Team Canada's Tom Wilson was ejected at the end of the contest against France for fighting Pierre Crinon, who had previously elbowed Nathan MacKinnon in the face. "I appreciate Tom sticking up for me. He's a great teammate," said MacKinnon.
Tom Wilson has done something that we didn't expect to see at these Olympics.
The Team Canada right winger, who scored a goal and an assist in a 10-2 win against France on Sunday, capped off his night by getting into fight to complete a Gordie Howe hat trick.
In the process, Wilson was ejected from Canada's final round robin game.
Luckily for Canada, the 31-year-old power forward did not also receive a suspension after he instigated a fight against France's Pierre Crinon with 6:59 remaining in the third period.
The fight was likely payback for an elbow that Crinon delivered against Canada's Nathan MacKinnon.
"I appreciate Tom sticking up for me. He's a great teammate," said MacKinnon, who added that he "didn't love" being elbowed on the chin. "He's a great guy off the ice and doing everything on the ice too … it takes a special person to do that, for sure."
Wilson, who was not on the 4 Nations Face-Off team that famously got into a brawl against Team USA, was selected to Canada's roster because of his physical nature. However, with the Olympics not allowing fighting, his addition to the roster might have been seen as a bit risky.
After all, no one expects a repeat of the three fights that kicked off Canada's game against the U.S. — at least, we don't think we will.
"I think that's a big part of what we're all about," said Team Canada coach Jon Cooper. "These guys will go through a wall for each other. It's fun to watch. Listen, we're used to a lot more than that happening, so it was pretty harmless in the grand scheme of things. Will's much more than that. The kid's a helluva hockey player."
Indeed, three games in this tournament, Wilson has been making a big impact in multiple ways.
Playing on a top line with Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini, Wilson had joked that he had gone "right to the penthouse with two amazing players.” But with a goal and three points, as well as countless bodychecks, he hasn't looked a bit out of place.
Still, it took him until the third game of the round robin before he recorded his first goal of the tournament. In typical Wilson fashion, it wasn't exactly pretty. Wilson muscled a French defender off the puck, sent a pass back to the point and then won another puck battle for the loose puck.
Wilson added an assist in the third period, before deciding to exact revenge on the 6-foot-5 Crinon. At first, the two got into a shoving match in front of France's net, before Wilson dropped his gloves with the much-larger player, who managed to wrestle Wilson to the ice.
Michael Traikos - The Hockey NewsBy then, the score was 10-2 for Canada, and the contest finished that way to wrap up Group A action.
"He's going to stick up for his guys. He's a leader on this team. He's a guy who's going to protect our guys and do whatever it takes for our team," said Canada's Sam Bennett. "I love to see that from Willy."
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