MILAN — Sidney Crosby has been ruled out of Canada’s Olympic gold medal game against the United States. The news came about an hour before the game started.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Crosby suffered a lower-body injury during Canada’s quarterfinal win over the Czech Republic. His status for Sunday’s game had been in doubt until an official announcement was made.
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In the game against the Czech team, Crosby was hit on the board by the Czech team’s Martin Nekas and Radko Gudas in the second quarter. This was his third major hit in the quarter. He left the ice shortly after, limped toward the locker room, and was quickly ruled out of that game.
Canada head coach Jon Cooper said Friday that he believed Crosby had a chance to play in the gold medal game, but it became clear that the 38-year-old Canadian captain did not recover in time to make Canada’s active roster.
“He’s Sidney Crosby,” Connor McDavid said after Crosby’s injury. “He’s going to have a big impact no matter what. He’s going to have a big impact in the lineup, not in the lineup. That’s what he does.”
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Crosby, the oldest player on Team Canada, has represented Canada in three Olympic Games and won two gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Games and the 2014 Sochi Games. Crosby scored the golden goal in overtime for Canada in 2010, helping Canada defeat the United States. He skated on both Friday and Saturday but made no public statement because neither practice was open to the media.
McDavid will once again captain Canada, as he has been since Crosby’s injury.
