Canada survives close call with Czechia in men's hockey quarterfinal

Scott M. Reid, The Orange County Register on Feb 18, 2026

Published in Olympics

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MILAN — With less than eight minutes remaining in regulation, a line of Team Canada players stood on the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena next to their bench like their 41 million countryman frozen in shock.

Canada, the pre-tournament favorite, had just fallen behind Czechia a second time in the teams’ Milano Cortina Olympic Games quarterfinal Wednesday.

"I never had a doubt,” Canada defenseman Drew Doughty said, “but it was getting a little nerve-wracking.”

Canada would need a late goal from Nick Suzuki and even later clutch save from goaltender Jordan Binnington to send the game into sudden death 3-on-3 overtime where a Mitch Marner goal finally ensured that the Canadians would avoid what would have been one of the biggest upsets in Olympic hockey history with a 4-3 victory.

"A roller coaster,” Marner said “a lot of ups and downs. "Just really happy with how we kept responding.”

The big question facing Canada now is how will captain Sidney Crosby respond to an injury that sent him out of the game in the second period after a pair of hits. Crosby was scheduled to undergo an MRI later Wednesday.

“This will not be Sid’s last game at the Olympics,” Canada coach Jon Cooper said after the game. He did not elaborate on a time frame for Crosby’s return.

Ondrej Palat put Czechia, a 5-0 loser to Canada in the teams’ tournament opener, up for a second time, 3-2 with a goal with 7:42 remaining and with the Czechs appearing to have six skaters on the ice at the time.

Canada, the team and the country, could finally take a breath when Suzuki redirected defenseman Devon Toews shot from the point past Czechia goaltender Lukas Dostal late in the third period.

Suzuki just about did it all on the tying goal, sending the puck out to the point to Devon Toews and then redirecting the defenseman’s shot that was going well wide past Lukas Dostal and into the net with 3:29 remaining in regulation.

”Toewser gave me a perfect opportunity to tip it,” Suzuki said. “Just trying to put something on net there.”

Nearly as big was Binnington’s save on a David Pastrnak breakaway with 70 seconds left in the third period.

"Massive,” Marner said of Binnington who had 21 saves on the night. “Massive saves. He’s a been there when we really needed him.”

So was Marner 80 seconds into overtime.

Picking up the puck at center ice, Marner considered passing to streaking Nathan MacKinnon but instead split a pair of Czechia defenders and then slipped the puck past Costal.

"It is tough, we were so close,” Czechia forward David Kampf said. “We had the lead 3-2, we were so close.”