Filling Sid’s Skates: Can Canada Survive Without Their Captain? Semifinal Matchup Preview

With Canadian captain Sidney Crosby leaning toward missing the semifinal tilt with Finland, how does Canada move forward without the heart and soul of their team?

Ryan Rishaug reported that Crosby will give it a shot tomorrow morning ahead of what could be his final Olympic game for Canada. As of now, Crosby has yet to receive MRI results, but sources say it doesn't look serious at the time of this post. Whether this is enough to allow him to play remains to be seen.

Knowing Crosby, if there's any chance at all that he can play in this game, he'll take it.

The motivation for the late comeback against Czechia was "Let's go win this for Sid", and the team responded by sparking one of the greatest comebacks in Canadian history. If they go the distance and Crosby does remain out for these final few games, we can only hope that the team has this message ingrained in their minds.

Who leads Canada to glory?

Lineup-wise, it's safe to assume that Nick Suzuki will slot in to Crosby's spot between Mitch Marner and Mark Stone, as reported by Rishaug. Suzuki played well in that spot against the Czechs, scoring the game-tying goal that sent them to overtime, but who will take on the leadership role that Crosby provides? Per IIHF rules, someone has to wear the C, and the natural selection to me is Connor McDavid.

McDavid leads the team in points and has been Canada's most dominant forward by far, especially from the eye test. But as we all know, leadership transcends talent. Being the best player doesn't always mean you're worthy of the C, as it depends on how well you can lead a team. Fortunately, McDavid possesses this trait as well.

In his Players' Tribune article posted earlier this month, he discussed what representing Canada means to him, and how playing at the Olympics has "been this part of me that’s been missing". Connor knows what it means to wear the C, and I think coach John Cooper and even Sidney Crosby would agree that he's earned that right.

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Matchup Preview

Canada faces a similar Finland team to the one they matched up with in the Four Nations Faceoff just last season. Forwards Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen are leading the way so far at this year's games with 5 points apiece. While ranking second in goals for after their 11-goal battering of the Italians, their defence has been the most impressive part of their tournament so far, backed by the strong play of Miro Heiskanen. The Finns have allowed the third-fewest goals of any team in the tournament thus far, only one goal behind the two favourites in the USA and Canada, which was especially impressive given the strength of their group.

The Canadian team was deemed unstoppable after the group stage, dominating every opponent they faced, finishing first in both goals for and goals against. Unfortunately, the quarterfinal showed that Canada is human after all, needing a late equalizer and an overtime winner to beat the same Czechia team they beat 5-0 to open the tournament. On paper, Canada remains the heavy favourite. Now, it’s about whether they can keep responding when adversity hits.