Real Kyper & Bourne - Mitch Marner and Canada Survive but Lose Sidney Crosby

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee begin the show sharing their thoughts on the first three quarterfinal matches in the men's hockey tournament, Nick Suzuki's overtime tying goal, questions around the officiating including a missing a critical too many men penalty, Mitch Marner saving Team Canada's tournament with the OT winner, Sidney Crosby suffering an injury during their game against Czechia and in jeopardy of missing the rest of the Winter Games, and the trust in Jordan Binnington during a tight game. Then, Sportsnet.ca's Luke Fox joins the guys (26:36) from Milano Cortina to weigh in on the Canada vs. Czechia quarterfinal, the team using Crosby's absence as fuel for the match, why the team will need to lean on their depth to finish the tournament on a high, and Macklin Celebrini sharing the spotlight alongside Connor McDavid. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Get ready. Two full hours of the Real Kipper and Bourne show. Nick Kippreos, Justin Bourne, a relieved Sammy McKee, David Sis, Boomba, and Derek Brandeo pushing all the right buttons for us. Jaja Gaborz? No. In the house? I screwed up everything.

He literally looked at the line. He sat down. I was so excited. Listen, yeah. I stared at the blank page for an hour. Just watching the highlights over and over. It wasn't a productive day. Wherever you're watching or listening, SportsSet 360, 590,

the fan in Toronto. Streaming always on Sportsnet. Plus, if you miss our show, always download it on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube also involved in all of this. By the skin of their teeth, Sammy. Team Canada pulls it off late in the third period, Nick Suzuki, and then it's followed up.

by Mitch Marner. I don't know how all the Mitch Marner haters feel about that one. I don't think anyone in Canada cares today. Thank God. That was closer than any of us thought it was going to be. In about 30 minutes, we'll welcome in Luke Fox, who's covering the game for Sportsnet.com. He's over there.

And then at the top of the hour, former Olympian, Patrick Marlowe will join us. A lot to say about Celebrini, Mitch Marner, all of them. Most games played in H. NHL history for Patrick Marlow. What? Yeah. He has the most games played.

Gordy how? Yes, no. He has more games played than he set that record. That's crazy. Didn't know that? I thought he was second. No, no, he's number one. The most guy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. And then you get into pro sports and WHA. Oh, yeah. That's where Gordy's played the most. All right? I don't know where you want to begin. There's so many storylines here,

including the one that almost cost them a medal. in a late push by Team Canada. There's a Sydney Crosby story. Where do you want to start, J.B.? Well, I think the tent polls, well, just tent pole things for me were, is Bennington going to be good? Is McDavid and the superstars?

Are they enough? Both those questions, absolutely yes. Jordan Bennington was fantastic. I thought he's really good. Connor McDavid, an absolute force of nature. I think maybe A little snake bitten today Yeah one of all two points yeah

One of my Just shooting the puck He had ample opportunity to bury Down the left wing The whole net and he missed it high right Yeah So those things were great I would say some concerns

And we'll get into all this stuff deeper You know the depth maybe not playing As much as they're used to And maybe not important enough at times The D not moving the puck As well as maybe you need them to But these are all secondary things Before we get into greater detail, let's just revisit a conversation we had just yesterday in terms of no adversity yet of any consequence.

And will they heavily favored? You gave the bet 365. Minus 1,300 favorites in that game. There you go. So no one. Wrong. No one anticipated anything like what we witnessed to do. day.

Which is funny. It's a hockey game. They had superstars and a good goal. It can happen. That's where we're at at this point because we've watched today with the exception of Germany getting, you know, a tired Germany team, right? Back-to-back games. Well, Slovakia is, what, three full days off.

That's the only blowout. The rest went in overtime. I'd put some money down that Sweden and U.S., very good chance we could see them going to overtime too. Yeah. For the trifecta. The longer this is tied, the scarier it is for the Americans. Just one shot makes a difference. Zero, two minutes into the second period.

If anything did, if anything today did for us, it was remind us that one game, anything can happen here. It is, in a matter of 24 hours, did this open up to a, it's anybody's tournament? Well, no, I don't know. My main takeaway regarding that is just we watched those preliminary games and we came in here and said it's hard to do the show because everything was perfect. Yeah. You know, they weren't tested to the point where we could see the cracks. And today, we knew the roster wasn't flawless. And so today you could see the cracks for the first time.

And I think it's going to be a much easier day for the radio host, but also for Canada. as a country to be like, okay, here's where we're strong, where we're weak, what we need to shore up a little bit. It was a learning lesson. But I don't know, do you want to start with, let's just give Arner his flowers before we. No, no, no. I just want to get into Sammy a little bit here. Oh, okay.

Do emotions. Yesterday, before we all took off for home, you said I'll be in at 1040 to watch Canada here. Yep. Right? Yep. I was tempted to come in. You didn't want to watch me. And then I made, I took a brick over my head and I, like, are you nuts?

Why would you ever subject yourself to watching Sammy with a live sporting event involving the Blue Jays, the Leafs, or Team Canada? I know. He's a child. Right? Dude, it's bad. Whatever. Listen, you guys heard a group chat with me.

