympic gold in 2002 and 2010 with NHL players, and the Americans have not won gold at the Games since Lake Placid in 1980.

In other action on Day 16 of the Games, Canada just missed the podium in women’s halfpipe with Amy Fraser finishing fourth.

Calgary’s Fraser finished with 88 points, four-and-a-half points behind bronze medallist Zoe Atkin of Britain.

Eileen Gu defended her Olympic title with a score of 94.75 points, with another Chinese skier, Li Fanghui, scoring 93.

Cassie Sharpe of Squamish, B.C., the 2014 Olympic champion in the event, qualified third but sustained a concussion in a crash and did not participate in the final.

There was also Canadian content in the men’s four-man bobsled finals, where Taylor Austin of Lethbridge, Alta., piloted the top Canadian team to a 14th-place finish.

Jasmine Drolet of Rossland, B.C., was the top Canadian in the women’s 50-kilometre classic style cross-country ski race, finishing 17th.

Finally, the Games will take its curtain call by holding its closing ceremony, set to be held at the Verona Olympic Arena, an ancient Roman amphitheatre and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The ceremony will gather athletes from more than 90 countries to celebrate and bid farewell to the Games, where Canada has won 20 medals — including five golds — entering the last day of action.

Speedskater Valérie Maltais and short-track speedskater Steven Dubois have been named Canada’s flag-bearers for the closing ceremonies.