{"id":476557,"date":"2026-02-28T06:05:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T06:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/476557\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T06:05:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T06:05:22","slug":"rick-celebrini-will-cherish-watching-macklin-at-winter-olympics-nbc-sports-bay-area-california-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/476557\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick Celebrini will \u2018cherish\u2019 watching Macklin at Winter Olympics \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macklin Celebrini<\/a> made every second count for Team Canada at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In earning a silver medal for his country, the Sharks superstar led all players in the tournament with five goals in six games — finishing second behind Connor McDavid<\/a> in total points with 10 — as a member of the media\u2019s tournament All-Star team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But most importantly? The 19-year-old Celebrini made his family, particularly his dad, Rick, extremely proud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know how you put it into words,\u201d Rick, the Warriors\u2019 director of sports medicine and performance, told reporters on Friday at Golden State practice. \u201cI mean, it was an incredible experience, being there as a family unit. I felt a little guilty playing hooky from my role here, but it was certainly something that is a life memory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd to see, you know, your boy — that was my fourth Winter Olympics — so to experience those professionally, but then to have the opportunity to experience it as Macklin’s dad, was a completely different experience and something I\u2019ll cherish for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rick had worked at three previous Winter Olympics in roles centered around sports medicine and performance.<\/p>\n

In 2026, however, the 58-year-old simply got to be Macklin\u2019s biggest fan; however, across snowy Northern Italy, the task wasn\u2019t all just sunshine and rainbows.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeaming is one word,\u201d Rick described. \u201cStressful, nervous, anxious at times \u2026 incredible sort of roller coaster of emotions, as you can imagine. And just the lead-up to the gold medal game with the incredible sort of tightness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed inevitable that we were going to lose against [Czechia], and somehow pulled it off \u2026 went down early to [Finland] and pulled it off. So, you start feeling like this is maybe something that’s meant to be, and then heartbroken in the final.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team Canada\u2019s crushing defeat to Team USA in the gold medal game still stings, but Macklin, individually, was one of the biggest stars of the winter games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And while it might\u2019ve been just another day in the office for the nonchalant San Jose icon, his proud father remained in, well, proud father mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, the whole context of it is different, you know? Rick said. \u201cI mean, obviously, the NHL being the best league in the world, you gain a respect, and then there’s a normalization to that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then to see best on best in a tournament that is literally a one-game knockout as you go, just with the fact that it’s every four years and just everything that accompanies the aura and the reputation of the Olympics, was something that added a completely different context and intensity to the whole experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best is yet to come<\/a> for Macklin.<\/p>\n

But like fellow Bay Area superstar Steph Curry<\/a>, his first Olympic run wasn\u2019t too shabby.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent \u2026 you’re nervous, you’re anxious and then just extremely proud to see him step up and contribute in a meaningful way, and be part of the team,\u201d Rick said. \u201cNot the young kid that’s there for the experience and he’ll contribute next games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nice to see him contribute in a meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Download and follow the San Jose Hockey Now podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Macklin Celebrini made every second count for Team Canada at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. In earning a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[4772,5,501,4,519,168,5306,5305,1780],"class_list":["post-476557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose-sharks","tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympics","tag-hockey","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-nhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sanjose","tag-sanjosesharks","tag-sharks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116146754183226949","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476557","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=476557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}