You didn't have to experience, but that game had to feel very. really early. It had to feel, even when they went up, won nothing, it had to feel that they were going to lose. I really thought they were. Oh, so we're just, we're just going to say stuff from the group chat on air now? No, no, no, no. He's just looking at it. He's looking at it. He's getting right. It's like, boy, you want me to go into the group chat? Like, let's get careful here. We're not going to do this. We're not going to do this. Oh, yeah. No, but like, oh my God, the Canadian guy was worried that one of the best teams ever was going to lose the checks in the quarters. What an idiot. What an idiot. No, but if we're going to, if we're going to, if we're going to break.

I'm not going to read all of them. Just one. Can I just read one? That we're going to lose. That one doesn't bother me. The one that... I don't even know what I said. I know.

I know. The one that you sent me that just had me a little chuckled was, I'm done. And I don't even know what that means. Because you said... And I was scared. You know, we're under the response? Yeah.

When you said Sid's done, I said, I don't. said, I'm done. Yeah. That's what I said. Emotionally ruined. Yeah, it hurts. I mean, that, to me, that was a... It was like, there was an incredible win.

Yes. The elation's amazing. And we can talk about Martin a bit. But the black cloud hanging over this. Okay. Well, good lead in. Is our nation's greatest player of this generation, maybe not being involved for the rest of this day.

Thank you for clarifying. I'm done. I'm done because it was done. Okay. See, I didn't know that. And I was actually skis. to follow up on that. I don't know if you're like,

are you going to be in today? I don't know if like, you know, what I'm done means. But you clarified it for me. So thank you. So before, yeah, I think let's take the positive stuff first. You know, I mentioned to you guys. I thought Nick Suzuki could have a moment.

That did come through. You know, Mitch Marner gets another OT winner for Canada in a one year span. You know, they have these guys playing down the lineup. And you've been waiting for it to come out for stretches. It felt today at one point like they were the Leafs or the Oilers or whatever where it's like if the top guys aren't on, they don't have a chance.

And that's not the case. Those guys need to be involved. I watched Nick Suzuki take an absolute nothing play. Nothing. It was the end of the shift. Could have easily got the puck in deep and came off. But he pushed it. hard and he actually separated

Heronic. He did that twice, right? Created the turnover and then made the play behind the net. And you know what he's doing there, Kip? And you know this as well as and I thought it was fantastic. When you're in a line change, one guy is supposed to stay on. You keep pressure on the puck so they can't have a clean breakout and set up. You buy time. Suzuki's just buying time for guys. Yeah. And manages to win the puck, which is crazy.

And I think a lot of people, I mean, they love, like, because we were saying, yesterday that Suzuki should come out. And I think one of the main reasons we're going to say that is because I thought he looked super out of place in the way. I thought that he didn't necessarily know where to be, didn't know what he was doing. And then I thought as soon as Sid goes out and they put him in the middle of the ice,

I thought he was actually very good for the rest of the game playing in the middle of the ice. And it's like his natural position. It makes sense. I mean, he did have a tap in backdoor that he missed totally. But like I did think he was much more noticeable. He ripped that, by the way. The angle is not that open, and he caught a lot of it.

He had enough to shovel a puck in an empty net. On an unbelievable pass, no looker by Marner. I put it right in the sweet spot. And then, you know, Taves, we talk about where the offense, he made an incredible redirect shot from the point. And I just want to acknowledge that, too, because these guys, at times we were questioning whether or not there's enough push from the back end to create.

He also shot one into the shin pads with a minute left to give a breakaway. I will say that that is going to become a thing for me. Bigger issue. The back end. That today, watching those guys, I got to tell you, every time Harley was out there, I was like, whoo, thank goodness. It's someone who can go back, make a play, break the puck up,

skate up the ice. Pareko in Sandheim for me, those guys played eight and 10 minutes tonight. Didn't look great. Prego didn't have a good night. I was definitely concerned with Pareko going back on pucks. Just feels like he doesn't have the time or space to break it out. So that's a concern for sure. I don't mind him defending.

I don't like him when they get the puck. Did you guys next? Dean Morrissey back. They do. Did you want to talk about the too many men thing? Yeah. Because the too many men thing is crazy. It's a mess.

I'll tell you, I thought it was just horrifically officiated today. I did, eh? I did. Sorry? The game in general. The game in general. The, uh, the check coach. I thought it was a dog's breakfast.

Some of those calls, the one that that led to the power play goal by McKinnon? Was that the two-two goal? The two-two goal? When it was the scrum and he came in and he cross-checked McKinan in the back. Soft as baby do-do that call. I actually don't remember ever seeing that call

where someone outside of scrum doing a position jogging. I don't want to see that call. It's not a Canadian thing. It's not a check-you. It's like, let the guy. play. Not to be that guy, but was it the international official or was it a NHO? No, I think it was our guys.

Well, there's one of each. Mikhail Holm and then there's Chris Ruhl. But there's too many men on the ice too. He's like, I'm calling that. He's like, I'm a hero guy. The too many men? Yeah. Can't have that. Yeah. Just can't. I'm sorry.

That had been really, that'd have been a national story for years here. That would have been can't let, you can't miss that. If you didn't hear about it, the checks were legitimately playing with six men on the ice. So whether that's the guy who's blocking the shot, the fact that there's a body there is the trailer on the rush. They used the sixth guy.

