Five things to watch at the Milan Cortina Games on Friday, Feb. 20

MILAN – From the final-four matchups in men’s hockey, including Canada’s do-or-die game against Finland, to the elimination round in both men’s and women’s curling, here are five things to watch Friday at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

WILL HE OR WON’T HE?

The Canadian men’s hockey team may or may not have captain Sidney Crosby on the ice when it takes on Finland with a spot in the final on the line. Canada needed overtime heroics to survive a 4-3 upset scare from Czechia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Jordan Binnington made some key saves leading up to Mitch Marner’s game-winning goal. Canada’s head coach Jon Cooper has not ruled out Crosby, injured in the second period against Czechia, for the matchup against the Finns.

Finland survived its own scare coming back from down two goals late to beat Switzerland 3-2, also in overtime. The United States plays Slovakia in the other semifinal.

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CURLING FOR MEDALS

The men’s curling tournament will see its penultimate match take place when the bronze medal game takes place at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium between Switzerland and Norway. The Norwegians led by skip Magnus Ramsfjell landed in the bronze-medal game after a narrow 5-4 defeat to Canada’s Brad Jacobs, whose team will be aiming to claim gold in the men’s Olympic tournament for the first time since Sochi 2014. Canada’s gold-medal finals against Great Britain, which defeated Switzerland 8-5 in their semifinals matchup, will take place this weekend.

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ON A STREAK

The women’s curling semifinals will also take place in Cortina ahead of this weekend’s bronze and gold medal games. Canada’s Ottawa-based team led by skip Rachel Homan had to fight past South Korea 10-7 on the final day of round-robin play Thursday to set up a final-four showdown with Sweden. Homan’s rink enters the elimination round with a 6-3 record and had missed the playoffs in its last Olympics appearance in Pyeongchang in 2018.

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ONE MORE TIME ON SHORT-TRACK

Medals will be handed out in short-track speedskating in the men’s 5,000-metre relay and the women’s 1,500-metre event, with Canadians in contention for the podium in both competitions. The men’s relay team competing in the A final features freshly minted gold medallist Steven Dubois, who topped the podium in the men’s 500-metres on Wednesday. It is also an opportunity for William Dandjinou to win a second team medal at the Games after failing to podium despite being favoured in three individual races. The women’s event features Courtney Sarault going for her fifth medal at the games and Kim Boutin looking to add a third to her Milan Cortina collection.

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HUNTING FOR REPEATS

Three Canadians will be vying reach the podium in the women’s ski cross freestyle event, including past medallists Marielle Thompson of North Vancouver, B.C., and Brittany Phelan of Mont-Tremblant, Que. Thompson won gold in the event in Sochi 2014 and added a silver in Beijing 2022, while Phelan was the silver medallist at Pyeongchang 2018. Also competing is Ottawa’s Hannah Schmidt, looking to improve on a seventh-place finish at the event in Beijing four years ago during her Olympic debut.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2026.