Live blog: Canada vs. Finland Olympics semifinal 

MILAN – Welcome to the men’s hockey semifinals at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Team Canada is looking to win gold for the third straight time at Olympics featuring NHL players. Team Finland is looking to win its second straight gold after winning the 2022 Beijing Olympics without NHL players.

After three of the four quarterfinal games went to overtime on Wednesday, it’s expected to be a wild and crazy day in Italy.

NHL.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Price is inside the arena to provide all the sights, sounds and action from Canada and Finland with our live blog.

9:50 a.m. ET

We’re now 45 minutes away from puck drop for the first of the two semifinals.

Here are the full lineups for this game, again, with Sidney Crosby out.

I mentioned earlier that it’s dark up in the press box, it’s also very, very cold.

Again, I know it’s nothing like you fine folks on the East coach are going through, but it’s a bit chilly in here. The weather outside today was like a spring day, so naturally we have to spend most of the day inside. But we’d rather be inside watching what should be two epic games. So much on the line here. As I type this, “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers plays in the arena. The DJ and organist and the entire game presentation folks have done an amazing job here.

Here are some great nuggets from our NHL Stats crew for Canada-Finland

Connor McDavid (2 goals, nine assists) needs one point to establish a new record for most points in a single Olympics involving NHL players. He is currently tied with Teemu Selanne (11 in 2006 w/ FIN) and Saku Koivu (11 in 2006 w/ FIN).

Macklin Celebrini (five goals) needs one goal to surpass Jarome Iginla (5 in 2010) for the most goals by a Canadian in a single Olympics featuring NHL players.

The two highest-scoring teams of the Olympics will go head-to-head when Team Canada (24 goals; 1st) takes on Team Finland (19 goals; 2nd). There are 15 Finnish players with multiple points during the tournament, tied with Team USA for tops among all countries, compared to Team Canada’s 12 skaters.

Both Team Finland and Team Canada earned come-from-behind victories in their quarterfinal matchups. Either team can become the first to record consecutive comeback wins in the playoffs of an Olympics featuring NHL participation, and third team to do so in any round, following Team Switzerland (Feb. 20-23, 2010) and Team Russia (Feb. 15-16, 1998).

Team Canada looks to earn its fourth consecutive win in five semifinal appearances in Olympics with NHL participation:

9:38 a.m. ET

We are an hour away from puck drop for the first of two Olympic semifinals here in Milan.

It’s absolutely pitch dark in this place, so we not only had to get here to get seats in the press box, we had to secure the one lamp on press row so Shawn Roarke, who is doing the running recap of this game, can see what’s he’s typing (insert joke here).

The organist here is on an absolute roll, but about an hour ago there was nobody here. His name is Dieter Ruhle and he is the organist for the LA Kings and LA Dodgers.

My running tally of the organist’s song he’s played (the one’s I can recognize)

Karma Chameleon, Culture Club

Love Removal Machine, Cult

Fly Me to the Moon, Frank Sinatra

Enjoy the Silence, by Depeche Mode

Right Now, Van Halen

A bit earlier, the DJ played a techno version of Kiss’ “I Was Made for Loving You,” which is called “I Was Made” by Vinai and LePedre. If you see NHL.com dayside chief Brian Compton looking angry today, you’ll know why. He is a 5-star general in the Kiss Army and versions like that do not sit well with him.

9:20 a.m. ET

The Sidney Crosby news is official. He will not play for Canada today in the semifinal against Finland. It’s a big blow for Canada, but maybe he will be able to play on Sunday if they reach the gold medal game.

You have to figure it has to be a significant injury to keep him out of huge game like this.

Look for Connor McDavid to be the captain for Canada. I think he can handle it.

9 a.m. ET

OK, this day is off to an amazing start already. About two hours before puck drop, the organist, Dieter Ruhle, opened things up by playing his rendition of “Karma Chamelon” by Culture Club. Holy hell. He’s the organist for the LA Kings and LA Dodgers. Dude is amazing.

We’re about an 90 minutes from puck drop and the big question is if Sidney Crosby will play for Canada. The Team Canada captain was injured in the second period of a 4-3 overtime win against Team Czechia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. He left the game and did not return and did not participate in Canada's optional practice Thursday.

Word is he skated on his own this morning, but not sure what that means.

We shall find out soon.

Interesting note: If he cannot play, Canada has to designate another player to wear the C for captain. I would think it would be Connor McDavid, but who knows?

Whether Sid players or not, we expect this place to be absolutely bonkers today. It’s a medium-sized arena and it’s really, really loud.