Both Canada and the U.S. will go with the same lineup from Friday's semifinal.
MILAN, Italy - Sidney Crosby will not be in the lineup when Canada plays the U.S. in the gold medal final of the Olympics on Sunday, according to the official IIHF lineup sheet.
The 38-year-old captain, who was injured in the quarterfinal win against Czechia, had skated in the past two days. But it appears that he is still not healthy enough after suffering a lower-body injury on Wednesday.
"End of the day, he felt it was best for the team that he should give that opportunity to someone else," Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong told CBC before the game. "Obviously, a very gut-wrenching decision for him, but it shows the character he has of stepping aside because he didn't think he could be at his best to give us an opportunity."
On Saturday, Canada head coach Jon Cooper said that if Crosby was not 100 percent, he would not dress him in the final — even as a 13th forward.
"No. It’s too important," said Cooper. "We don’t want to have someone in there as an inspiration when we could have player who could be capable of helping. You never know if guys are going to get hurt in a game. And he wouldn’t want to do that either."
Instead, Canada — and the U.S. — will go with the same lineup from Friday's semifinal.
Crosby is one of only two players (Drew Doughty is the other) who won gold at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics for Canada, with Crosby having scored the "golden goal" in Vancouver. In his absence on Friday, Canada rallied from behind and defeated Finland 3-2, with many players saying that Crosby was the inspiration for the win.
"I think we definitely wanted to give him an opportunity to play one more. We’ve done that and we’ll see," said Connor McDavid, who has worn the 'C' while Crosby has been out. "He's been around a lot, obviously. He's been extremely positive. He's still contributing, even though he didn't play last game. He's still being the leader he is."
Crosby scored two goals and six points in six games at these Olympics, where he was mostly used in a shutdown role. With Crosby out, Nick Suzuki is expected to center the third line alongside Mitch Marner and Mark Stone.
According to the lineup, Canada will also start the game with Nathan MacKinnon joining Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini on the "Three Macs" line, while the "Nuclear Option" line of Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand Tom Wilson also remains intact.
Crosby is not the only injured player for Canada.
Defenseman Josh Morrissey, who hasn't played since the opening game against Czechia on Feb. 12, was ruled out of Sunday's gold-medal game with an upper-body injury. It's a tough blow not only for Canada, but also for Morrissey, who missed last year's 4 Nations Face-Off final with an illness.
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