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“This is not a dream come true,” said Marchand. “It was never something I even thought about. I was a realistic kid. It was never a dream of mine to play in the Olympics. It was so far from my reality.”
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Published Feb 08, 2026 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 10 minute read
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Brad Marchand of Team Canada warms up prior to a game against Team Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off at TD Garden in Boston on Feb. 17, 2025. Photo by Maddie Meyer /Getty ImagesArticle content
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Brad Marchand never dreamed of playing in the Olympic Games.
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Even as a kid, that seemed so far away.
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He vaguely remembers watching the famous shootout of 1998 and the more famous snub of Wayne Gretzky. He was nine years old at the time.
He remembers watching his favourite player, Joe Sakic, dominate in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He was 13, and not exactly a hot prospect on the rise.
“One of the best plays ever was that pass to (Mario) Lemieux (by Chris Pronger). With Paul Kariya scoring,” Marchand said. “You don’t forget things like that. That kind of skill and thought. That stuck with me to this day. I get excited just talking about it.”
And now it’s his turn for Olympic hockey. At the age of 35. Having won two Stanley Cups. Having agitated his way to prominence.
“This is not a dream come true,” said Marchand. “It was never something I even thought about. I was a realistic kid. It was never a dream of mine to play in the Olympics. It was so far from my reality.”
Then he made the NHL. Then he played more than 1,000 games. Then he got the phone call, telling him he was part of Team Canada, a call he will cherish forever.
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“It’s such a privilege to be on this team,” said Marchand, who has scored 25 goals for the struggling Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers this season. “To be part of this, it’s incredible really. I’m still pinching myself.”
Team Canada, the men’s version, begins play on Thursday, and the first game against Czechia is rather personal for Marchand. His close friend, David Pastrnak, is the star of the Czechia team.
“He’s one of the best players in the world,” said Marchand. “And I know how much this means to him. He will take this very seriously and personally. He can beat you by himself. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Canadian hockey forwards Sidney Crosby (left) and Connor McDavid. Photo by Christinne Muschi /The Canadian PressTHIS AND THAT
One thing Marchand knows: He’s unlikely to be playing on the wing with Connor McDavid in Milan. He played beside him at the world championship in 2016. “I gave him the puck out of the defensive zone and he was at the other blue line before I knew it,” he recalled. “I couldn’t keep up so I just went to the bench for a line change.” … If McDavid truly wanted Zach Hyman on Team Canada, don’t you think Hyman would be on Team Canada instead of Seth Jarvis? I would have added Hyman to play with McDavid, but nobody asked for my opinion … I also would have had Jakob Chychrun on the team ahead of about three other Canadian choices on defence … There are 13 members of the Panthers heading to the Olympics as players, staff and coaches. There would have been 14 had Seth Jones not been injured …. I don’t believe for a second that McDavid wrote that Players’ Tribune epic on him. It read like it was written by his agent or a public relations firm … The Olympic question used to be: Who plays with Sidney Crosby? Now, it’s: Who plays with McDavid? I imagine Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and possibly Macklin Celebrini will form a line for Canada. Sam Reinhart didn’t mesh with McDavid in the 4 Nations tournament, which is why Hyman made sense to me. If I were coaching, I’d start McDavid on a line with Tom Wilson and either Mitch Marner or Brandon Hagel. Or maybe give Reinhart another shot … Team Canada has the most explosive Olympic offence with McDavid, MacKinnon, Celebrini and Crosby. Team USA has the most explosive defence with Zach Werenski, Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber and Jake Sanderson providing points … What has to be a concern for Team USA: Connor Hellebuyck. A year after winning the Hart Trophy, he is not having an all-star season with the downtrodden Winnipeg Jets. Who do the Americans start in goal? … If I’m coaching Team USA, I start with Jack Eichel centring the Tkachuk brothers and then go to Auston Matthews, centring his Arizona buddy, Tage Thompson, and 32-goal scorer Matt Boldy … Celebrini’s Hart Trophy chase was a nice mid-season conversation. Now it’s pretty much over. In his past 10 games, Celebrini has 11 points and the San Jose Sharks have four wins. Nothing great and nothing terrible. At the same time, Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov has 24 points in 10 games, and the Lightning has an 8-1-1 record. Kucherov is now alongside MacKinnon for Hart Trophy consideration … The only teams that can win gold in Milan: Canada, USA and Sweden. Had Sasha Barkov been there, I would have added Finland to the list … Canada and the U.S. should play for gold in women’s hockey, which is great for Canada and the U.S., and discouraging for anyone who cares about the progress of women’s hockey around the world.
