Canada delivers decisive 5-0 victory over Czechia, as NHL players return to Olympic ice

Macklin Celebrini scores Canada's 1st Olympic end with NHL'ers in nearly 12 years

sir philip sidney bing crosby on if Milano Cortina will be his final Olympic Games

Where are the Quebec hockey stars?

Canada's Éliot Grondin captures snowboard cross silver for 3rd Olympic medal

Mikaël Kingsbury collects his record 4th Olympic moguls medal

Canada's Mikaël Kingsbury scores his 3rd Olympic silver medal after losing gold in a tiebreaker

Canada's Rachel Homan beats Denmark in women's Olympic curling opener

Italy's Federica Brignone wins super-G gold for 4th Olympic medal

Canadians Piper and Paul look back at achieving Olympic bronze medal

Czechia’s fans are noticeably quieter now that the team is down 5-0 in the third period. 

With 12 NHL players on its squad, Czechia is the strongest team in Canada's group, which also includes France and Switzerland. All of Canada's 25 players are in the NHL.

Make that 5-0. Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki added to Canada’s lead over Czechia, with a little more than six minutes to play in the third period.

MacKinnon and Crosby are both Nova Scotians and MacKinnon has spoken before about being "very close" with his teammate.

"I mean, he's eight years older than I am. So when he first entered the league, I was 10, you know, a ripe age to be a fan and obviously very close. Now, I learn a lot from him, obviously on the ice, but especially off the ice. He's such a good person. Treats everyone so well, great sense of humour. Just a fun guy to be around," MacKinnon has said.

"I don't know who's had more decorated Olympic moments. I mean, he scored in both gold-medal games. Just very clutch, obviously. I mean, he's a special player, a special person, obviously the captain. So yeah, amazing person."

This is 30-year-old Nathan MacKinnon's Olympic Winter Games debut. 

The Halifax-born centre with the Colorado Avalanche was named 4 Nations Face-Off MVP after Canada beat the United States in overtime to win the tournament last year, finishing with a leading four goals and a plus-four rating.

Canada has scored its first power play goal of this tournament to put Canada up 4-0 over Czechia.

Nathan MacKinnon is credited with the goal, thanks to assists from Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby.

It's still hard to believe these three are playing together: three generational talents, finally together at the Olympics.

There was a nice moment at the end of the last pairing between Lollobrigida and Czechia long-track legend Martina Sablikova.

The two shared a hug and the Italian skater made several bows in respect toward Sablikova. 

Sablikova, 38, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, placed 11th with 7:07.08. She has announced she would be retiring following these Games.

These are the Olympic events on the agenda where Canadian athletes are headlining: 

Snowboard halfpipe: The women's final drops at 1:30 p.m. ET. Elizabeth Hosking qualified in eighth place out of 12 riders. She drops in fifth in Run 1.

Short-track speed skating: Will Dandjinou is in the men's 1,000-metre race, and Courtney Sarault and Kim Boutin are racing in the women's 500-metre race. Quarterfinals start at 2:15 p.m., followed by finals at 3:31 p.m. ET.

It's a busy day for Canadian athletes at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, with overlapping competitions. Here are the highlights from this morning:

Canada's medal count: Six (three 🥈 and three 🥉).

Historic silver in men's moguls (after a tiebreak)

Canada's Mikaël Kingsbury scored his third career Olympic silver medal in the men's moguls after losing gold in a tiebreaker. 

It came down to the Deux-Montagnes, Que., native's turns score. He was 0.7 points behind Australia's Cooper Woods — meaning his run down the moguls slope wasn't as clean. (Kingsbury beat him in the air score, because his tricks had a higher degree of difficulty.)

The new dad still made history as the first male freestyle skier to claim four Olympic medals (one gold and three silvers). His 18-month-year-old even wanted a taste.

Silver in snowboard cross. Is this 2022 all over again?

Éliot Grondin captured silver in the men's snowboard cross, his third career Olympic medal, after a tight race that came down to a photo finish.

It was a repeat of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, with Austria's Alessandro Haemmerle narrowly beating Grondin to the finish line. 

The Canadian was three-hundredths of a second behind.

Canadian hockey double header

Sidney Crosby is back 🥹. I repeat: Sidney Crosby is back. Plus, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon are making their Olympic debuts as NHL players return to the Games for the first time since 2014.

Canada is opening the preliminary stage against Czechia. We're up 3-0 at the end of the second period.

On the women's side, the team was still without its captain Marie-Philip Poulin against Finland to close out the group stage. Canada's head coach told us she needs an "extra couple days" of rest. 

That didn't stop Team Canada from ending the preliminary round on a high, with a 5-0 win. 

They move on to the quarterfinals on Saturday where they'll face Germany. These two teams have never played each other at the Olympics.   

Ukrainian skeleton slider out of Olympics over banned helmet

The Olympic governing body's debate over the Ukrainian skeleton slider's helmet has come to an end. Vladyslav Heraskevych, a likely medal contender, was disqualified from competing — roughly 45 minutes before the start of the race. 

His helmet honouring teammates killed in the war with Russia has been a flashpoint in a days-long standoff between the athlete and the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC president appeared to have tears in her eyes after making the decision. Heraskevych plans to appeal his disqualification to the Court of Arbitration of Sport.

Quick hits:

Éliot Grondin relied on his experience to win Olympic snowboard cross silver

Éliot Grondin of Sainte-Marie, Que., says he used his experience and tricks to earn his second-career Olympic snowboard cross silver medal.

Éliot Grondin says that while he was gunning for gold in snowboard cross today, he's still happy with silver and had fun doing his sport. 

"Not many people can do back-to-back podiums in the Olympics. I just got two silver in a row, so it shows that we've been on top of the sport for a little while now."

It's also 24-year-old Grondin's second time coming in behind Austria's Alessandro Haemmerle, 32, whose snowboard inched over the line a fraction of a second faster. 

"He's been one of my greatest rivals … so at least I got beat by someone who's been giving me trouble all my career," Grondin said. 

The snowboarder noted the weather conditions started out clear and sunny, before clouds closed in with snow and wind, adding a layer of difficulty to the competition. 

Mikaël Kingsbury 'proud' to win his 4th Olympic medal in what might be his final moguls run

Mikaël Kingsbury of Deux-Montagnes, Que., won a silver medal in the Olympic men's moguls competition. While Kingsbury is scheduled to compete in this weekend's Olympic dual moguls competition, the most decorated freestyle skier of all time admits this could have been the last single moguls competition of his career.

While there's a moment, we'll catch you up on what Canada's two silver medallists of the day had to say earlier after reaching the podium.

Mikaël Kingsbury had the gold medal within his reach, laying down a score of 83.71 in the last run of the men's mogul final in Livigno. But it came down to a tiebreak. 

"God that was close," the 33-year-old from Deux-Montagnes, Que., said in the finish. 

"I don't want to say bittersweet, because I'm very happy, but how can you be closer to a gold medal than that?" he continued. 

Competing in his fourth Olympics, Kingsbury is coming back from a groin injury he suffered during training in September. He said the road to the Olympics was difficult, but he also saw some success. He won on home snow in Val Saint-Côme, Que., in January to record his 100th FIS World Cup victory.

That wasn't the only thing that was different for Kingsbury in the lead up to these Winter Games. 

He choked up when talking about what it means to ski in front of his son Henrik, who is just shy of 18 months old, on the world stage.

"I know it might be my last one," he said in reference to his silver medal. 

Kingsbury still has one more event to go: the dual moguls on Sunday. 

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