They scored with six guys. And I said this on Twitter, but like it happens because there's no chaos at the bench. The checks don't know they have six on the ice either. They actually make a change where two come off and two come on to keep six on the ice as the rush is going on. They didn't know. There was eight check players.

Yeah, there was a legit change happening when there's eight. But they were, when you look down the ice, You can see eight bodies on the ice And the puck enters the night. And that would have been a national story here to lose on that. That's Ernie Clement. That's ball getting lodged. Yeah.

Yeah. That's what that is. If they lose that game. Even the Celebrini interference call, like, it's an icing. And I'd like a warning for the kid, right? Because it's not, it's a dead play. Yeah. Right?

Just. They're jockeying for body position. I see that again. And you go to the benches. see that interference again, somebody's coming off the ice next time. That's, that's, to me, that's the right play in a elimination game. Especially when, I don't know how much longer in the game, Andre Pallat, just body check Sid, nowhere near the puck, sends him flying.

That was wild. It's just like, that is 10 times worse. She just a guy mid-breakout. And it felt like he just, like, hit anybody. It's Sidney Cross. He, like, just hammers him. He took a couple of lumps. He did.

Sid. Goodus. And by the way, God, I hate it. I'd love to trade for Goudas if I'm coming back home in a week. Yeah. Any team, any team at all. Leif's going to have them five years ago or something.

He's a gamer. This guy is a 100% gamer. And today kind of reminded us of that. Well, and to their credit, the checks, crazy looking at some of their ice time. Philip Hironick played 30 minutes and 20 seconds. was only on the ice and OT for less than a minute. So, like, he played half of the game.

He was cooked at the end of the game. It was crazy watching them back off, like, legit, a 0-5-4 check. And they were just like, we're up, see if you can get through us. And Dustal made a lot of saves. By the way, the OT winner for Destal, not your finest moment in the game where he was really good. Yeah, pulled too far to the laugh. He did make a lot of great saves for them, though.

And, yeah, the checks just packed the house. Yeah. That was that. and Mitch Marner, twice now, four nations, and now saves Canada's season at the Olympics. The great Brad Marchand quote where he said, I've long been saying that this guy's my favorite player

and it's never been truer than today. He said that to Jackie Redmond today. It makes a lot of, you know what it does for Lee fans, though it kind of reminds them what is missing. Is that? Yeah, he's great in three on three. Right?

Fantastic in three on three. I remember them being. and great in three on three on three games. They should change it to three on three on three. Man, if the playoffs was three on three, the least wouldn't have won the cup by now. But honestly, though, like, it does bother me the three on three. It's too bad. It's a different sport. It's a different sport. It's a different game. Elimination. Like, checks had to take half their players off the ice. We would laugh at it if it ever got to a serious conversation about awarding a Stanley Cup with it. Well, and it almost like if, if Canada, US,

to the gold medal overtime. And, you know, Jack Hughes to whoever, Tage Thompson in overtime. And they score, it's almost like, I don't know. Was that how we wanted to do that? I honestly feel could we not as hockey people all come together? Everyone wants this to be five on five. Could everyone there not just be like from now on,

we're just doing five on five? Yeah, like sign whatever papers we got to sign. No one wants this to be three on three overtime. We all got somewhere to be? It's been four years between events. It must be, right? Maybe they just don't want them playing for an extra, you know, six period. I don't know.

If they play three extra overtime, overtimes, the best players will play 20 more minutes. You're right. No, I totally agree. But it's funny because you mentioned the Martyr thing, and I would say that I got the most messages when that happened out of anything that's ever happened when we've been doing this show together,

in terms of DMs and tweets and texts and everything. And what was the... It was a fascinating dichotomy of what people were saying. And what were they saying? Anybody but him? A lot of FUs, this is your fault. Like, you drove him out of town. A lot of that, which is fair.

I'll listen to that. No, sure. Like, I've been incredibly, like, I send a tweet about this, and I'll say it to you, too, Kippoor, looking in the eye, I'm happy to take the L. If people, if they want to lash out, if they want to lash out on, hey, no. Sammy, you know what? It's not you, first of all. It's not you.

I'm a big part of it. It's the representation over the past few years, over the ones that loved them and the ones that hated. And that's all. We know he was the most polarizing leaf player in history. We know that. But I just, I can't imagine after that game and just the way it played out and how closely were to losing in the quarterfinals to Chekki again,

like the same juniors and having Chequia be our papa all of a sudden. Like that was just, that was really on the table tonight, man. But I can't imagine. and watching Marner score that and any Leaf fan being like, I wish it wasn't him. There's no one that lives like that, right? Oh, yeah, there's a lot of people.

If I can sit here, a guy that's been arguing against Mitch Marner, against Nick Kiprios for five years, and I can sit here and say, I'll take the L. Yeah. You got to take it too. Because, listen, it was a fantastic goal. They sagged off a little bit. I think they thought he was maybe going to turn back.

He took what they gave, took what they gave him, you put in the net. Yeah. Good for him. Yeah. And of course Mark Stone had to bring up Toronto in his post-game thing. It's like, does all these guys think about is Toronto? Tell me. What do you say?

