CRANBERRY TWP., Pa. — “Knowing (Sidney Crosby), it must have been hard. He probably sat in the locker room with his gear on and watched it on TV. You know, a guy like that wants the puck on his stick to try to make a difference to help his team win the gold.”

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has been Crosby’s teammate for most of 20 years. He succinctly and with a touch of dark humor summed up Crosby’s agonizing decision to admit he wasn’t healthy enough to play in Sunday’s historical gold medal game and the frustration of watching Team Canada dominate Team USA but lose the ultimate prize 2-1 in overtime at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan.

Crosby suffered a lower-body injury in the quarterfinal win over Czechia on Wednesday and was unable to play in the semifinal Friday against Team Finland and the gold medal game Sunday.

He tried. Special braces. Extra work. Perhaps with one more day, he could have played, as reports Saturday indicated he had a 70% chance to play.

“That’s just a high character player,” Penguins winger Bryan Rust said. “I think every player in that situation, but especially (Crosby), wants to play in that game, but to know that he wasn’t going to be able to help his team to the ability that he thinks was acceptable–I think it shows a lot of self-awareness and extremely high character.”

Crosby’s status with the Penguins also remains unknown.

Penguins coach Dan Muse confirmed the team does not know the severity or prognosis and how it might relate to the resumed regular season that begins Thursday against Team USA hero Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils. The Penguins won’t know more until Crosby returns and the Penguins’ staff evaluates him.

Many Penguins had dual rooting interests Sunday. Their friend and captain Crosby is a central figure on Team Canada, but there are plenty of Americans in the Penguins dressing room, too.

For the USA, it was the first gold medal since 1980, and in fact was 46 years to the day since the Miracle on Ice.

“It was a win-win (for me). Yeah, I’m just happy no one stole the Golden Goal from Canada,” said forward Kevin Hayes. “Yeah. It was a win-win. A lot of friends on USA, and Sid is on (Team) Canada. I thought it was one of the better games I’ve ever watched.”

Hayes also had a special interest in the postgame celebration, too. Team USA honored Hayes’s best friend, Johnny Gaudreau, wha drunk driver tragically killeder in August of 2024. Gaudreau perennially played for Team USA in World Championships, the World Junior Championships, and was likely going to be part of the Four Nations tournament one year ago.

Hayes keeps a photo of Gaudreau in his dressing stall at PPG Paints Arena.

In the on-ice celebration, USA players held up Gaudreau’s No. 13 jersey. They raced to Gaudreau’s widow, Meredith, bringing Gaudreau’s young children onto the ice to be included in the team photo with Gaudreau’s jersey.

“It’s really cool. Johnny would’ve been on that team. It was little Johnny’s (second) birthday. Really cool story,” said Hayes. “I’m happy that Meredith (and Gaudreau’s parents) got to go over there. I’m sure the USA staff kind of did it to the nines and did it the right way, deservedly so. Johnny was a huge part of USA Hockey. Every chance he had to play–World Juniors, World Championships. Every American team, he was a stud every time. It was a really cool moment to watch them skate out there and take the picture.”

Touch of class by Team USA 💙 pic.twitter.com/v5CF1VImaQ

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 22, 2026

Olympic Reactions

Two of the three Olympians who weren’t playing Sunday were at Penguins practice. Swedish defenseman Erik Karlsson was absent, but winger Rickard Rakell returned from Team Sweden, and goalie Arturs Silovs from Team Latvia. Both performed well on the international stage.

Rakell had one assist in five games of the relatively low-scoring tournament. But after carrying much of the play, Sweden lost in overtime to Team USA in the quarterfinal.

“I mean, it was a fun experience representing my country, even though our goals, we didn’t live up to the expectations,” said Rakell. “So that’s going to take a lot of time to digest, but it feels good being back here with my teammates.”

Silovs was 1-1-0, but didn’t play in the first-round loss to Sweden. Tiny Latvia has a population of only 1.8 million, but it’s made a big dent in international competition, even if they still lag slightly behind the major hockey powers.

“I think it’s what a lot of athletes are trying for. Not a lot of guys can get an opportunity like that, and I have to be grateful for it,” Silovs said. “And the country I play for, yeah, for sure, you want to play more games and make quarterfinals and see what’s going to happen there. But didn’t happen this time for us. So, I think it’s taking pride in playing every single game with the national team jersey.”

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Sunday was the final practice for the team during the Olympic break. The roster freeze ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, and the final players will trickle back for practice this week, perhaps including Crosby.

After a week off and a week of high-energy practices, Muse is looking forward to getting back to NHL games.

“Yeah, for sure. I’m excited for it. We’ve had a unique time, even going back this last week and just being able to get some quality practices is something we haven’t been able to do in quite some time,” said Muse. “Getting the practices that are as long as they’ve gone, and I think the guys have really been excited. Just to see the energy that they’ve brought in every practice that we’ve had–They put in the work. It’s been a long break, and I’m definitely ready to get back to the games and get back to the grind.”

It will be go-time for the second-place Penguins, and soon, the gold medal game will be a memory; perhaps the subject of a few documentaries, but a memory nonetheless. The chase for a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs awaits.

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