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HEAR AND THERE
I feel sorry for the athletes in Italy who don’t get to experience a normal Olympic Games. These Games are too chopped up and spread out. It reminds me of Albertville ’92, my least favourite Winter Games. Everything was a three-hour bus ride. Even the opening ceremony seemed off with the parade of athletes coming into the main stadium and also walking in their own city. The Olympics shouldn’t just work for television. It should work for those participating, as well … Nothing better than one giant Olympic Village for all athletes, not four chopped up villages for athletes in different pursuits … I’m not going to lie to you: It hurts not being in Italy for my 11th Winter Games. I didn’t realize how much until I watched the opening ceremony on Friday night … My favourite Winter Olympics: 1. Lillehammer, 1994; 2. Vancouver, 2010; 3. Calgary, 1988. My least favourite: 1. Albertville; 2. PyeongChang, 2018; 3. Salt Lake City, 2002 … Winter Olympians I’ll never forget: Catriona LeMay Doan, Clara Hughes, Kerrin Lee-Gartner, Hayley WIckenheiser, Danielle Goyette, Cindy Klassen, Charles Hamelin, Marianne St. Gelais, Joannie Rochette, Marc Gagnon, Alex Harvey, Ross Rebagliati, Elvis Stokjo, Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir, Gilmore Junio, Becky Scott, Chandra Crawford, Jennifer Jones and Gaetan Boucher … My personal Team Canada Olympic hockey all-star team: Goalie: Carey Price; Defence: Drew Doughty and Shea Weber; Forwards Crosby, Sakic and Jonathan Toews … If you haven’t watched the Netflix documentary, Miracle: The Boys of ’80, do so. It’s worth your time. One disappointment in watching it: A lot of interviews with Team USA star Mark Johnson, but no mention that Johnson was the son of legendary coach Bob Johnson, who wasn’t all that fond of American coach Herb Brooks. Would have liked to have heard something about that in the show. When Brooks was coaching at the University of Minnesota, Johnson was his chief rival at Wisconsin. Johnson went on to a superb NHL career coaching in Calgary and Pittsburgh. Brooks did not have much success coaching in the NHL … Brooks did coach in three Olympics, winning a gold medal in 1980 and a silver with Team USA in 2002. He also coached Team France in 1998 … Nobody likes to mention Mike Babcock’s name, because frankly, he’s Mike Babcock. But he did coach Team Canada to two gold medals. That’s worth something.
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Play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman (left) and analyst Buck Martinez are part of Sportsnet’s 2025 Blue Jays television broadcast crew. Rogers SportsnetSCENE AND HEARD
Still trying to wrap my head around Buck Martinez’s retirement, because he always seemed to be there. As a Blue Jays player. As a Blue Jays manager. As the Blue Jays’ play-by-play man and analyst. As the voice of baseball that mattered most across Canada. Martinez and Dan Shulman are the best local baseball team in the sport. They had an Astaire and Rogers kind of chemistry, in step like world-champion ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. Shulman has been exceptional forever, but the combination of he and Martinez, that was another level. Wishing Buck the best of health and, on a personal note, I will miss our conversations: I think I learned more about baseball from Buck than anyone I’d ever known, except maybe my father … Etobicoke’s Joey Votto has hooked on with NBC for the coming baseball season. NBC seems everywhere these days. Super Bowl Sunday night. Olympics in the U.S. Now baseball coming up shortly … A lot of NHL teams honoured their players heading to the Olympics before the schedule break. The Maple Leafs were not among them. They were so caught up in their apparent playoff chase, in Nylander’s health and in trade talks that they missed on this one. And they now regret not doing so … The Leafs will have to go 16-9 in their final 25 games to have any chance of the playoffs. If Boston goes 13-12, the Bruins will finish with 95 points, If Buffalo goes 13-12 the rest of the way, the Sabres will finish with 96 points. Jon Cooper thought it would take 88 points