Let me see here. Let me see here. I can't believe. We're never going to hear anything. I also think like had that happened ever in Toronto, a lot of those people would feel differently. What happened lots of times in three-on-three in Toronto. Mark Stone on the idea Mitch Marner isn't clutch.

This is from our Luke Fox. We can talk to him more about it too when he comes on. As a teammate, I haven't experienced that. I haven't played in the playoffs yet. Four Nations, he gets a huge overtime goal for us, makes an incredible play for the winner. Then tonight, when we need him the most, he makes the play.

So, I think it's a Toronto thing. Oh, he didn't need to go there. He just wanted to. It's always about Toronto, boys. All roads lead back to Toronto. Every American's making fun of Matthews because he plays for the Leafs.

Everybody just, it's all without the Leafs. It's all about. Oh, boy. Big Save. Markstrom. It's a game. Well, zero, zero, halfway through. So, Sid. So, Sid.

Okay. What do you think? What do you know? I should say. What do I feel? What are you here? I feel like if he can't come back to try it, he's not the type of guy that leaves a game like that and shows up the next night. I mean, I hope I'm wrong. Is he there Sunday?

But he's got to be really hard. hurting for him not to come back in that scenario and at least try it. And we've seen others come back and try and then maybe disappear after that. But the way they showed him right into the dressing room in the hallways, right? Like he was, he couldn't bear any weight on it. And I see a concerning part of that too is that he doesn't get hit and react in pain. It's like he got hit, took a couple strides, and then felt something was not working. He got sandwiched again right on the same shift.

I don't think anything happened there. No? It happened on the previous Gouda's contact and he, you know, he's trying to go and it just wasn't there for him. Whether that be a ligament, MCL maybe, you know, pure speculation. But I think there's a world where it's like, oh, Sid's going to play. And it's like he plays 3.30 in a game where he's like the, he's like the extra forward and he's on the bench. Just gave him a good run too, eh? He did.

I mean, that's what, that's what. That's what bothers me about the Olympic hockey, is that guys like that who never really fight and are guys that are just kind of like ratty on the, on the edges guys, can run Sidney Crosby without any repercussions. Like, if there's fighting allowed, if this is the Four Nations or an Olympic, NHL event,

he's going to immediately. Tom Wilson is going out there immediately and addressing that. But you just, you got to eat it. You can't do anything about it. That's what drives me crazy about the Olympic hockey. Yeah, very. Fair enough. In terms of what happens then, so Brad Marchand played the fewest minutes for Canada up front.

He didn't look anywhere near like the Brad Marchand we know. You know, I think he'll kind of be there 13th guy next game. And you're going to get consistent shifts from Jarvis and Suzuki and Hagel, those guys down the lineup. You know, it's funny, five guys on Canada played over 20 minutes. McKinnon, McDavid, Celebrini, who played the most among forwards. McCar played 26 and Taves 22. After that, guys, the next highest time on ice is 15 minutes. Like a big gap.

Everyone's 22 minutes down to 15, Mark Stone being at 15. So there's a lot of these guys who are used to playing 20 minutes, getting into the flow of things. I thought, actually, after the Crosby injury was when the Suzuki line started to look more relevant. They started getting more shifts. Suzuki went to the middle, and he started to feel like you didn't just have one line. Yeah. Was there a part of you during the game going,

maybe they could use Bennett in front of the net a little bit more? Buddy, I thought that the second the puck drop, I was like, this is going to be, it's a heavier check team, hurdles big, Goudis is big, Huronix big. You know, they could have used him out there today. Was he easier? He's bang up, yeah. No, I think it was just a coach's decision.

Yeah, I'd like to see him in there today. It sucks to say because Brad Mershan is such a legend, but I'd rather have been there. I bet you they will, I bet you they rectify that. Well, he has to be in. Just Crosby's out. Oh, if Crosby's out, then. So I think the next kind of talking point is, you know, USA just scores to make it one zip with 8.57 left in the second period.

I'm not sure who, it would look like a tip in front on a point shot, maybe Dylan Larkin. The Biddington thing. You know, I thought this was like the quintessential Binnington experience with Team Canada. Where, like, I mean, the goals, I don't know which one you want that he let in, let's in three. Bad bounce, Ripper from pass off the post. And then the one in the slot, plot, when they have six guys in the ice. But when it got down, dude, sweaty time again, multiple massive saves. Like, I've been around the game a long time.

I know others have as well, but I, you just sense a little bit of a calm, almost. cocky arrogance in a good way when it gets really tight like this guy really presents himself as yeah you're not getting that cheese by me you know there's the

breakway by Natchez there's one an O T where I think it was Simic had a wide open look about a minute into overtime there so yeah I mean he was I mean this is exactly what it's been right this is why you've been a proponent of his and so many other people have been a fan of his,

is just like, don't worry about the numbers, just trust that this guy's a gamer, and he has proven time and time again that he is. So he's the dude. It's funny because early in the game, I'm much more concerned about him than later in the game. Totally.

