Canada scores 1st goal in men's hockey against Czechia, as NHL players return to Olympic ice

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I spotted a familiar face beside Rick Celebrini, Macklin Celebrini’s father, cheering in the crowd when his son scored Canada’s first goal just now.

In November, I visited the North Shore Winter Club in North Vancouver, which has produced Celebrini, Connor Bedard and Chloe Primerano, among other stars.

I sat down with Cole Todd, who first coached Celebrini on an under-13 team. He became close to the family, even driving the Celebrini kids around the city to practices while Rick Celebrini was away working for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

Todd still works with Celebrini in the summers at the North Shore Winter Club, and told me he’d be tempted to buy a ticket to Italy should Celebrini make the team.

Now, we see him cheering alongside the Celebrinis. Pretty cool moment.

Nineteen-year-old Macklin Celebrini has opened the scoring for Canada at this tournament. 

Cale Makar and Connor McDavid are credited with the assists.

Lots of excitement from Celebrini’s family in the stands after his goal. Celebrini played his way onto this team after a solid performance at last year’s world championship and an even better start to his second NHL season with the San Jose Sharks.

Canada is up 1-0 on Czechia at the end of the first period.

The oval was filled yesterday with tension after a dramatic crossover led to a disqualification and re-race. Dutch skater Joep Wennemars was headed for gold in his 1,000-metre race until Chinese skater Lian Ziwen collided with him, setting him off course. 

Ziwen was disqualified and Wennemars, who is making his Olympic debut at the Milano-Cortina Games, was granted a re-race but failed to rival his time from the first race and to make the podium. 

The crowd in the oval, which has been consistently filled with Netherlands fans dressed in orange, was rapturous as Wennemars gave it his all, skating alone on the ice. Wennemars's father, Erben Wennemars, won gold in the same event at the 2006 Turin Games.

American world-record holder Jordan Stolz ended up taking gold and Wennemars's teammate, Jenning de Boo, took silver. Zhongyan Ning of China won bronze.

We're back to the temporary ice oval where the women's long-track 5,000-metre speed skating race is taking place. 

Canadian star Isabelle Weidemann is in the second-last pair. Teammate Laura Hall, in her Olympic debut at 22 years old, has completed her race with a time of 7:02.90.

The atmosphere in the oval rivals other venues at these Olympics, complete with an Italian hype man and dance music between races.

We just got our first look at Canada's power play units in men's Olympic hockey. It's safe to say this first unit is stacked:

No luck on that first power play opportunity for Canada, but there were some good looks.

Media asked NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about what happens when the World Cup of Hockey returns and whether the league will follow the rules set by the International Olympic Committee around Russian players.

"We will follow what the international community is doing in terms of athletics. I don't see a need for us to weigh in separately," he told reporters at a pre-game presser on Tuesday.

"In terms of our games and our players, if we can steer clear of geopolitical issues,..I think it is better for the game, better for our players and better for our fans."

When it comes to the state of the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, Bettman said there will be a debrief afterwards. He previously raised concerns about the fact that the ice is shorter than the rinks in the NHL.

As the men's hockey game begins, energy is high in the arena. 

And if there was a medal for the team with the most energetic fans, it would go to Czechia. Their fans are loud! Lots of chanting, and then booing Team Canada as they hit ice. It's no secret who the fans' favourites are here.

The Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights each have three players representing Canada at the Milano-Cortina Games.

Only three of Canada's seven NHL teams have players on the roster: Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadiens and Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets.

That's a wrap on the women's hockey preliminary round, with a strong 5-0 win over Finland for Canada.

Emily Clark had two goals in the win. Kristin O'Neill, Jenn Gardiner and Daryl Watts also added goals.

Canada will now shift focus to the quarterfinals on Saturday. They'll face Germany at 10:40 a.m. ET after finishing second in Group A.

Other quarterfinal matchups include USA-Italy, Czechia-Sweden and Finland-Switzerland.

Take a look at the shots in the second period for the Canadian women’s hockey team against the U.S. On Tuesday, which you can see in the photo below on the left:

Those blue marks are shots, including attempts that missed the net or were blocked. You can see most of them were from the perimeter, and Canada didn't have much opportunity in the slot area in front of the American net.

Compare that to today's second period against Finland, which you can see in the same photo, on the right.

You can see the Canadians have been getting shots from areas where they're likely to get a good look at the net and where they can generate rebounds.

The U.S. Defence can skate well and is strong on transition. That means they're really good at taking the puck the other way quickly. Shots from the perimeter also don't generate much in the way of rebounds.

That gives you a sense of the problem Canada will need to solve, should these teams meet again in the final.

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