Canada Survives Wild Scare From Czechia, But It Comes At A Huge Price

The Olympic men's hockey quarterfinals are underway, and we have a thriller between the Canadians and Czechia.

Canada managed to survive a massive scare, but may now have to move on to the semifinals without captain Sidney Crosby.

This game saw the Canadians fall behind 2-1 in the first period, which was the first time they had trailed all tournament. 

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While Canada comes in as the gold medal favorite, falling behind a wildly talented Czechia team that won an IIHF World Championship in 2024 was a challenge.

That challenge got even tougher when Crosby appeared to sustain a lower-body injury falling a couple of big checks, including one from Czechia defenseman and Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas.

He is known as "The Butcher" for a reason, and worse yet, for the Canadians, it was announced that Crosby would not return after heading to the locker room.

That's a major loss for the Canadians on a few levels. Crosby has more Olympic experience than pretty much anyone else on the roster, and of course, brings a lot of leadership to the table.

Plus, losing a top-line center is a big problem in a beer league, let alone at the Olympic Games.

It remains to be seen if he'll be ready for the semifinals, but the Canadian captain not returning is a concern.

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However, his teammates battled back to tie the game at 2-2, then knotted it at 3-3 with just 3 minutes or so left in regulation.

It was on to overtime, and it didn't take too long once the 3-on-3, ten-minute extra frame got started for Mitch Marner to call the game with an unreal individual effort.

What a backhander. That's probably the biggest goal he has ever scored with a maple leaf on the front of his jersey.

So Canada moves on to take on the surprising Slovaks, but you can be sure that they will be anxiously awaiting an update on Crosby's condition.