I feel the same way. In the first period, every shot, I'm like, ugh. Which is if you had Thompson in, I'd feel totally different. But when the game's late and tight, I'm like, okay, I, like, that breakaway, I honestly was just like he's going to make this safe. I really believe in him, and that is probably what they feel too.

so. Credit to him. Do you feel like some of the line juggling is like too much or are you guys fine with the way the Cooper's handled his guys? Every shift it's like who's it going to be? It's just so fast.

It's so fast. You don't know who's coming off who's feeling something and it's a gut instinct, right? And you're coaching differently in a one game winner take all. Yeah. Like it's a gut feel on calling somebody else up that you haven't necessarily used on a particular line. It happens a lot.

How about Celebrating a goal and two assists? It's unbelievable. I mean, it just keeps. Nine points. Yeah. Five goals. Most ice time among Canadian forts. And the exact same play in overtime that they did in the Four Nations,

the drop back play to Mitch Marner, who goes through and he scores the winning goal, it was very eerily similar to the play. So here we can. go, man. If Sweden wins this game, Canada plays Sweden in the semis, and if America wins this, they play the Finns who had a dramatic comeback against

They were also down. They were also down two Zip, I think with six minutes left, and they come back and win, so, yeah. Well, we should go to break and get to Luke. Going to be one of those two, and either way, it's going to be... No, no, we're good. We're good. By the way, last thing before we go to him, Cooper saying to his team, we needed

something like this after the game, I really like that. Because I do feel like it's an I-O pair. A jolt. Well, and just to play in competitive games and a reminder of what it's going to feel like next game. Wake up call. Yeah, a real wake-up call.

Luke Fox, NHL writer for Sportsnet.com. Covering the games for us in Italy, up after the break. Diving deep into Leaps, Raptors, Js, and NFL. The Jady Bunkin's podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your. your podcasts.

Welcome back to the show. Nick Caprio's Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. Team Canada on an overtime winner by Mitch Marner survives to live another day for the gold medal.

Let's go to Luke Fox who's there witnessing it all. Happy to have him stopped by our show. Luke, how are you, my friend? I'm doing well. Just another easy, easy game for Team Canada.

Yeah. Just one of the, the more memorable games I think I've ever seen in my life. Like that was nail biting. Holy cow. And afterwards, Brad Marchand was basically saying, you know, maybe a little bit of adversity is good for us. Maybe it'll humble us a little bit.

But boy, were they playing with fire there? Yeah, it was much closer than many of us thought it would be. You know, I think in all the heroes getting praised for the day, I think Jordan Bennington kind of maybe an underrated story, not underrated, but just like it could have easily ended and gone the other way where he not as fantastic as he was today. Well, the Martin Natchez's breakaway save that he made, like at that point, I'm standing up out of my seat in the press box

and thinking like this could be over right now. You know, big game bitter. He lives up to the reputation. Yeah, there was a couple times. where he was swimming a little bit and he's making you a little bit nervous, but it's like he needed to just be one save better than Lucas Dostal at the other end, who was pretty locked in, playing two games in a row. And he did it, right?

Just stop the next one. He deserves a lot of credit. So does Nick Suzuki coming up with the tying goal, getting moved to center. Once Crosby went down, of course Mitch Marner, you know, is going to make the headlines. And then Celebrini quietly had a three-point night. and the only one in the whole tournament who has more points than him is Connor McDavid. Like there's a lot of stars here shining in this game. It was nuts.

So in saying that, Luke, where's your headline tomorrow for Sportsnet.coma? Celebrini, Marner, Canada, just getting by the skin of their teeth or no Sid Crosby for the better half of the game. And, you know, is he coming back? Is he lost for the tournament? We don't know. It didn't look good, Nick. You know, we asked John Cooper after the game, and he said there's no update. He said he definitely couldn't go in the third, but he was still there in the intermission with the guys, and his message was, go get him boys.

And there was a sense that the group leaned on Crosby's absence as a motivating factor. The mantra was, this can't be Cid's last game at the Olympics. We got to come back. We got to go out there and win this four. him. Also, talk to Radco Gudis and, you know, as typical hockey style, he said, hey, I'm just trying to play the guy hard. We're trying to win and I hope he's okay. But, you know, you see that leg buckle, his right leg and his knee bend like that and see him hobbling off down the tunnel unable to put weight on it. You have to be concerned. He doesn't look like the chances of him

playing a game in less than 48 hours are that great. But, you know, they have depth. This is why you bring the extra forwards. And it's going to be tense because it's hard to imagine Team Canada coming out to play an elimination game in 87 not being in the lineup. It is. You know, and I also think that maybe Nathan McKinnon's not 100%. He's looked fine. He's played very well for Canada.

But there's something going on there. A lot of guys actually kind of battling through some things to play for Canada here. Yeah, Marshand is. Bennett is who didn't play today. Morrissey looked great in practice yesterday, but obviously was not good enough to go because I think if he was one of the healthiest seven defensemen available, he would be in the lineup. So it was a mild surprise that, you know, he did another twirl this morning, but not good enough to play. They're battered, right? But they're not the only team dealing with this. So they have to

push through. And it's going to be against probably an even tougher opponent. Now, if the Swedes upset team America right now, then they get them. If not, it'll be the Finns. And the Finns are riding high off an emotional overtime win of their own. So they're in for it right now. You're watching and listening to Luke Fox, NHL writer for Sportsnet.com, covering the games in Italy, I guess now, while we've watched the likes of a top line with McDavid and Celebrini, it really may come down to the third and fourth lines, if that's what we call them now. Nick Suzuki made a pretty remarkable play, considering he was at the almost at the end of a shift here to salvage the tie late for the team and then ending up winning it in overtime.

