Team Canada set to play United States for Olympic men’s hockey gold

The rematch is now reality.

Canada will face the United States in the gold medal game of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games men’s hockey tournament, which is set for Sunday at 8:10 a.m. ET.

It will be the first time the two rivals have met in a tournament with full National Hockey League player participation since last year’s electric 4 Nations Face-Off, an event that Canada won by defeating the United States in overtime of the championship game.

Connor McDavid was the hero at 4 Nations, scoring the tournament winner. At Milano Cortina 2026, he’s been nothing short of magnificent, recording another two assists in Canada’s semifinal victory over Finland to give him 13 points in just five games. With one game left to play, McDavid has already established a new record for most points in a men’s Olympic tournament that includes NHL players.

READ: Team Canada to play for men’s hockey gold at Milano Cortina 2026

After a fairly smooth group stage, the playoff round has been far from easy for McDavid and Team Canada. In the quarterfinals against Czechia, Canada trailed 3-2 late in the third period and needed a Nick Suzuki goal with 3:27 remaining to send the game to overtime. Mitch Marner, who had an overtime winner against Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, was the OT hero against Czechia, scoring 1:22 into the extra frame.

As if that wasn’t dramatic enough, Canada trailed Finland 2-0 in the second period of the semifinals. Canada rallied for three straight goals in the 3-2 win, which included a Nathan MacKinnon power play marker with 35.2 seconds remaining in the third period.

‘”It’s been a lot, you know, two nail biters,” said McDavid. “But it’s best on best. It’s the best teams in the world going at it, the best players in the world all playing for something very meaningful and you’re seeing that. This is what we’ve been missing, isn’t it? it’s been great hockey.”

McDavid noted how three of the four quarterfinals went to overtime, which could have easily created a very different looking group for the semifinals.

“Hockey is in a great spot with so many great countries and players and you’re seeing that at this.”

This will be the first time Canada has appeared in an Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game since Sochi 2014, which the Canadians won 3-0 over Sweden. Sochi was also the last Olympic Games to have NHL player participation. Of the five previous Games that have included NHLers, Canada has won gold in three of them.

Those three previous gold medals also saw Canada face some adversity along the way. At Salt Lake City 2002, Canada lost their opener against Sweden and had a tie against Czechia before ultimately capturing gold. At Vancouver 2010, Canada needed a shootout to avoid an upset against Switzerland and lost to the United States before rebounding with a win over the Americans in the gold medal game. Even at Sochi 2014, where Canada went undefeated, the team needed overtime to defeat Finland in the preliminary round, making them the No. 3 seed entering the playoff stage.

Now, at Milano Cortina 2026, Canada will look to use some of the lessons they’ve learned through hard times to help them in this one-game, winner-take-all final.

“I mean this is the spot we wanted to be in, so we’re really excited,” said 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini, who led all Canadian skaters in ice time in their semifinal win.

Celebrini has joined McDavid on Canada’s top line throughout the tournament. Tom Wilson has started every game with those two but MacKinnon has slid up there quite a bit, particularly when Canada is in need of offense.

“We just try to work off each other, especially against a tough team like Finland,” said Celebrini. “They defend really well and have some great players that take away lanes, so it’s always a challenge, but I thought we did a good job kind of just moving off each other.”

READ: Canada advances to men’s hockey semifinals with overtime win over Czechia

Celebrini sits second on the team in scoring with 10 points and leads the squad in goals with five. MacKinnon, meanwhile, has seven points.

“I love being his teammate,” Wilson said of MacKinnon. “He’s one of the best players in the world. When a guy just wants to win more than anything, he wants to push himself to be the best version of himself every single minute of every day. You can learn a lot and it’s cool to be around. And Connor and Sid (Crosby) and a lot of those guys, Nate, they lead the way. They’re just constantly working. Guys don’t see it behind the scenes. They work so, so, so hard and they want this so bad for their country. It’s been fun to see.”

One of the questions facing Canada ahead of the gold medal game will be the health of Crosby. The Canadian captain was injured in the quarterfinals and did not play Friday.

Crosby scored the gold medal clinching overtime goal at Vancouver 2010 to defeat the United States. Crosby and defenseman Drew Doughty are the only players on Canada’s 2026 roster that played in that game.

Like Canada, the United States has gone undefeated at Milano Cortina 2026. They went 3-0 in the preliminary round and then needed overtime to beat Sweden 2-1 in the quarterfinals. The Americans rebounded nicely from that Swedish scare, pounding Slovakia 6-2 in the semifinals.

READ: Team Canada stays undefeated with blowout win over France

The Americans have not won Olympic men’s hockey gold since the “Miracle on Ice” team at Lake Placid 1980. They’ve won two silvers and a bronze in Games that have included NHL players.

At these Games, the United States has been led by their best players with the likes of Quinn Hughes, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, and Matthew Tkachuk all clicking.

At the 4 Nations Face-Off, the United States won the first match against Canada. The Canadians won the second. Now the two are set for the decisive third game on the biggest stage in international hockey.

“I know we’ve only been together for five games, but you know it feels like we’ve been together a lot longer, dating back to last year, the 4 Nations, a lot of carryover with everybody,” said McDavid. “So this group feels like it’s been together for a while and building to this moment.”