Sidney Crosby Sustains Injury at Olympics

Well, the one thing nobody in Pittsburgh wanted to see in the Olympics has come to fruition.  Sidney Crosby was injured in Canada’s quarterfinal win over Czechia and did not return to the game.

So this is… no bueno.  

Crosby took a hard hit from Radko Gudas and then took another one from both Gudas and Necas. The second hit looked an awful lot like the kind of hit that took Sidney Crosby out of Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final. The Olympics aren’t great about getting footage and highlights out there.

Disappointed but not upset

 

My personal take on this is that I am disappointed for Sidney Crosby.  I am disappointed for what this might mean for the rest of the Penguins regular season, but I am not upset.

Representing Canada at the Olympics means so much to Sid and the NHL stole that from him for 12 years. I would never want him not to go if it was an option for him.  He has given Pittsburgh everything and while injury is always a risk when you play, I’m not upset at the fact he was hurt doing something that means everything to him.

Sid however, should be upset because he continues to get absolutely no respect from officiating.  This no call happened before the lead up to his injury.

Canada should have been on a power play, thus would have changed the events leading up to the injury.  It’s crazy that this sport treats its iconic players like garbage, no matter where they are on Earth.

 

Canada determined for their captain

 

It comes as no surprise that the Canadian players stepped up their game in the absence of their captain.  There general consensus was that they were not going to let it be Sidney Crosby’s potential last ever game in the Olympics.  

 

Jon Cooper didn’t have an update on Crosby but he did say much of the talk in the room in the 2nd intermission among the players was:

“This will not be Sid’s last game at the Olympics.”

— Kyle Bukauskas (@sportsnetkyle) February 18, 2026

“If we lose this game, we didn’t want this to be Sid’s last game of this Olympics,” Cooper said. “So it was a big motivator for the guys coming out.”

“We just rally around him,” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “Hopefully he’s gonna be alright for the next one. But if he’s not, guys gotta step up. That’s just the bottom line. Sucks to see your captain go down and a player of that stature. But what are you gonna do, really?”

“That’s our guy, that’s our leader, Captain Canada,” Seth Jarvis said. “When stuff like that happens, you hate it, but we rallied together, rallied around him. Want to make sure he has a chance to play again, and that’s what we did.”’

“Yeah it’s tough when you lose a guy like that,” Brad Marchand said. “Obviously one of the best ever to play the game. Such a big character on the bench and in the room. Big presence in big moments. But you don’t have a choice, you’ve got to keep going. It was great that the team came together and battled through that adversity tonight. You have to give the Czechs a lot of credit.”

“I honestly haven’t seen it,” Canada’s Tom Wilson said. “Gudy plays the game hard, I know him and I don’t think he’s a guy that ever wants to intentionally injure somebody. I’ll go watch it, but it was a gutsy effort by those guys. Hopefully Sid is OK.”

Earlier in the tournament Tom Wilson wanted to make a point to French player Pierre Crinon that liberties would not be taken by other teams on Canada’s best players.  However, things played out like they always do.  Those gestures are largely meaningless and don’t deter the opposition from being physical at all.  It’s all for show.  Wilson wasn’t going to do anything in a close game to Gudas.  His own coach took him off the top line immediately as the going got tough for Canada.  It’s all reactive posturing.

Now we wait

Rumor is that Sidney Crosby will be getting an MRI on his injured right leg later today.  There hasn’t been a lot of information released about his injury.  One hurdle to getting answers would be if there is any potential swelling.  If there is too much swelling they won’t be able to get a proper MRI.

The semi-finals are scheduled for Friday with the Gold Medal game being played on Sunday.  The reality is that Canada’s captain might be missing both of those.  For now, we wait.