Macklin Celebrini had himself one hell of a showing at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics as he and Team Canada earned a silver medal.

Following the Olympic break, the Sharks star spoke with reporters about falling in the gold medal game to the United States.

“I think just losing, we were so close,” Celebrini told reporters in San Jose on Wednesday. “Whatever excuses you want to make about the game for us, I think at the end of the day we just didn’t win. It’s bitter, it’s sour that we didn’t win and we came that close, especially everything that we kind of fought through but can’t change it now.”

The 19-year-old earned the second-most points of any competitors with 10 – behind only teammate Connor McDavid, who had 13 – and described what it was like playing side by side with some of the best players in the world.

“It was fun to be around those guys, play with them and a lot of those guys I looked up to my whole childhood,” Celebrini said. “It was an honor to play with them and be around them every single day, but it sucks. It’s a little sour that you look back at it and just didn’t get the job done.

“I think just being around the best of the best, obviously that’s my goal. Just looking at them and seeing how they approach every day and some of the things that they do to make themselves successful, it definitely helped.”

As for the star forward and Canada falling in the championship, he said he embraces the loss and that he’ll be using it for inspiration as he and the Sharks (27-24-4) aim for a Stanley Cup playoff push to close out the season.

“A lot of people say you learn more from losing than winning, and [I] definitely did. That hurt when they put the silver medal around our neck,” Celebrini said. “We waited around there for about 30, 40 minutes just standing around on the ice watching them celebrate. Hopefully I have a few more chances at winning with Hockey Canada and I get fortunate enough to be on those teams. I’m going to remember that, especially as we get going with our group just not taking for granted just winning.”

The Sharks begin their post-Olympics schedule against the Calgary Flames on Thursday at SAP Center.

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