USA and Canada to meet in Olympic men’s ice hockey gold medal game

The Guardian ^ | Fri 20 Feb 2026 | Bryan Armen Graham

[MinorityRepublican]

The United States and Canada men’s ice hockey teams will play for the Olympic gold medal on Sunday’s final day of the Milano Cortina Games after both teams won their semi-final contests on Friday evening.

Canada left things late in the first game, coming from two goals down to win 3-2 over Finland on Nathan MacKinnon’s winner with 35.2 seconds remaining. The US took a more straightforward tack in the nightcap to set up the heavyweight final, roaring past Slovakia 6-2 after Jack Hughes and Jack Eichel scored in a 19-second span during the second period to blow things open, ensuring the Americans no worse than silver and their first men’s hockey medal in 16 years.

It will mark the third time the border rivals have played in the gold medal game and the first since 2010, when Sidney Crosby etched his name into Olympic lore by scoring in overtime to seal a 3-2 win over the Americans on home soil.

Crosby, 38, is still in the Canada squad four Olympics later, but he did not dress for Friday’s game after leaving Wednesday’s quarter-final win over the Czech Republic in the second period with a lower-back injury. No details about the two-time Olympic gold medalist’s injury have been released and the severity remains unclear, but Canada coach Jon Cooper said “he’s got a better chance of playing in the gold medal game than he had of playing in tonight’s game”.

Canada found themselves staring down elimination for a second straight game after Erik Haula’s short-handed goal fired the Finns to a 2-0 lead early in the second period.

---

TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Sports
KEYWORDS: canada

[Ditto]

What made Gretzky great was his brains and his enforcers.

I talked to guys who played against both Gretzky, and Lemieuz. They said you could try to hit Gretzky but you most likely couldn’t. He was too fast and elusive. And you could try to hit Lemieux, and if you did, you were more likely to get hurt than him because he was so damn strong.