But it's almost as if now these guys become major storylines. They do. And it can't be all McDavid and Celebrini doing the heavy lifting. They do need contributions further down the lineup. And I think to Justin's point about McKinnon not looking 100% there, that second line has really kind of struggled to find some chemistry. So I think it's a real positive for the confidence that a guy like Suzuki gets that moment. You know, Cooper had a great line.

He said, Canada needed a goal. And Nick Suzuki answered. And we had a chance to talk to Nick after the game. And he basically said, you know, talking about the forecheck that led to the play for him to get the puck, it up to the point, get to the slot. He said, I've worked on that a thousand times with Marty St. Louis. He really credited his Montreal coach for having him work on that play. And I found it really interesting that we saw

the best of him when he slid back to center in Crosby's absence. And I think the adjustment to the wing for Suzuki was a little bit harder. I think we just assume centers can move to the wing really easily. But I think he was throwing off a little bit. You know, tight tournament. You've got to learn a new position pretty quickly. And I don't think he was at a best in the preliminary round, but boy, what a moment for Suzuki here. Yeah. You know, sometimes I think, Luke, we look for different things to talk about aside from the

obvious. And to me, Connor McDavid is the best. You know, I tweeted today something like, he's the best player to ever play. And I know people get mad about that. Like, I'm aware of Wayne Gretzky. I'm just being reactionary in the moment and Mario Lemieux. But like, this guy is in the conversation among the greatest two have ever done it. Maybe you can say he's the best, not the greatest career yet,

but the most dynamic or talented out the greatest career. Either way, are we not seeing him at his absolute peak in moments like this? Yeah, and, you know, watching him in the Stanley Cup final, you know, he's had moments where you shake your head and you can't believe what he's doing. But what he's done in this tournament just is the next level. And it's like you don't think he has another level, and then he goes and finds it.

I'm looking at that second period. He was basically willing this team back into the game. Like Canada tilted the ice after going down to one, and it was all corner driving everything. Like the other lines, you know, there was a lot of sawed off. But when McDavid, you know, straddled the boards and got out there,

it would, you immediately paid attention. He's just moving faster. The puck's on his stick. He's making place. He's creating dangerous looks all over the place. And today he tied the all-time record with 11 points for the NHLers being in the, in the Olympics.

and, you know, fingers crossed for Canada, he has two more games to go to add to that. Celebrini's not taking his foot off the gas pedal again, multiple point game and instrumental again on the winner here. Is there a chance that actually when this is over, he could kind of, I don't know, take a little bit of the spotlight away from McDavid here because of the fact that he's still a teenager.

That in itself is something that we're going to be talking about maybe for the next 20 years. Incredible story. And I don't know if you guys saw the anecdote that came out on Celebrini recently. When he got named to the team, he called his dad. And he's like, I don't know if they're even going to play me. And here he is, top line, second in tournament scoring amongst the best players in the whole world. And you just see him.

He's so smart, so dangerous. I think it was telling that when Crosby went out, you needed someone to join that fearsome, top power play unit, and it was Celebrini. It was the kid. You need someone to take a penalty shot. It's Celebrini. Like, he's getting thrown head first into these major moments and delivering. And I, you know,

hockey people like us are very familiar with them. We know he's having a great year in San Jose, but this is prime time. The whole world's watching. This is like a brand new stage for this kid. 19, ice in his veins. It is something to watch. He's

next to McDavid. He's probably the story. this whole thing. How is the vibe over there? Like it can't be really a crowd for one team or the other but you know as this gets on the games ramp up what do you see in there? It's getting way more lively. There were a couple

sleepier games in the preliminary round but now that we're in the knockout stage the crowds are fantastic they're definitely split depending on the country. Sometimes it's exactly 50-50 but there's representatives from all the nations that are

left standing here. And the crowds are so into, there was a lot of Czech fans today. Boy, and they were hanging out before drinking Pilsner or Kells on the street, wearing their makeup, like just getting geared up. And then you see all the people in Canada jerseys,

like some people have like the throwback team Canada jerseys from like 87 and stuff like that. And then there's people representing their favorite NHL team as well. It's a really different atmosphere. It's not like going to an NHL game because the crowd is so, split down the middle. And it's a blast. And the European countries have all these chance. And, you know,

it definitely favors, I think, the European countries more than Canada and U.S. just because of geography and how easy it is for those fans to get here. Already a ton of speculation on what kind of lineup, Luke, Team Canada will have in the semifinal here. And that will be led by the news, the pending news on Sid Crosby. But Josh Morrissey,

we assume that it was held out for precautionary reasons, maybe the fact that they didn't think the game would be as close as it was today, but we assume he's coming back in, correct? I would bet on it, yeah, but I thought he might even play today. So we watched them skate yesterday, and it was a full hour, hard skate. Teams are only allowed exactly one hour to practice, and then the Zamboni comes out and kicks them off like they're in peewee.