to make the playoffs in the East. He’s gong to be about seven or eight points off on his prediction … Columbus went 11-1 to the break. If the Blue Jackets go just 15-11 in their final 26 games, they will finish with 95 points … Why scoring leader McDavid falls behind MacKinnon, Kucherov and Celebrini for Hart consideration. MacKinnon leads the best team in the West. Kucherov leads the best team in the East. Celebrini has had the Sharks in playoff contention. McDavid’s Oilers have 28 wins, one more than the Leafs, and 64 points, one more than the Leafs … Barring a collapse of the Pittsburgh Penguins in their final 26 games, Crosby should be an MVP candidate too, maybe even the favourite in his 21st season … Is Sheldon Keefe in trouble as coach of the New Jersey Devils? Sure looks like it watching them play … Question for Gavin McKenna: You’re 18 years old. The legal drinking age in the United States is 21. Never mind what happened in the bar —shouldn’t you know better than to even be in the bar? … Players who earned Olympic spots with their play and didn’t get them: Mark Scheifele, Chychrun, Hyman, Matthew Schaefer, Connor Bedard, Cole Caufield, Jason Robertson, Alex DeBrincat, Mattias Ekholm, Lane Hutson and Wyatt Johnston … A small piece of Olympic hockey trivia: When Team Canada beat Germany at Albertville in 1992, Eric Lindros won the game with a shootout goal. Sean Burke was in goal for Canada. The last shooter for Germany was Peter Draisaitl, Leon’s father. Leon Draisaitl carried the German flag at Friday’s opening ceremony … The Olympics will never be the same for me without Brian Williams and without Steve Buffery as my roommate.
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AND ANOTHER THING
It must kill Josh Allen — probably the second-best player in the NFL the past seven seasons — that New England is playing for the Super Bowl and he isn’t … My usually wrong Super Bowl prediction: Seattle 27, New England 17. That’s 44 points, which is just below the over-under number … The only other time Seattle played New England in the Super Bowl, I was in the press room with hundreds of other media members, typing away about a Seahawks win on a Marshawn Lynch one-yard touchdown run. But they never gave the ball to Lynch. And the Seahawks lost to the Patriots and hundreds of us were madly typing away on deadline, re-writing about that unlikely ending … Help me understand this: The owner of those dynastic Patriots championship teams, Robert Kraft, was not elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The coach, Bill Belichick, was not elected. But the placekicker, Adam Vinatieri, he gets in. I don’t know if any placekicker should ever get into the Hall of Fame … Eleven voters kept Belichick out. Ninety years ago, 11 voters did not make Babe Ruth a unanimous first-ballot Hall of Fame baseball player … Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam and Norm Powell are playing in next week’s NBA all-star game. Somewhere, Masai Ujiri is smiling … Hard to figure Edward Rogers. The Blue Jays spend as if money doesn’t matter, but the Raptors sell off during a playoff race, so as not to be over the luxury-tax figure. Different rules for different teams … NFL quarterbacking legends such as Allen, Dan Marino, Fran Tarkenton, Lamar Jackson, Warren Moon, Jim Kelly and Dan Fouts have never won Super Bowls. By Sunday night, one of Drake Maye or Sam Darnold will be a champion forever … Linebacker Wynton McManis has signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in free agency after being released by the Argonauts. On my unofficial scorecard, McManis is a top-five Argos career defensive player, behind Marv Luster, Jim Corrigall, Jim Stillwagon and Willie Pless. It’s no coincidence that McManis has gone to four Grey Cups in seven CFL seasons … Happy birthday to Mark Tewksbury (58), Matthew Stafford (38), Steve Nash (52), Steven Stamkos (36), Kirk Muller (60), Paul (The Big Show) Wight (54), Klay Thompson (36), Alexandre Daigle (51), Ryan O’Reilly (36), John Grisham (71), Aaron Ekblad (30) and Dino Ciccarelli (66) … And, hey, whatever became of Shaun Suisham?
ssimmons@postmedia.com
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