{"id":291357,"date":"2025-11-18T16:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T16:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291357\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T16:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T16:43:12","slug":"sidney-crosby-knows-2026-olympics-could-be-his-last-hopes-brad-marchand-plays-in-his-first-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291357\/","title":{"rendered":"Sidney Crosby knows 2026 Olympics could be his last, hopes Brad Marchand plays in his first Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sidney Crosby<\/a> is showing no signs of slowing down at 38 years old, but even he admits there\u2019s a realistic chance the 2026 Olympics will be his last.<\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> star appears to be in peak form this season with 12 goals and 21 points in 19 games, but Father Time comes for us all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s definitely a possibility. I\u2019m trying not to think about it too much,\u201d Crosby told TSN after being made available with the announcement he has joined Lululemon\u2019s roster of Team Canada Ambassadors for Milano Cortina 2026. \u201cHaving missed a couple [Olympics with NHL players not attending], I think I\u2019m just really grateful that I have the opportunity to compete again after not knowing if it was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The future Hockey Hall of Famer is already a member of illustrious triple-gold club having won Olympic gold twice, a World Hockey Championship and three Stanley Cups, and he also won gold at the World Juniors in 2005.<\/p>\n

The remaining opportunities for Crosby to win as part of Team Canada are clearly limited. Among the first six players named to Team Canada, Crosby is the only holdover from the team that won gold at Sochi 2014.<\/p>\n

Only seven players remain active in the NHL from that gold-medal squad<\/a>, while Ryan Getzlaf<\/a>, who is two years older than Crosby, is three years retired will be part of Canada\u2019s management for these Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that seems to be happening a lot,\u201d Crosby said of seeing former teammates trading skates for dress shoes. \u201cEven just playing here in Pittsburgh, whether it\u2019s management, with our team coaches, guys you\u2019re playing against, now I\u2019m playing against sons of guys that I played against. So, yeah, I\u2019ve gotten to see that that pattern a little bit, and it\u2019s something that\u2019s it\u2019s fun in a way, but it\u2019s also something that reminds you of your age pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that Crosby will be the only player from Sochi 2014 to play for Team Canada in 2026. Drew Doughty<\/a> and John Tavares<\/a> headline the list of veterans pushing for spots, but a generation of hockey players have potentially missed their chance to compete on the Olympic stage over the past 12 years.<\/p>\n

For players like Connor McDavid<\/a>, Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> and Mitch Marner, it will be the first chance to wear the Maple Leaf in an extended best-on-best tournament as pros.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot I know for a lot of the guys that haven\u2019t had the opportunity,\u201d Crosby said of the return of NHL players. \u201cThis is something that they\u2019ve been waiting for, for a while. They got a small sample size of it at the 4 Nations, and then just with the Olympics, it\u2019s more than just playing for Team Canada, the hockey team.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re playing for Team Canada, the entire team, and all the other sports and everyone that\u2019s pulling for you in Canada. That\u2019s pretty special to be a part of. The experience at the Olympics competing with the best athletes in the world, that\u2019s pretty unique, and that\u2019s something that everybody wants to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crosby rooting for Marchand\u2019s Olympic debut<\/p>\n

While Crosby is not ready to focus on whether these Olympics will be his last, they could be the first for his fellow Nova Scotia native and long-time friend Brad Marchand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Marchand, 37, is in fine form to start the season with the Florida Panthers<\/a>, posting 13 goals and 23 points in 18 games. That comes after he posted 10 goals and 20 points in 23 games this past spring to win his second career Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think seeing how much effort and work that he puts in and knowing how much playing on Team Canada means to him, especially, the Olympics, he hasn\u2019t had that opportunity and I know what it would mean a lot,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cI know in those times that it almost happened, how much he wanted to be a part of it, and, you know, there\u2019s probably a good chance those years [2018, 2022] that he would have been [named to the team]. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got off to a great start to the season, and you can tell he\u2019s as motivated as ever, coming off of last year with the win with Florida and then carrying that play over to this season. I think it\u2019s something he wants to be a part of. And it\u2019s not easy. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many great players that are vying for spots, but he\u2019s had a great start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marchand, a two-time champion at the World Juniors, remains an Olympic gold away from the triple-gold club. He and Crosby won titles together at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the 4 Nations Face-Off.<\/p>\n

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reported earlier this month that Hockey Canada values the vocal leadership Marchand brought to the 4 Nations and that could serve as tiebreaker when selecting the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy that he brings every single day, especially in a short-term event like that, where a lot of us hadn\u2019t played together, Marchy was right in the middle of everything,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cHe\u2019s vocal, he\u2019s a guy that has fun when it\u2019s time to have fun, but when it\u2019s time to get ready and go out there and play, he\u2019s got that switch. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that was something that was clear and I think everyone who was part of that could feel that. I think that\u2019s something that just adds to what he brings not just on the ice, but off the ice as well. We all felt that and that\u2019s just one of his strengths.\u201d\u2029<\/p>\n

The success of Canada at the 4 Nations is expected to lead general manager Doug Armstrong to field a similar roster when he submits it on Jan. 1. That prospect is exciting to Crosby, who could become the just the seventh – and first-ever non-Russian – to win three Olympic golds in men\u2019s hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great group,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure what our team\u2019s necessarily going to be but coming off the 4 Nations and that experience and getting to know a lot of you the guys on that team, I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll be fairly similar. I think you to see the hockey and the product that was on the ice and that should get everyone excited for the Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Olympic countdown is on\"\"Sidney Crosby <\/p>\n

With 80 days remaining until the Winter Olympics, Lululemon unveiled its Athlete Kit Tuesday in partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee. <\/p>\n

Crosby joins Cynthia Appiah (Bobsleigh), William Dandjinou (Short Track Speed Skating), Piper Gilles (Figure Skating), Emma Maltais (Ice Hockey), Paul Poirier (Figure Skating), Cassie Sharpe (Freestyle Skiing), Tyler Turner (Para Snowboard), and Natalie Wilkie (Para Nordic Skiing) on the roster of ambassadors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d Crosby said of being a part of the star-studded ambassador group. \u201cI think that\u2019s part of it when you get to be part of things like this, getting to meet other athletes and the other people involved. That\u2019s something I\u2019ve probably learned to appreciate over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sidney Crosby is showing no signs of slowing down at 38 years old, but even he admits there\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-291357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}