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San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini stood stone-faced as an Olympic silver medal was placed around his neck on Sunday at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
This wasn’t what Team Canada’s youngest player wanted. Or expected.
Celebrini and the Canadians lost 2-1 to the United States in a heart-stopping final as New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes scored 1:41 into 3-on-3 overtime to give Team USA its first gold medal in men’s hockey since the Miracle on Ice team stood atop the podium in Lake Placid in 1980.
During the 12-day tournament, the first to include NHL players since 2014, Celebrini finished second in scoring with 10 points, becoming the highest-scoring teenager in Olympic men’s hockey history. Still just 19, he was named to the Olympic all-tournament team, as his five goals led all skaters.
All of that did little to ease the sting of Sunday’s loss for the ultra-competitive Celebrini.
“The whole time, we believed in ourselves,” Celebrini said. “We had lots of chances, I had lots of chances I missed. You get put in those situations, you have to capitalize on your opportunities, and I didn’t.”
Still, during the Games, Celebrini grew from being one of the NHL’s coolest stories this season and a burgeoning Bay Area star to having a much bigger international profile while cementing his status as one of the game’s greatest players.
From the start, Celebrini fit in seamlessly alongside the NHL’s leading scorer, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, and regularly played during Canada’s most high-leverage moments.
Just before Hughes’ goal Sunday, Celebrini was on the ice with Vegas Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner. Those two combined on an overtime goal that lifted Canada past Czechia in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Canadian forward Nathan MacKinnon was moved onto a line with McDavid and Celebrini early in round-robin play. The longtime center played right wing on that line and said, “I understand the position and obviously playing with the best player in the world (in McDavid), and maybe the second-best player in the world, in Macklin, it was a lot of fun.”
Now, it seems, nothing will be the same for Celebrini, who is still more than three months away from his 20th birthday.
Thanks to the massive viewership numbers that were expected for Sunday’s game, Celebrini will no doubt become more visible wherever he goes. As time goes on, the expectations for him and the Sharks will also increase, and by playing so well this season and on the world stage, Celebrini will likely help San Jose become a more attractive place for free agents.
Heck, since Celebrini and McDavid played so well together and found instant chemistry, there’s already been speculation that McDavid will leave the Oilers in 2028 when he becomes a free agent and joins the Sharks. We’ll see what happens.
“If you want to see a special talent, come watch the Sharks,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Saturday. “If you’re a hockey fan, if you’re not a hockey fan, you can just feel there’s a little bit of buzz around the area.
“I’m getting texts from people back home (in Massachusetts), because we’re on late, and now they’re going to stay up and watch the Sharks. And credit to Mack, he’s been a big part of that.”
Celebrini and the Canadians thought they let Sunday’s game slip away after badly outshooting the Americans 42-28, including 33-18 over the final two periods.
Celebrini had two glorious chances to score when the Canadians were on the power play late in the third period, and MacKinnon missed a wide-open net from short range.
Of American goalie Connor Hellebuyck’s 41 saves, perhaps the most memorable was the one early in the third period on Devon Toews, where Hellebuyck used the knob of his stick to stop what could have been the game-winning goal from going in.
“(Hellebuyck) was our best player by a mile,” said winger Matt Boldy, who scored a first-period goal to give the Americans a 1-0 lead. “He’s an absolute stud. He wants to be in those moments. He wants to make the saves. And he did just that, so he was definitely our MVP.”
Celebrini will likely remember such challenging moments as he begins to digest his often exhilarating experience at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games. But he’ll also likely remember the good times, how he set the stage for himself for the rest of this season with the Sharks, the 2028 World Cup of Hockey, and the 2030 Winter Olympics in France.
Things won’t be the same for Celebrini going forward. But as much as Sunday’s loss hurt, he also has to be excited about what’s ahead.
“We went through a lot,” Celebrini said. “We’re all going to remember this time, but unfortunately, it’s going to be more motivational than celebration.”
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Curtis Pashelka
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