So they went right to the Zambon. Right to the Zambonies coming on the ice. They're still doing their stretch. Like they push it to the limit. And Morrissey was a full participant in that practice. And he was with his normal partner when everyone's healthy, Colton Pareko. And he looked like a guy who could play a hockey game. So he went out again this morning, tested it out.

But I got to think he's coming back into the lineup. Is there anyone we've been positive on a, you know, they're fantastic. Is there anyone for this Canadian team where we're left wanting where it's like, okay, this guy's got a little bit more in the tank than we've seen so far because, you know, they've mostly been very good. So it would be nitpicky. But anyone you got? It is a little nitpicky.

Maybe McKinnon just because I think he is banged up and that line has kind of struggled to find chemistry until the point that he gets promoted to some McDavid's line. I thought Mark Stone honestly had a bit of a rough game, but previous to this, I thought he was fantastic. But that giveaway in the neutral zone that led to the Czech's first goal, I didn't like that, and then he

had another one. But we're really picking Nits. I think Colt Perrako, there were a couple shifts where he lost his man, but, I mean, come on. Hockey's a game of mistakes. They survived this scare, and then you've got to think maybe this has woken them up a little bit, because they

did kind of cruise just through the first three games. Luke, keep up the great work, man. Really appreciate you stopping by. Thanks for doing this. Okay. Chow. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. That's back-to-back chows. Back-to-back chows.

That's great. Listen, I love Mark Stone. Maybe one of the first times in his career, I've seen him completely flat-footed on that pass. Peace pizza. Oh, my gosh. The cross-ice pass that lets. I think he was at the end of a shift and he was like, I don't know.

It was, it was very unusual. He is, we know his IQs off the charts and his sticks off the charts. For that to end up on that. But that's so not Mark Stone. No. Well, I saw the play happen. I saw six on the jersey. He was, that's Stone or Marchand?

Who did that? That was very uncanadian hockey. Right hand shot. You know, I'm torn. Yeah, of course. I'm torn on some of this stuff. You actually said at one point in our group chat, you know, Canada's got to be careful. They don't open it up here.

Yeah. Right? because they were down to 1 that time when you said that one more, it could have been the dagger. And I'm just thinking to myself and I didn't respond because I was watching the hockey game.

I got to believe if Canada opens it up, it works in their favor. Like they're going to outscore an open game, they're going to outscore the checks. It's the odd man rush that makes it 3-1 where the game's over. Right. Yeah, I mean, I think in an open hockey

in my favor's Canada, but the checks weren't going to open it up. They were never going to open it up. No, they're just going to wait for their opportunity. So it would have burned Canada. Nate just did on the breakaway, right? You shot it right into them

and I mean, that's the turnover that you're scared of, the pinch, the turnover, the block shot. And since we're in the Leafs hour, I'll say that this is something that the Leafs have done in playoff games where they're not able to stay patient and just wait and they go,

we can't score, we got to open it up. And then you get hit with that one, you go, oh, they didn't open it up. That was just us. It is managing the clock right there. and I think one of the goals that came back was when Harley again jumped in and had a shot blocked.

Yeah, it was caves at the shop, or was it hardly had the shot blocked? It was blocked by the 15th Czech skater on the ice at that time. So I'll say this. Their jobs, except for McCar, is just to get the puck up to the forwards.

Get it, find them, and let them go, because that's how. you're going to win a gold medal. Seeing that in action, seeing that that is so clearly the Canadian perspective, get it up to our forwards, would have been nice to take a couple guys

who do that really well. And I do feel like they miss Schaefer today. That was one of my thoughts watching the game. It would have been nice if instead of Sanheim, Ms. Schaefer going back on the puck. You got to play two more games. We assume that they'll look like the one we saw today. Close.

And you are correct. It would be nice. One more guy. Harley's the closest thing we saw today. They miss more. Morrissey can snap it on really missed them if you're Morrissey and your Harley and your Taves in your car the theater you're moving the puck pretty good Harley I think eventually can get there but he hasn't had the best season no but I liked him in this you didn't like him today no he's he's

growing he's just growing he's not his game isn't at at the peak level right now so but he is outside of Morrissey being out and of course McCar he's really it It is funny, though, seeing how much debate about who Canada would take, should take, whatever. A lot of people had Harley, as Harley in, is he out, he's having a bad season. They use him, like Cooper said, it was never close. But they use him more than Sanheim, more than Faro. Schaefer would have been a star. He would have been a star in this tournament.

No questions asked for me. And I'm sure if you gave Doug Armstrong and Coe the truth serum, them watching Sanheim getting under 10 minutes, It's like you couldn't give Matt Schaefer 10 minutes in this game. You know what? I think if you could ask him that January 15th, they'd have done it. They had to pick their team by December 31st and Shaver just kept the pedal down. And it kept getting better.

It got clearer and clearer as we got closer that he was still doing it. What was the date on the Leafs and Islanders? After December 31st, for sure. Okay. All right. Was it? Definitely. That was my convincing this guy should be there.

It would be nice to have him. Hockey night in Canada. Okay. overtime winner. Crap. Crap. And I'll throw out Connor Bedard to could have easily been a star in this as well.

