Canada 'focused' on capturing gold medal again with NHL players back at Olympics

MILAN -- Gold or bust.

That's it for Team Canada at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. That's all it is.

Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and company are here for one reason only, to win Canada's third consecutive gold medal and fourth in six Olympics involving NHL players.

They've been here preparing since Sunday for a journey that begins in earnest against Team Czechia at Santagiulia Arena on Thursday (10:40 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, ICI Tele, CBC Gem, RDS2, CBC).

It's the first of three preliminary round games Canada will play, the other two against Team Switzerland on Friday and Team France on Sunday, before moving into the single elimination portion of the tournament.

"We're focused," captain Sidney Crosby said. "We respect everyone. I think our biggest thing is just trying to focus on our own game. We know that everyone's not going to be perfect in Game 1, but at the same time we have to start to form our identity, and we have to understand what that looks like."

Every championship team has an identity.

In 2014, the last time NHL players participated in the Olympics, Canada was a team built to suffocate its opponents, to stifle offense, to win low-scoring, low-event games with goalie Carey Price cleaning up any of the debris that might have come his way.

It was not close.

Canada won three games by shutout and outscored its opponents 17-3 in six games.

They built their identity through each period, each game.

This time is no different, but what will Team Canada's identity be?

"I hate sitting here and saying going in, 'This is the way we're going to play or this is the way it's going to go,'" coach Jon Cooper said. "It's been said the 'Canadian way.' Well, what is the Canadian way? I always think the Canadian way is the winning way and that's how it works.

"But this group of players, to wear their heart on their sleeve, this team will push. You want to have a team that can beat somebody many different ways. Do we have the skill? We do. Do we have the speed? I believe we do. Do we have the goaltending? I believe we have that. If push comes to shove, can we push back? I really think we can do that. So, for us to be an intimidating team both physically and skill-wise, that would be an identity for us."

Well, that's how this team was built.

In all likelihood Canada will have McDavid, Crosby and MacKinnon centering three different lines to start the game against Czechia.

Macklin Celebrini and Tom Wilson will be on McDavid's wings; a perfect blend of speed, skill, two-way thinking and size.

Crosby will have Mitch Marner and Mark Stone with him. All three are Selke Trophy candidates every single season even though none have actually won it because Aleksander Barkov and Patrice Bergeron have kind of owned that award, voted as best defensive forward in the NHL.

Oh, and they can light it up too.

Brandon Hagel and Sam Reinhart will be with MacKinnon. That's the third line.

Think about that. It's a third line that has combined for 94 goals this season, including MacKinnon's NHL-leading 40.

Bo Horvat, Nick Suzuki and Brad Marchand are on the fourth line, with the likelihood of either Sam Bennett or Seth Jarvis rotating.

Bennett, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy last season, voted as the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, is at best right now the 13th forward on this team. He wasn't even originally on it. He replaced an injured Anthony Cirelli.

"Everybody contributing, everybody embracing the role that they're given," Horvat said. "If we go and do that we're going to turn into a really good team and one that is tough to beat."

On the defensive side, Canada will use Devon Toews with Cale Makar. They're also the top defense pair for the Colorado Avalanche, who have been the best team in the NHL this season.

Josh Morrissey and Colton Parayko played together at the 4 Nations Face-Off last year; they're back together here at the Olympics.

Shea Theodore and Travis Sanheim look like the third pair, and then Thomas Harley and Drew Doughty are options. That's two-time Olympic gold medalist Drew Doughty, by the way.

Jordan Binnington could get the start in net. He has had a rough season, but he has a history of winning big games; Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, championship game at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Darcy Kuemper and Logan Thompson are the other goalies. Yeah, they're also Stanley Cup champions.

"We believe we've built a group that the coach doesn't have to worry about matching up," Canada general manager Doug Armstrong said. "We hope to have teams react to us."

Teams couldn't react to the Canadians in Sochi. They wouldn't let them. They were that far ahead, that impossible to play against.

But that has changed in the dozen years since.

The United States, Switzerland and Germany all believe their teams here are the best they've ever had in the Olympics. The U.S. also has a gold-or-bust mentality.

Sweden and Finland are always medal contenders. Slovakia proved it will contend as well in a tournament-opening 4-1 win against Finland on Wednesday.

"I was fortunate enough to start with Hockey Canada in 2002 at the Worlds," Armstrong said, "and I did feel at that point that, selfishly, Canada was able to start on third base, using a baseball analogy, and everybody else was on second or first. Now there's a lot of countries on third base, too. That's great for hockey. It's unreal to see the level of players here from all around the world. I think that's great. But I think this team will create its own identity."

What that is will determine how far it goes.

Gold or bust. There's no in between.

"It all comes down to inches and seconds and one play can make or break it," Marchand said. "It definitely ramps up the intensity level. It's what makes it so special to be a part of. We love that. We're ultra-competitive and that's what we thrive in, that's where we get our adrenaline rushes, and what we spend every day of our whole lives prepping for. It means a lot to the guys."