You wouldn’t have guessed Thursday marked San Jose Sharks second-year center Macklin Celebrini’s first time on the world’s biggest sporting stage.
Celebrini made his Olympic debut for Team Canada at the Milan Cortina Games in a preliminary Group A matchup against Team Czechia at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. There, he quickly made history.Â
How Macklin Celebrini made Olympic historyÂ
Celebrini (19 years and 244 days old) scored Canada’s first goal in the 5-0 rout when he deflected a shot from defenseman Cale Makar past goalie Lukas Dostal with 5.7 seconds left in the first period. With the score, he became the youngest Canadian NHLer to score a goal in the Olympics.Â
Winnipeg Jets center Jonathan Toews held the previous record. He scored his first Olympic goal at 21 years and 305 days old, in a 3-2 win over Team USA in the gold-medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.Â