Injured and forced to watch as Team Canada fell to the U.S. in the gold medal game, Sidney Crosby said that he’d considered this could be his final Olympic appearance for Canada.Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Sidney Crosby sat at the microphone after Canada’s loss to the Americans in the gold medal game at the Milan Cortina Olympics and pondered his future.
At 38 years old and with hair that has taken on a tinge of grey, Crosby is aware that Sunday’s game could be his last time on Olympic ice.
“It might have crossed my mind a little bit,” the Canadian captain said after the 2-1 overtime loss, which he watched from the training room in the bowels of the arena, still nursing a knee injury from Canada’s quarter-final win over Czechia.
He put those thoughts out of his mind, Crosby said. Believing he wasn’t healthy enough to benefit Team Canada, Crosby didn’t want to put their chances at risk in what everyone knew would be a close game with the U.S.
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“It was about what’s best for our group and what gives us the best chance to win. I think that becomes pretty clear at that point. If I’m not able to go then I’m not going to compromise our team or put myself ahead of that,” Crosby said.
“It might have crossed my mind, but ultimately that’s not how you make your decision.
“All you can ask for is the opportunity to try to get back out there. So, yeah, it was tough to have to make that decision, but it’s the way it is.”
Not long after Crosby and Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper left the news conference area beneath the stands at Milano Santagiulia Arena, several American players took the stage, carrying beers and wearing ski goggles. They had just come from a FaceTime call with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Among them was U.S. captain Auston Matthews, who assisted on the first American goal. Matthews, sipping from a tall can and grinning broadly, was asked if there was anything he could take from Sunday’s win when he goes back to Toronto to resume the NHL season on Thursday.
Team USA captain Auston Matthews (centre) said he wanted to be in the moment on Sunday, after the U.S. topped Canada in the Olympic gold-medal game. The Toronto Maple Leafs’ captain wasn’t ready to shift his focus back to his day job quite yet.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
As captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he has faced criticism over the past several years for not being able to get the team past the second round in the playoffs. This season, the team is at risk of missing the post-season altogether.
“I’m trying to live in the moment man,” Matthews said, deflecting the question.
At that point Matthews’ teammate Jack Hughes jumped in to rescue him.
“I think it doesn’t matter what anyone says now. Auston Matthews is a winner. Auston Matthews is an Olympic gold medalist, he’s a winner,” said Hughes, who scored the overtime goal.
“I got nothing else to say,” Matthews replied.
So it goes at the Olympics. In a one-game, winner-take-all showdown, the line between introspection and jubilation is paper thin.
Team Canada forward Nathan MacKinnon said he was upset about the loss, not just for the team, but also for Crosby.
The two are both from Cole Harbour, N.S. and MacKinnon is one of Crosby’s closest friends. MacKinnon said he wasn’t sure if Crosby was going attempt playing until the final hours before the game was set to begin.
“I didn’t know until this morning, and I wasn’t going to ask,” MacKinnon said.
“It was tough for him to not play. He could have just said he wanted to play, just for himself. But he put the team and country first, like he always does.”
Nathan MacKinnon (centre) said that he didn’t know that Crosby would not play until a few hours before the game. Team Canada’s assistant captain said Crosby made a selfless decision to remove himself from the lineup.Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper lamented Canada’s fate coming down to a three-on-three overtime, but said those are the Olympic rules.
“Overtime is overtime. You take four players off the ice, now hockey’s not hockey any more. There’s a reason overtime and shootouts are in play. It’s all TV-driven to end games,” Cooper said.
“There’s a reason it’s not in the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
That said, Cooper said all teams play by the same rules.
“And whether you like it or not, you’ve got to abide by them and we were on the short end of the stick,” Cooper said.
“We didn’t score on our chances and they their scored on theirs.”
Crosby went on the ice in his equipment after the game, wearing the Team Canada jersey, to accept a silver medal with his teammates.
He praised the performance of Connor McDavid in Milan.
“Incredible. He did everything humanly possible to lead us,” Crosby said.
McDavid, who assumed the captaincy in Crosby’s absence, led the tournament in scoring with 13 points in six games. Though he was held off the scoresheet in more than 21 minutes of ice time Sunday, McDavid was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
“To come into a tournament like this, best players in the world, and to be able to elevate to the level he was at is unheard of,” Crosby said.
“You feel for him just because he did so much and led in every possible way, and we all want to win for each other, but especially for him.”
Crosby won gold medals for Canada in Vancouver in 2010 and 2014 in Sochi. In total, Canada has nine gold medals at the Olympics, dating back to 1920.
The silver medal in Milan is Canada’s fifth. It also has three bronze.
The U.S. victory in overtime came 46 years to the day after the American ‘Miracle on Ice,’ where a team of college players defeated the Soviet Union at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
The U.S. now has three gold medals at the Winter Games, having also won in 1960.
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Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Auston Matthews’s name.