{"id":459189,"date":"2026-02-15T22:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T22:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/459189\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T22:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T22:30:21","slug":"macklin-celebrini-makes-olympic-history-as-canada-tops-france-in-milan-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/459189\/","title":{"rendered":"Macklin Celebrini makes Olympic history as Canada tops France in Milan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macklin Celebrini is only through the preliminary round<\/a> of the Milan Cortina Games, and he\u2019s already made history<\/a> while nearing a San Jose Sharks record for most points by a player in any one Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n

Celebrini had two goals, including one on a penalty shot, and an assist on Sunday as Canada routed France 10-2<\/a> at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena to close out play in Group A with a 3-0-0-0 record.<\/p>\n

Celebrini, 19, had four goals and two assists in three preliminary round games, and his six points<\/a> in this tournament so far are just one shy of the Sharks\u2019 Olympic record of seven, set by Dany Heatley at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Heatley had four goals and three assists in seven games that year to help Canada win the gold medal<\/a>. Dan Boyle had six points for Canada.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Celebrini was awarded a penalty shot after he was hooked on a breakaway by French defenseman Florian Chakiachvili at the 17:16 mark of the second period. Celebrini made no mistake, beating Julian Junca for what was then his third goal of the Games.<\/p>\n

With the goal, Celebrini became the first NHL player<\/a> to score on a penalty shot in the Olympics.<\/p>\n

Per IIHF rules, the Canadians could have sent any of their players out to take the penalty shot, but coach Jon Cooper stuck with Celebrini.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea that you could pick a shooter, so I just assumed it was me. That\u2019s why I skated out there,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cIf they sent somebody else to take my place, I would have gotten off the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Canada'sCanada’s Macklin Celebrini (17) challenges France’s goalkeeper Julian Junca (33) during a preliminary round game of men’s ice hockey between Canada and France at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other NHL players who had penalty shot attempts were Russia\u2019s Alexei Yashin in 1998, Milan Hejduk of the Czech Republic in 2006, Canada\u2019s Sidney Crosby and Corey Perry in 2010 and 2014, respectively, and American Patrick Kane in 2014, when he attempted two in the bronze medal game. NHL players did not take part in the 2018 or 2022 Winter Games.<\/p>\n

With Sunday\u2019s performance, Celebrini surpassed Olli M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4 (2014) for the most goals by a teenager in an Olympic tournament with NHL players and tied Evgeni Malkin (2006) for the most points by a teenager in such a tournament.<\/p>\n

Celebrini also assisted on Connor McDavid\u2019s goal 20 seconds into the third period, and scored a power-play goal with 8:13 left in regulation time as Canada took a 10-2 lead.<\/p>\n

McDavid added two assists on Sunday and led the tournament with nine points before Sunday\u2019s later games.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Cooper had Celebrini back with McDavid and Tom Wilson for the start of Sunday\u2019s game, although Nathan MacKinnon was mixed in with Celebrini and McDavid for a few shifts. Celebrini, McDavid, and Wilson were together for the Canadians\u2019 5-0 win over Czechia on Thursday, but MacKinnon replaced Wilson for the final two periods of Canada\u2019s 5-1 win over Switzerland on Friday.<\/p>\n

Celebrini scored on Thursday and had a goal and an assist on Friday, as Canada clinched first place in Group A and a spot in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting more comfortable with each other,\u201d Celebrini said of McDavid. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun playing with him and (Wilson), working off those guys, making plays and just trying to create offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slovakia, with Sharks winger Pavol Regenda, clinched first place in Group B and a spot in the quarterfinals with a 5-3 loss<\/a> to Sweden. Slovakia earned first place because it had a better goal differential than Sweden, which features Sharks center Alexander Wennberg, or Finland.<\/p>\n

Switzerland, with Sharks forward Philipp Kurashev, beat Czechia 4-3 in overtime earlier Sunday. The Swiss, who lost Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala to a season-ending injury during Friday\u2019s loss to Canada, will likely face France or Italy in the single-elimination qualification playoffs on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The top four teams in the 12-team tournament earn a bye into Wednesday\u2019s quarterfinals. The eight remaining teams play in the qualification playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re enjoying it,\u201d Celebrini said. We know the work is ahead with the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals coming up, and hopefully, we get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States (2-0-0-0) beat Denmark 6-3 on Saturday and can clinch a spot in the quarterfinals with anything other than a regulation-time Germany on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

TOP SHARKS SCORERS IN ANY ONE OLYMPICS<\/p>\n

Player\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Team\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Year\u00a0 \u00a0 Games\u00a0 Points<\/p>\n

Dany Heatley\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Canada\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2010\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 7\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 7<\/p>\n

Dan Boyle\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Canada\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2010\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 7\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 6<\/p>\n

Macklin Celebrini\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Canada\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2026\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 6<\/p>\n

Joe Pavelski\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 U.S.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a02014\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 5<\/p>\n

Patrick Marleau\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Canada\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2010\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 7\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a05<\/p>\n

Patrick Marleau\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Canada\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2014\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a04<\/p>\n

Niklas Sundstrom\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Sweden\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 2002\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a04<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Macklin Celebrini is only through the preliminary round of the Milan Cortina Games, and he\u2019s already made history…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[2616,2617,5,2614,1180,501,4,519,168,5306,5305,2618,1780,2615,2619,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-459189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-bay-area","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-inside-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-macklin-celebrini","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-san-jose","16":"tag-san-jose-sharks","17":"tag-sanjose","18":"tag-sanjosesharks","19":"tag-santa-clara-county","20":"tag-sharks","21":"tag-sharks-alert","22":"tag-south-bay","23":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116077018209914216","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}