{"id":355549,"date":"2025-12-19T13:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/355549\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T13:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:36:14","slug":"major-construction-push-on-milan-olympic-rink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/355549\/","title":{"rendered":"Major construction push on Milan Olympic rink"},"content":{"rendered":"

TSN Hockey Insiders Pierre LeBrun and Chris Johnston have the latest on the Olympic venue progress, the decisions still to be made on Canada\u2019s men\u2019s roster, where Connor Bedard<\/a> stands on the selection, the possibility of Matthew Schaefer<\/a> as the eighth defenceman, and if Jordan Binnington<\/a> is still a lock.<\/p>\n

Gino Reda: The Olympic hockey tournament begins in seven weeks. That\u2019s when the women are supposed to drop the puck in Milan, and at this point, there are some serious issues. <\/p>\n

To speak to that, our Insiders Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun.<\/p>\n

CJ, are they going to make it on time?<\/p>\n

Chris Johnston: They certainly are doing their best. I\u2019d put it that way, based on the status call that was held with all the interested parties this week. The word out of Milan is that they now have a team of 2,000 people working around the clock trying to get the construction done on the main arena. <\/p>\n

As a result of that, there is a fair bit of optimism about the progress in terms of the build of the rink.<\/p>\n

Where there is still concern is the fact that there is no ice yet in the arena, and until there is an ice surface, they can\u2019t be entirely sure that the tournament will go off as they want. Obviously, the league will want to make sure it\u2019s safe for the players and that it can stand up to the three games per day.<\/p>\n

So the clock is ticking. The work is going feverishly, and the construction is making progress, but it\u2019s still not to a point where everyone is comfortable.<\/p>\n

\"\"2026 winter Olympics The logo of 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, right, are unveiled to the journalists at a press conference in Rome, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. A futuristic white-on-white logo was unveiled as the emblem for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics on Tuesday following an online vote. Nearly a million votes were cast, 871,566 to be exact, over the last two weeks from Italy and 168 other nations for the two finalists. The \u201cFutura\u201d logo received 75 percent of the votes, winning easily ahead of the more traditional \u201cDado\u201d option. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino) <\/p>\n

Reda: Speaking of deadlines, we\u2019re now under two weeks until the final roster announcement on New Year\u2019s Eve. What are you hearing about the final spots available on Team Canada, Pierre?<\/p>\n

\"\"Macklin Celebrini Macklin Celebrini <\/p>\n

Pierre LeBrun: My understanding is that they\u2019re down to about five roster decisions here as we get near the Dec. 31 deadline, which is also the same day they\u2019ll announce the roster.<\/p>\n

Team Canada\u2019s management group had another call slated for Thursday night, where they would go over some of these agonizing decisions that they still have to make. <\/p>\n

Up front, these are the four forwards that I believe are highest among the list of guys that were not at the 4 Nations Face-Off last year: Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, Tom Wilson<\/a>, Bo Horvat<\/a> and Nick Suzuki<\/a>. I think Celebrini and Wilson are as close to locks as there are, and then it\u2019s a question of: Can you take Horvat or Suzuki, or is there room for both? I\u2019m not sure. I think there will be two to three changes, at most, up front from the 4 Nations.<\/p>\n

The other debate is this: if you are taking Tom Wilson<\/a>, is there room on the roster for Wilson and Sam Bennett<\/a>, and Brad Marchand<\/a>, who all bring their own level of spice to the roster? As someone said to me today: Is it one of those three? Two of those three? Or do we take all three?<\/p>\n

\"\"Connor Bedard Chicago Blackhawks <\/p>\n

Johnston: A notable omission among the names you were mentioning there, Pierre, is Connor Bedard<\/a>, who\u2019s obviously had a fantastic season and probably been the most talked about Canadian player in this debate, at least externally. <\/p>\n

What I can tell you is that, internally, Bedard\u2019s season opened some eyes. He definitely has some backers among the people making this decision but I\u2019m not sure, at this point, that it\u2019s going to be enough to see him named to the initial roster of players on Dec. 31. Of course, injuries or a couple of other things could crop up in the meantime but as of right now, it doesn\u2019t appear to the case.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say what\u2019s important is that Bedard works his way back from his shoulder injury. That January window is still vital to players not on the roster. Canada is going to identify some reserves in case of injury prior to the February start of this event, and Bedard certainly is very high in the mix in that conversation.<\/p>\n

Reda: What about the blueline? Matthew Schaefer<\/a> is just 18. He can could still be playing at the World Juniors this Christmas if the Islanders let him go, but of course, that\u2019s not going to happen. Could he really make the Olympic team, Pierre?<\/p>\n

\"\"New York Islanders defenceman Matthew Schaefer skates with the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Nick Wass) New York Islanders defenceman Matthew Schaefer skates with the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Nick Wass) <\/p>\n

LeBrun: It is a real possibility. It\u2019s not a slam dunk, but he remains in the conversation this late in the game, which is saying something. People keep waiting for him to hit a wall, and it\u2019s not happening. He keeps forcing his way into the conversation, and I think the conversation is: does Team Canada take him as the eighth defenceman and then let him work from there? <\/p>\n

Evan Bouchard<\/a>, I wouldn\u2019t write him completely off either. I know a lot of people have, but I was told that his name has crept back up in conversations as well.<\/p>\n

So is it Schafer or Bouchard for the eighth spot? And here\u2019s another thing I was told today. What if they just take the same eight defencemen that played at 4 Nations? That\u2019s also potentially on the table and remains unresolved; that\u2019s why they keep having these calls.<\/p>\n

Reda: Let\u2019s get to the goalies. At the start of the season, Jordan Binnington<\/a> was not only a lock to make the team, but he was the heavy favourite to be the starter. Could he get completely bumped off this roster?<\/p>\n

\"\"Jordan Binnington Canada 4 Nations <\/p>\n

LeBrun: I don\u2019t think it\u2019s likely, but what I will say is that he went from a lock to someone that Team Canada has had to say internally, he\u2019s still struggling. It\u2019s been a couple of months since the season started. At the very least, they\u2019ve had the conversations about whether he should be a lock to make this team.<\/p>\n

We know that Logan Thompson<\/a>, Darcy Kuemper<\/a>, and Mackenzie Blackwood<\/a> have all been very good, especially Thompson. Those are the four names to retain here. They\u2019re down to those four goalies, I think. At the end of the day, with the body of work, I think there are still a lot of Jordan Binnington<\/a> fans in that group. I think he makes it with two of the other three names I mentioned. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TSN Hockey Insiders Pierre LeBrun and Chris Johnston have the latest on the Olympic venue progress, the decisions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[712,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-355549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355549","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=355549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}