I love Seth Jarvis as a hockey player. There's no doubt in my mind in some of these games you'd feel like, God, it'd be nice to have Bedard out there making, you know, elite plays. Really like Jarvis. But, you know, Badard can do some other things. And I think there's probably a lot of people at home doing told you so hearing people say that.

Like, bring the good guys. Bring the good guys. Don't overthink it. But you need to kill penalties. You know. Narily getting past Chekkeye, you know these conversations. They were always there. It was just a matter of whether they were going to surface or not.

Totally. And you got Jim Nill and Dubas and Ryan Getslath and Doug Armstrong and all those people watching the game when they're cutting to them and they're all chin tucked into their shirts. Please God. But I mean, ultimate judgment looms. Like I couldn't even imagine them getting on a a plane and coming home losing today.

Finish seventh or whatever that would. That would have been one of those where it just... It would have been 2006. Completely. They lost to Russia. Haunt you. But I will say this. Right.

Had that happened and I was thinking this during the game, it's so unfair, right? Because the way hockey works, they were perfect for the first three games. They're so good. They picked an excellent team that you might have quibbled on the fringes. Sometimes the other team gets some saves and rips one in, gets a bounce off a skate. and we'd have buried them. Fast game out there. Fast game.

The first goal of the Czech scored was the type of goal where you go, oh, that's when weird teams win. Yeah. And then, you know, and weird things happen. The puck lands on one of the best superstar in the league's stick at the top of the circle and he pulverizes the post. They annihilated that one time.

Yeah, you can't hit one harder than that. And so, yeah, if you're going home after a loss because Suzuki's tip is a millimeter different and hits a pad, are those guys that much worse at what they did at their selections? Man, the margins are. Thin boy. Holy. What you truly remember, right?

10 years from now or 20 years from now. Not how many points they got. Not that they looked awesome for three games in the prelims. Who has the record, the Olympic record for points? Okay. It's like, no, no, no, no. Did you win or did you lose? Didn't even meddle.

Didn't even sniff a bronze. You know, if you lose that game and it's, uh, but that's sports. It's a results-based business, not a great effort business. We were chatting a little bit upstairs, uh, if we were going to pick some Nets. I haven't got a lot from Reinhardt in this team. Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up. Just. He's in a checking role. He still has power play, looks.

Yeah, he's still on the top unit. There's not that much, there's still not that much room to go look like a 50-gold score out there. No, but he hasn't looked like a 20-goal score. I haven't seen him have the hockey puck in the tournament. And I'm not saying he's been bad. I'm saying he's been irrelevant, which is surprising for a guy who scored. Yeah, what do you play today?

I think he played under 10 today. Yeah, 9-37. Yeah. On the power play, he's just not. And he's one of the, isn't he one of the first six guys they named? Uh, I think he was. Yeah, you might be right. He might be right.

You know, like he'd be the lead. He's not on a, he's not on an engine driving line. No, he's not. He's used to being in the top six. It's okay. Why would, why are we giving him a pass for not? No, I don't think we're, we're not. We're not.

We're just establishing that it's not, not everybody can shine. And some guys got to. pick up a lunch pail and just make sure you don't hurt the ball club and I'm fine with that's what he's doing right now. But I think when John Cooper says I need more Seth Jarvis than Sam Reinhardt out there, you're making a statement about what you think about who's going and maybe there's a guy you can get a little more out of power play. Whatever they run on the power play is a lot of flank to down low, possibly backdoor, possibly

a stuff. It's not a lot of up to the bumper. So that makes him kind of a decoy. Last thing before we go, you kind of alluded to it with Luke. you send a tweet about it today. But will anyone ever look as good playing hockey as Carmen David looks right this very second? I just...

It's just, it's... He's playing a separate sport. When you're rooting for Canada, you're like, oh, it's 97. I can't wait for the 97 shifts. I'm like, God, can he play again? You know? Everyone's hanging on. I know.

It's unbelievable. He is going to go down as the greatest, when I say greatest, the best talent. dynamic, the best, the best talent. But if they lose, especially to the U.S., okay, he's going to take a beating. A beating. So it really needs, everybody just needs to remind you, be reminded of that margin of winning or losing.

And it's like, yeah, he's going to be remembered as the most talented player. But if he does not lift a Stanley Cup and does not win a gold medal here, he's his reputation. is going to take a hit. And it won't have anything to do with how fast he skates or how much he entertains you. It won't. You know, I take some umbrage with the whole thing

about like team victories. There's so many more teams in the league now than there used to be. And it's tough to get there. And so much of it, you're not on the hook for. Leon Dreisadle not winning this. He's not on the hook because his teammates aren't good enough. We don't think that way, though. Not with the greatest.

Not when we're putting him on Mount Rushmore. When I tweeted about him being awesome today, someone wrote me, no cups, no gold medals. Yeah, exactly. It's out there. Yeah, he's played for zero gold medals, and he's been in back to cup finals with, you know, the mighty ducks. Our thanks to Luke Fox. We go national next. Patrick Marlowe, two-time Olympic gold medals, will join us.

Plenty to get into with Patrick and also Edmonton Oiler News. Paul Coffey. He's coming back. What do you think, boys? Save it. We go national next.