Team Canada goalie Jordan Binnington's saga will be on display in gold medal game

Jordan Binnington could be the determining factor in the gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.

The Team Canada goalie has had an adventurous tournament. It all reaches the biggest stage on Sunday against Team USA.

Binnington's saga started before the action even got underway. Many Canadian fans wanted him to be a backup.

Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper are both in Milan, too, and Binnington wasn't the favorite choice for some fans of Team Canada.

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On the flip side, Binnington had won the 4 Nations Faceoff in goal for Canada. He earned this opportunity.

Regardless of what the fans wanted, Binnington got the starting nod from head coach Jon Cooper. It's been a weird tournament.

There have been moments where Binnington has been less smooth than desired. That includes in falling behind both Czechia in the quarterfinal and Finland in the semifinal.

But then when faced with both those deficits, Binnington locked in and kept the margin from becoming worse for Canada.

It's like, with his back against the wall, he finally stepped up to the plate.

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Canada likely can't afford to fall behind by multiple goals to Team USA. Binnington will have to be at his best earlier.

He has a chance to validate himself in a big way if he can indeed make big plays from the start of the game to the end.

If Binnington is golden, his doubters will have no choice but to accept his clutch performance.

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