From the primary game involving Team Canada within the return of men’s best-on-best international hockey to a pair of near-misses on the ski slope that brought in two silver medals for the Canadians, listed below are five things to know from Thursday, Feb. 12 on the 2026 Milan Cortina Games:
… AND WE’RE BACK
Canada’s men’s hockey team won its first game of the tournament as NHL players returned to the Olympics for the primary time because the 2014 Sochi Games. The Canadian team soundly defeated Czechia 5-0 with goals from Macklin Celebrini, Mark Stone, Bo Horvat, Nathan MacKinnon and Nick Suzuki. Jordan Binnington, who wasn’t named Canada’s starter until shortly before the sport, made 26 saves for the shutout. The Canadians did suffer an injury as defenceman Josh Morrissey left the sport and didn’t return. Canada next takes on Switzerland on Friday.
CLOSE BUT SILVER CIGARS
Canada won a pair of silver medals on the hills of Livigno, narrowly missing gold in each cases. In men’s moguls, freestyle star Mikael Kingsbury of Deux-Montagnes, Que., won his fourth Olympic medal but needed to accept silver after matching gold medallist Cooper Woods of Australia with an analogous rating. Kingsbury was relegated to second because Woods had the upper turns rating — the technical element that accounts for 60 per cent of the entire. Canada also nearly won gold in snowboard cross, where Eliot Grondin finished second behind Austria’s Alessandro Haemmerle, repeating their 1-2 result from Beijing 2022. Each Grondin and Kingsbury said they were satisfied with their performances despite narrowly missing gold.
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SARAULT COMES CLUTCH LATE
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Canada’s Courtney Sarault spent much of the ladies’s 500-metre short-track final in fourth, outside the rostrum picture. But on the ultimate lap, she surged past the Netherlands’ Selma Poutsma and lunged at the road, getting her skate across to secure bronze. The Moncton native edged Poutsma by .064 seconds. Meanwhile, Montreal’s William Dandjinou met the alternative fate in the lads’s 1,000 metres, leading a lot of the race before being passed on the within by Dutch skater Jens van ‘t Wout, who went on to win gold, and overtaken by two more skaters to complete fourth.
MORE OLYMPICS CONTENT FOR NHL?
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made an appearance in Milan, saying that the world’s top hockey league has made progress in gaining more access to Olympics content, but hopes there’s more to come back, looking forward to the 2030 Games within the French Alps. The NHL has not been capable of show highlights similar to Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in Vancouver 2010, and Bettman says more Olympic content access is required so his league doesn’t “disappear for a few weeks” while players participate within the Games.
ONTO THE QUARTERFINALS
The Canadian women’s hockey team rebounded from a 5-0 loss to archrivals america earlier within the week with a 5-0 win over Finland on Thursday, securing a quarterfinal matchup against Germany on Saturday. Playing again without injured captain Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada got two goals from Emily Clark within the victory. The team had one other injury scare early within the match when Sarah Fillier slid hard into the tip boards and jammed her left hand, but she returned to the sport inside minutes and recorded an assist in the sport. Canada finished preliminary round play in second place in Group A.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press