Canada carries gold-or-bust expectations into Milano Cortina Olympics

TORONTO -- There’s an area in Hockey Canada’s Calgary-based headquarters known as the Hockey Shrine. It’s a meeting space full of photos of and tributes to championship Canadian teams of the past, whether they be from the Olympics, Canada Cup, World Cup of Hockey, World Junior Championship, World Championship -- the list goes on.

It’s a snapshot of a country’s rich hockey past.

And a reminder of how high the golden bar continues to be set for the future.

Just ask Sidney Crosby, arguably the country’s most decorated player when it comes to the international stage.

“It means a lot, playing hockey, being Canadian, there's a lot of expectations,” the Pittsburgh Penguins captain said. “(And) the expectation when you go to the Olympics is to win gold.”

For him, nothing else is acceptable. It hasn’t been in the past. And it certainly won’t be in the next couple of weeks at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

And if there's anyone who can translate that mindset to his teammates, it’s Crosby.

There’s a reason, after all, he’s unofficially known as Captain Canada. Check his resume. He’s won gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Games, 2014 Sochi Games, 2005 World Juniors and 2015 Worlds, and helped his country win the World Cup of Hockey 2016. His most recent triumph: captaining Team Canada to the championship at the 4 Nations Face-Off last February.

In the process, he produced one of the most iconic moments in Canadian culture, scoring what’s forever since been known as the Golden Goal in overtime of the 2010 championship game in Vancouver that gave Canada a dramatic 3-2 victory against Team USA.

That moment, and team, were among the many on display in the Hockey Shrine when Hockey Canada welcomed 92 invited players from its men’s, women’s and para hockey teams to attend its National Teams Orientation Camp from Aug. 26-28. It was a gathering of athletes that Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior vice president of high performance and hockey operations, referred to as “the first step towards our goal of winning triple gold in February.”

That message -- at least in terms of what it meant to Canada’s men’s squad -- resonated with Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey as he looked around the Hockey Shrine during the orientation camp five months ago. There, the 30-year-old saw remnants of his own international success as part of the 2015 World Junior team and 2025 4 Nations team.

Now, heading into Canada’s first game against Czechia on Thursday (10:40 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, CBC Gem, CBC), the mantra remains the same.

Gold or bust.

“I mean, the bottom line is, we don’t have to be told that,” Morrissey told NHL.com. “No one is telling us that. We already know that. All of us. It’s how all of us, I guess, see it.

“Being in that room, seeing all the championships, the history, the legacy of Canadian championship teams, that was so cool. And a lot of us were, in some way, already part of at least one of those teams. So we know what’s expected. It’s what we expect from ourselves.

“You look at the teams that have paved the way for us, they proved what can be done when the aim is high. I mean, it’s not pressure if you don't let it be.”

* * * *

On Thursday, CBC premiered a documentary entitled “RIVALS: The 4 Nations Face-Off." It was a behind-the-scenes look at the tournament, which Canada won on Connor McDavid’s overtime goal for a 3-2 victory against the U.S. in the title game, and featured interviews with, among others, McDavid, fellow players Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel, and even former Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Perhaps the most telling quote, however, came from Canada coach Jon Cooper.

“When you’re representing the country of Canada, you’re in it to win gold,” Cooper said. “You’re not in it to participate.”

McDavid couldn’t agree more.

The Edmonton Oilers superstar grew up in Newmarket, Ontario, about 40 miles north of Toronto, with a poster of his idol Crosby on his bedroom wall. He remembers watching the Golden Goal with his minor hockey teammates, jumping up like the rest of them when the puck entered the net.

Fifteen years later, there he was, in the Team Canada dressing room, waiting for overtime of the 4 Nations title game, when he saw that same Crosby, not letting the nerves take over, just acting matter-of-factly like there was a job to be done.

“I remember looking around and there was Sid, (Brad Marchand), (Drew) Doughty. And I really just remember how calm they were. They weren’t afraid of the moment. All these legends of the game, just in the zone, tying their laces, retaping their sticks, locked in," McDavid wrote as part of an article entitled “Dear Canada” on The Players’ Tribune website Monday.

"And I had this cool little moment, and I’m sure a lot of the younger guys in that room had the same feeling. Maybe it was the red Canada jerseys. But you just looked at those guys and remembered, ‘Man, I grew up a fan of you. I watched you on Saturday nights. This is such an honor.’”

At 8:18 of overtime, he created his own legendary moment, snapping the tournament winner past U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuyck. He admits that when the puck hit the back of the net, he “blacked out.”

Because NHLers hadn’t participated in the Olympics since 2014, this had been his first chance to represent Canada in a best-on-best competition in his professional career, one he’d longed for since being picked No. 1 by the Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft. Many of the members of Team Canada were in the same position.

Now, the core of that team gets another chance, this time on the Olympic stage in Italy.

In the past week, forwards Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers and Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes were added to the roster, replacing injured Lightning players Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point. That means 19 of the 25 players on Team Canada were part of the 4 Nations championship team.

“With such limited practice time before our first game, familiarity is a definite plus,” assistant Bruce Cassidy said. “These guys know each other a bit now. They know what’s expected.

“You’re not starting from scratch. You are building off success you’ve already had.”

* * * *

Does this gold-or-bust attitude come from confidence gleaned from Canada’s successful hockey legacy over the decades?

Or is it arrogant swagger that causes other nations to bristle?

There might not be a correct answer. It’s just the way it is.

And, for the most part, has always been.

For example, in 1972, prior to the famed Summit Series that year between Team Canada and the Soviet Union, esteemed Toronto sports columnist Dick Beddoes said he would eat his hat if Canada did not sweep the eight-game series. The Soviets needed just one game to make Beddoes eat crow, among other things, pummeling Canada 7-3 in the opener at the famed Montreal Forum. Canada ended up taking the series 4-3-1 thanks to Paul Henderson’s legendary goal with 34 seconds remaining in Game 8, but not before humbling the entire country’s cache of hockey fans, not to mention certain sportswriters.

Thirty years later, Wayne Gretzky, the NHL’s all-time scoring leader, held a press conference at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. He was Team Canada’s general manager at the time and had heard the criticism coming from around the hockey world at his team’s unimpressive 1-1-1 start to the tournament.

Canada would go on to win its first Olympic gold medal in 50 years, defeating the U.S. 5-2 in the title game. Yet, 24 years later, Gretzky’s rant still holds true.

“I don’t think we dislike those countries as much as they hate us,” Gretzky said at the time of Canada’s opponents. “And that’s a fact.

“They don’t like us. They want to see us fail. They love beating us. They might tell you guys something different, but believe me, when you are on the ice, that is what they say.”

They still do. And, chances are, it will be that way in Italy, too.

Team Canada’s success in Salt Lake City was part of its three Olympic golds (2002, 2010, 2014) in the five Games that have featured NHL players.

But that won’t take Cooper’s eye off the prize. For him, Canada will not rest on its laurels from past triumphs, the latest being the 4 Nations. Truth be told, the U.S. could have easily won in overtime if not for a cache of spectacular saves from Canada goalie Jordan Binnington.

In its gold-or-bust world, Canada must be better, Cooper said.

"When the Ferrari got invented, did they stop making the Ferrari or did they improve the model?" Cooper said. "That's what we're in charge of doing, improving the Ferrari.”

Starting Thursday.