{"id":478861,"date":"2026-02-16T17:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478861\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T17:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:02:09","slug":"canadas-tom-wilson-tossed-for-fighting-late-in-win-over-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478861\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s Tom Wilson tossed for fighting late in win over France"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MILAN \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon was looking back for the puck behind France\u2019s net with less than nine minutes remaining in a game long out of reach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Next thing the Canadian forward knew, he was taking a blindside forearm to the jaw.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Tom Wilson would eventually get some payback at the Milan Cortina Olympics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The bruising winger delivered a big hit on Pierre Crinon after the French defenceman served a two-minute penalty for interference before the pair dropped the gloves in a bout that was more of a wrestling match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cTom is a good teammate,\u201d said MacKinnon, whose country won 10-2 on Sunday and now turns its attention to the quarterfinals. \u201cI definitely appreciate him sticking up for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Wilson and Crinon were both ejected from the game, as per International Ice Hockey Federation rules on fighting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Fighting is not allowed at the Olympics as both players received game misconducts. Additionally, automatic suspensions are not handed out for fighting, but the joint NHL-IIHF disciplinary committee can discuss further discipline if required. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun, this will not be the case for Wilson. He\u2019ll be able to suit up for Canada\u2019s quarter-final game on Wednesday. A few minutes earlier, Crinon shook up Canadian forward Nathan MacKinnon with a high hit behind Canada\u2019s hit. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Re: Tom Wilson, as per the rule book here there is no automatic suspension for fighting. But if the joint NHL-IIHF disciplinary committee saw something that it wanted to address, it could have. This was not the case in this instance. Wilson will get nothing further.<br \/>He can\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PierreVLeBrun\/status\/2023117560217026732?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe didn\u2019t like the hit,\u201d Canadian superstar centre Connor McDavid said. \u201cFelt like it was late and high. Willie just finishes a check, and the guy jumps him, and Willie\u2019s just protecting himself. That\u2019s all he can do. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s the type of guy he is, type of teammate he is. Nothing but respect for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Sunday marked exactly one year since Canada and the United States fought three times in nine seconds to begin the countries\u2019 heated round-robin matchup at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which was an NHL-run event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Brandon Hagel dropped the gloves with Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett tangled with Brady Tkachuk, and Colton Parayko rag-dolled J.T. Miller in an electrifying opening nine seconds at the Bell Centre in Montreal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve come together pretty quick here, close-knit group,\u201d Parayko, a big defenceman, said of Wilson stepping up. \u201cWe\u2019re looking out for each other, standing up for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Hagel joked Wilson was always going to drop the gloves on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt was probably the talk about him coming to the tournament,\u201d he said with a smile of Wilson, who plays for the Washington Capitals. \u201cBut that\u2019s just what Willie does, he sticks up for teammates. That\u2019s what you call a team. That\u2019s why everyone praises and loves Tom Wilson, because that\u2019s the stuff he does.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The six-foot-four, 225-pound Wilson has fought numerous times in the NHL, including four this season. Crinon, who stands six-foot-five and weighs 225 pounds, plays in France\u2019s top league.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cFighting isn\u2019t a big thing in this tournament,\u201d Canadian defenceman Drew Doughty said. \u201cBut when a guy takes a run at one of our big guys, that\u2019s what Willie does. He does a lot more than that, but it was great to see him step.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington wasn\u2019t surprised by the scuffle after MacKinnon was drilled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m sure (Crinon) was excited to go at it with him,\u201d he said. \u201cDoesn\u2019t happen very much in the Olympics, but it\u2019s part of hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MacKinnon said the 30-year-old Frenchman might have realized he had bitten off more than he could chew with Wilson in his face.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThat guy obviously didn\u2019t want to fight Tom,\u201d he said. \u201cHe just wanted to wrestle. I wouldn\u2019t want to fight Tom either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press. <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon was looking back for the puck behind France\u2019s net with less than nine minutes&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[712,49,48,448,126618,82],"class_list":["post-478861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-olympics-sports-olympics","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478861","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=478861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}