Crosby leaves game with apparent leg injury as Canada avoids early Olympic exit
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MILAN – Canada rallied after Sidney Crosby’s injury to avoid a stunning quarterfinal exit from the Milan Cortina Olympic Games.
Now the men’s hockey team — and a nation of fans cheering back home — holds its breath, hoping Canada’s captain returns to action in time for the semifinals.
Crosby’s left Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime victory over Czechia in the second period after suffering an apparent right leg injury.
“It’s tough,” forward Nathan MacKinnon said. “He’s the man, we want him on the bench, we want him on the team. It sucks he got hurt but we had to stay focused and just keep going.”
Head coach Jon Cooper did not have an update on Crosby’s status after the game. But Cooper revealed that the two-time Olympic gold medallist stood up for a speech in the dressing room between the second and third periods — telling his group to “go get it.”
“That was a big thing coming in, is we lose this game, we didn’t want this to be Sid’s last game of this Olympics,” Cooper said. “It was a big motivator for the guys coming out there.
“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 re-evaluate after that.”
Crosby left for the room around six minutes into the second after his leg appeared to buckle as he braced for a neutral-zone hit from Czech defenceman Radko Gudas with Canada trailing 2-1.
He remained on the ice for another 13 seconds before Gudas and Martin Necas simultaneously hit him along the boards in the offensive zone at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
“I was just trying to hold the red line. Just trying to play hard, everybody is playing physical,” Gudas said. “I’m not sure (what happened). That team is so fast, so quick, you worry about the next shift, the next play.
“Hopefully he’s OK, you never want to see a guy get hurt, especially in these tournaments.’’
The crowd gasped as Crosby took one stride and returned in noticeable discomfort to the bench, where he received medical attention. A little more than a minute later, he limped down the tunnel with trainers.
“It’s tough when you lose a guy like that,” forward Brad Marchand said. “One of the best ever to play the game. Such a big character on the bench and in the room. Big presence in big moments.
“But you don’t have a choice, you’ve got to keep going. It was great that the team came together and battled through that adversity tonight.”
Earlier in the second period, Czechia forward Ondrej Palat hit Crosby, who did not have the puck, at centre ice as Canada’s most experienced player slid into the boards. The officials did not call a penalty on the play.
The injury appeared wake Canada up as MacKinnon scored a power-play goal at 12:16 in the second period to tie the game 2-2.
Palat gave underdog Czechia a 3-2 lead at 12:18 in the third period, capitalizing on a well-executed 3-on-2, before Nick Suzuki redirected Devon Toews’ point shot to tie the game with 3:27 remaining.
Mitch Marner then buried a backhand over Lukas Dostal’s left shoulder 1:22 into 3-on-3 overtime as Canada’s bench spilled out onto the ice in celebration — minus its captain.
“You definitely just want to keep pushing,” Marner said. “He’s probably one of the most positive guys on a bench. He’s always speaking positively and keeping the group up on themselves. That’s what we tried to do.”
Crosby is competing in his third Olympics. He scored the iconic golden goal in Canada’s overtime win over the United States at the 2010 Vancouver Games and captained the country to gold at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, where Canada went undefeated.
The 38-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., had two goals and four assists in three preliminary games in Milan. He registered one goal and two assists in Canada’s 10-2 win over France on Sunday to reach a Canadian-record 16 career Olympic points.
Canada will play in the semifinals on Friday. The opponent was set to be determined once quarterfinal action concluded later Wednesday in Milan.
“We just rally around him. Hopefully he’s gonna be all right for the next one,” said defenceman Drew Doughty, who’s won two gold medals with Crosby. “But if he’s not, guys got to step up. That’s just the bottom line. Sucks to see your captain go down and a player of that stature.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2026.