A look at five things to know from Thursday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games

From the first game involving Team Canada in the return of men’s best-on-best international hockey to a pair of near-misses on the ski slope that brought in two silver medals for the Canadians, here are five things to know from Thursday, Feb. 12 at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games:

… AND WE’RE BACK

Canada’s men’s hockey team won its first game of the tournament as NHL players returned to the Olympics for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games. The Canadian team soundly defeated Czechia 5-0 with goals from Macklin Celebrini, Mark Stone, Bo Horvat, Nathan MacKinnon and Nick Suzuki. Jordan Binnington, who wasn’t named Canada’s starter until shortly before the game, made 26 saves for the shutout. The Canadians did suffer an injury as defenceman Josh Morrissey left the game and did not return. Canada next takes on Switzerland on Friday.

CLOSE BUT SILVER CIGARS

Canada won a pair of silver medals on the hills of Livigno, narrowly missing gold in both cases. In men’s moguls, freestyle star Mikael Kingsbury of Deux-Montagnes, Que., won his fourth Olympic medal but had to settle for silver after matching gold medallist Cooper Woods of Australia with an identical score. Kingsbury was relegated to second because Woods had the higher turns score — the technical element that accounts for 60 per cent of the total. Canada also nearly won gold in snowboard cross, where Eliot Grondin finished second behind Austria’s Alessandro Haemmerle, repeating their 1-2 result from Beijing 2022. Both Grondin and Kingsbury said they were satisfied with their performances despite narrowly missing gold.

SARAULT COMES CLUTCH LATE

Canada’s Courtney Sarault spent much of the women’s 500-metre short-track final in fourth, outside the podium picture. But on the final lap, she surged past the Netherlands’ Selma Poutsma and lunged at the line, getting her skate across to secure bronze. The Moncton native edged Poutsma by .064 seconds. Meanwhile, Montreal’s William Dandjinou met the opposite fate in the men’s 1,000 metres, leading most of the race before being passed on the inside by Dutch skater Jens van ’t Wout, who went on to win gold, and overtaken by two more skaters to finish fourth.

MORE OLYMPICS CONTENT FOR NHL?

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made an appearance in Milan, saying that the world’s top hockey league has made progress in gaining more access to Olympics content, but hopes there’s more to come, looking ahead to the 2030 Games in the French Alps. The NHL has not been able to show highlights such as Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in Vancouver 2010, and Bettman says more Olympic content access is needed so his league does not “disappear for a couple of weeks” while players take part in the Games. 

ONTO THE QUARTERFINALS

The Canadian women’s hockey team rebounded from a 5-0 loss to archrivals the United States earlier in the week with a 5-0 win over Finland on Thursday, securing a quarterfinal matchup against Germany on Saturday. Playing again without injured captain Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada got two goals from Emily Clark in the victory. The team had another injury scare early in the match when Sarah Fillier slid hard into the end boards and jammed her left hand, but she returned to the game within minutes and recorded an assist in the game. Canada finished preliminary round play in second place in Group A.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2026.