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The path to the men's hockey gold medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics was supposed to be easy for Team Canada. Coach Jon Cooper had a loaded roster and stomped their way past the group stages. However, things took an unfortunate turn when they went up against Czechia. It was not just that they pushed the game to a 4-3 overtime thriller but it's because Pittsburgh Penguins star veteran Sidney Crosby went down with a rough lower-body injury.
Canada head coach addresses the veteran's status
Crosby was visibly shaken up in the second period after getting hit by Radko Gudas. However, the Team Canada and Penguins veteran fought through the pain. It eventually got to a point where he was just wobbling and then got hit again by Martin Necas. Coach Cooper had no choice but to pull his player out of the rink and send him to the locker room.
It was an apparent lower-body injury and Cooper addressed it after Canada advanced to the Olympics semifinals, via Dan Rosen of NHL.com.
"We didn't want this to be Sid's last game at this Olympics. It was a big motivator for the guys coming out. You just rarely see it, and so for him, something definitely went wrong. But he just thought he wasn’t in a position to help the team for the rest of the night. And we’ll reevaluate after that," the Team Canada head coach declared.
Crosby was more than just an intangible veteran presence for Canada at the Olympics. Coach Cooper played the Penguins star in all four of their games before the unfortunate injury. Throughout that time, he was able to notch two goals and four assists. Now, Team Canada will have to find new lines and rotations in order for them to get the gold medal at Milano Cortina.
"I don’t even have my poker face on either, because I honestly don’t know. Couldn’t come out for the third, but he did address the players, and I think that was a big thing coming in. If we lose this game, we didn’t want this to be Sid’s last game at this Olympics. So it was big motivator for the guys coming out," Cooper added.
Whether or not Crosby is able to play in the semifinal or gold medal match will be up in the air. If Team Canada and Penguins fans are asked, their captain should rest for now while also letting this new generation of talent take over.
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