A Swiss, a Swede, a Slovak and a Canadian walk into a bar. Except the bar is a hockey rink, and it’s in Milan.
From the San Jose boy aquarium to the Winter Olympics stage, four San Jose Sharks forwards suited up for the 2026 Games. The teammates — Philipp Kurashev, Alexander Wennberg, Pavol Regenda and Macklin Celebrini — splintered onto four rosters to represent their home countries.
The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics were the first in 12 years in which NHL athletes were allowed to compete.
After the preliminary round, the Sharks and their teams scattered throughout the rankings: Celebrini and Canada stood in first; Regenda and Slovakia in third; Kurashev and Switzerland in fifth; and Wennberg and Sweden in seventh.
The rankings proved fairly determinitive, as Kurashev and Wennberg ended their Olympic journeys in the quarterfinals.
For Switzerland, an initial 4-0 first win against France, in which Kurashev added an assist, offered an easy entrance into group play.
Then, Canada dealt a major loss to Switzerland, but the Swiss were undeterred and quickly rebounded to clinch an overtime win against Czechia to advance to the knockout round.
In the knockout, Switzerland faced the hosts. Kurashev infused his team with a surge by slapping in the first goal, which eventually grew into a 3-0 win over Italy.
Then the quarterfinals ended the Swiss’ successful run. The red-clad players battled until the last play but ultimately couldn’t outlast the Finns, who won 3-2 in overtime.
That loss sent the 26-year-old forward back to his adoptive home in San Jose.
Sharks teammate Wennberg and his fellow Swedes similarly lost out in the quarterfinals.
The Swedes went 2-1 in the preliminary round, including a 5-3 win over Slovakia in which fellow Shark Regenda sat on the opposing bench. The Slovaks ultimately placed above the Swedes in Group B, though, securing a second-place finish due to goal differential.
In the qualification round, Sweden skated past Latvia for an easy 5-1 victory before facing off against its hardest opponent yet: Team USA.
Sweden put up a tough fight and forced the game into overtime, but Wennberg’s country of residence ultimately sent his home nation packing.
Regenda and his Slovakian teammates made it one step further.
After a second-place finish in group play, the Slovaks defeated Germany 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
The game marked Regenda’s strongest of the Olympics: He netted two goals, tying for most in the game, and contributed an assist.
The semifinals saw the two red, white and blue nations facing off.
The Americans built a multi-goal lead, but Regenda wouldn’t go down too easily. He scored Slovakia’s second and last goal to narrow the deficit to 4-2, but Team USA ultimately kept pushing ahead for a 6-2 win.
Slovakia then vied for the bronze medal against Finland. The Finns mounted an overwhelming onslaught, though, and pummeled the Slovaks 6-1 to claim the last spot on the podium.
But no Shark shined quite like Celebrini — selected first overall in the NHL draft by San Jose in 2024 and crowned Canada’s golden boy at just 19 years old.
Celebrini burst into the 2026 Games with a goal in every preliminary game. He scored once against both Czechia and Switzerland and added a pair of goals against France.
The quarterfinals saw Canada and Czechia face off for a second time. Celebrini added a goal and two assists to Canada’s 4-3 victory. After a nail-biting win over Finland in the next round, the Canadians advanced to the finals to take on their greatest rival — the Americans.
Celebrini and Team Canada ultimately lost in overtime to Team USA, but the young star left Milan-Cortina a champion regardless.
The Olympic rookie led the tournament with five goals, 28 shots, came second behind fellow Canadian Connor McDavid with 10 points and was named to the Games’ All-Star Team.
“(The) athletic spectacle of it all is drawing people in and he’s becoming a must-watch,” said Sharks Chief Marketing Officer Doug Bentz to The San Francisco Standard. “Even if someone is rooting for the United States to win, I think they’re also rooting for Macklin to continue to do these special things.”
The Sharks already knew what they had in their superstar forward, and now the rest of the world knows it too. Celebrini returns to San Jose with a silver medal and international accolades, and he’s still just a teenager.
Now let’s see what the Sharks can do with their returning Olympians.