Covering the Canucks for Daily Hive since 2019. Also co-host of the Locked On Canucks Podcast alongside Kyle Bhawan.

<p>If there&#8217;s one player you&#8217;d want out on the ice in a gold medal game, there aren&#8217;t many people you&#8217;d choose over Sidney Crosby.</p>
<p>Yet, the 38-year-old&#8217;s status for Sunday&#8217;s epic matchup is still firmly in doubt.</p>
<p>However, there was a give of a good news update following Canada&#8217;s practice on Saturday from head coach Jon Cooper.</p>
<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a chance [he plays tomorrow],&#8221; Cooper said after practice. &#8220;He skated today, which was the plan all along.&#8221;</p>
<p>Sportsnet&#8217;s Elliotte Friedman <a href="https://x.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/2024857037507588474" target="_blank">reported on Friday</a> that Team Canada did &#8220;everything humanly possible for him to play,&#8221; however, he was eventually sidelined for the semi-final win over Finland.</p>
<p>Friedman also said that Canada attempted to search for and put together a custom brace for Crosby&#8217;s injured leg.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re gonna meet tonight and make a determination to see if he plays tomorrow,&#8221; Cooper said on Saturday.</p>
<p>&#8220;Earlier game tomorrow&#8230;I guess this is what they call a game-time decision.&#8221;</p>
<p>Even though Crosby didn&#8217;t play on Friday, he was still involved with the team. <a href="https://x.com/OilersNow/status/2025011705260970465" target="_blank">TSN&#8217;s Ryan Rishaug reported</a> that the Canadian captain went to his team&#8217;s dressing room during the second intermission, when Canada was trailing 2-1.</p>
<p>Of course, they dominated in the third period, outshooting Finland 17-6 while pulling away with the 3-2 win.</p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/DU_TlalEZEi/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DU_TlalEZEi/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Offside (@offside)</a></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p><script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p>
<p>Rishaug also reported on Saturday that <a href="https://x.com/TSNRyanRishaug/status/2025217679267668077?s=20" target="_blank">Crosby&#8217;s chances of playing</a> are in the &#8220;70 per cent range.&#8221;</p>
<p>With Crosby sidelined, Connor McDavid wore the &#8216;C&#8217; in his place. As McDavid said after the win on Friday, he was <a href="https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-mcdavid-new-records-olympics" target="_blank">keeping the captain&#8217;s letter warm</a> for Crosby&#8217;s return.</p>
<p>Even if Crosby is able to go, perhaps we see a situation like with Victor Hedman earlier in this tournament, where he suits up but doesn&#8217;t actually see the ice.</p>
<p>Or, if he&#8217;s not close to 100 per cent but on the bench, perhaps he&#8217;ll have his Steven Stamkos moment. The former Tampa Bay Lightning forward <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47_7Bxc9ZMs" target="_blank">famously scored</a> in one of his five total shifts during his team&#8217;s Stanley Cup triumph over the Dallas Stars in 2020.</p>
<p>You&#8217;d have to imagine that it will be hard to keep Crosby out of the lineup. There&#8217;s a real chance that this is his last Olympic Games. And of course, he scored one of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofDvet0KUkU" target="_blank">most legendary goals in Canada&#8217;s history</a> against the United States in the 2010 gold medal game.</p>
<ul class="article-see-also"><strong>You might also like:</strong><li><a href='https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-chaos-line-wilson-marchand-bennett-olympics' target='_blank'>Canada has a new &#039;chaos&#039; line at the Olympics and they were just dying to play together</a></li><li><a href='https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/selanne-salty-rant-canada-beats-finland-olympics' target='_blank'>Selanne delivers super salty rant after Canada beats his home country at Olympics</a></li><li><a href='https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/olympic-gold-medal-hockey-game-air-tv-canada' target='_blank'>When Olympic gold medal men&#039;s hockey game will air on TV in Canada</a></li></ul>


Vancouver

Calgary

Toronto

Edmonton

Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper met with the media to give an update on Sidney Crosby's status ahead of the Olympic Gold Medal Game.