Macklin Celebrini Shines as Canada Rolls Past Switzerland at Winter Olympics
Macklin Celebrini is making the most of his Olympic debut-and doing it in style.
The 19-year-old San Jose Sharks center has been turning heads in Milan Cortina, and Friday was no exception. Lining up alongside the NHL’s two leading scorers, Celebrini notched a goal and an assist as Team Canada cruised to a 5-1 win over Switzerland at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
That’s two goals in two games for the teenager, who continues to look right at home on the international stage.
His goal came early in the second period, finishing off a slick feed from Nathan MacKinnon at 4:14 to give Canada a 3-1 cushion. But Celebrini wasn’t done. In the third, he forced a turnover deep in the Swiss zone, setting up a sequence that ended with MacKinnon burying a rebound off a Connor McDavid shot-stretching Canada’s lead and all but sealing the game.
The turning point may have come late in the first period. After Switzerland cut Canada’s lead to 2-1 on a Pius Suter power play goal with 7:18 left in the frame, Canadian head coach Jon Cooper shuffled the top line, pairing Celebrini with McDavid and MacKinnon.
The move paid off immediately. The trio clicked with the kind of chemistry you don’t often see from a newly formed line, combining for five points over the final two periods.
With the win, Canada improved to 2-0-0-0 and locked up first place in Group A, earning a direct ticket to the quarterfinals. They’ll wrap up group play on Sunday against France, with a chance to secure the tournament’s top seed. The top four teams overall after group play get to bypass the qualification round, which features teams seeded fifth through twelfth.
And while Celebrini is making a strong case as Canada’s breakout star, he’s doing it flanked by two of the NHL’s most dominant forces. At the Olympic break, McDavid leads the league with 96 points, followed closely by MacKinnon at 93.
Nikita Kucherov sits third at 91. Celebrini, meanwhile, is pacing the Sharks with 81 points-far and away the team’s offensive engine.
He also found the back of the net in Canada’s tournament-opening 5-0 shutout over Czechia on Thursday, giving him a two-game scoring streak to start Olympic play.
Switzerland’s lone goal Friday came in the first period, when Suter tapped in a loose puck past Canadian goalie Logan Thompson on the power play. That goal sparked a roar from the Swiss faithful, who showed up in numbers and made their presence felt inside the arena.
Swiss forward and fellow Shark Philipp Kurashev had anticipated a special moment in Milan, with friends and family expected in the crowd. “It’s a dream come true for me and also for my family as well,” Kurashev said earlier this month. “Just excited to kind of get to experience it all… hopefully we can have a great tournament and have a lot of great moments.”
Elsewhere Around the Olympic Rinks
Sharks winger Pavol Regenda made his mark for Slovakia in a 3-2 win over Italy at Rho Arena. With Slovakia on the power play in the third period, Regenda tracked down a rebound and backhanded a pass back into the slot, where Adam Ruzicka pounced and fired it into the net for a 3-1 lead.
Regenda finished with two shots on goal, helping Slovakia move into first place in Group B. They’ll close out preliminary play against Sweden on Saturday.
Speaking of Sweden, Sharks center Alex Wennberg logged solid minutes in a tough 4-1 loss to rival Finland. Wennberg won seven of his 13 faceoffs and registered one shot on goal, but it wasn’t enough to slow down a Finnish team that came out flying.
Finland struck twice in the opening period with goals from Nikolas Matinpalo and Anton Lundell. Sweden got one back on a power play goal from Rasmus Dahlin early in the second, but Joel Armia and Mikko Rantanen answered for Finland. Rantanen’s empty-netter in the final minute, assisted by former Sharks center Mikael Granlund, capped off the win.
As the Olympic tournament heats up, Sharks players are making their presence felt across multiple rosters. But it’s Celebrini who’s stealing the spotlight-playing with poise, confidence, and the kind of skill that has Canada dreaming big.