Memorial Cup champion Marner buries in overtime, Jarvis registers assist to send Canada to Olympic Semifinals

Milan, Italy.- Another day, another thrilling chapter in Canada and Czechia’s fiery on-ice rivalry.

2016 Memorial Cup champion Mitch Marner scored in overtime to seal a comeback 3-2 win for Canada and a berth in the Olympic semifinal- though it came at a cost, as CHL great and Captain Canada Sidney Crosby exited the game with an injury.

Teenage phenom Macklin Celebrini converted a feed from 2015 CHL Player of the Year Connor McDavid 3:05 into the opening frame.

But Czechia countered at the midway point of the period as Everett Silvertips graduate Radko Gudas forced a Canadian turnover to spring Roman Cervenka and Lukas Sedlak for the equalizer.

In 2009-10, Gudas led all Silvertips defencemen in scoring with 37 points (7G-30A) and a +45 rating in 65 games and was named to the WHL Western Conference Second All-Star Team.

The Czechs put themselves in the driver’s seat with a late powerplay strike from David Pastrnak.

Canada had to wait until the second period to respond with a powerplay tally of their own, courtesy of 2013 Memorial Cup champion Nathan MacKinnon, with McDavid and Celebrini snagging the assists.

With two assists on the afternoon, McDavid sits atop the tournament leaderboard with 11 points (1G-11A), with two more games ahead.

McDavid is tied for the most points scored at an Olympic Games with NHL participation, sharing the title with Finland’s Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu (2006).

With the match deadlocked at 2-2 with less than 10 minutes left in regulation, it looked like the Czechs would pull off an upset as Ondrej Palat restored the lead for the European squad.

As the clock ticked down below 3:30, former Portland Winterhawks alternate captain Seth Jarvis fed Devon Toews for a long wrister, which 2019 OHL Champion Nick Suzuki tipped past the Czech netminder for the late equalizer.

NICK SUZUKI! WE ARE TIED! 🚨

NICK SUZUKI! C’EST L’ÉGALITÉ! 🚨#MilanoCortina2026pic.twitter.com/hRVv6Y4u6w

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) February 18, 2026

In three-on-three overtime, Marner called game after dipping past a pair of defenders and sending a backhand shot past Lukas Dostal.

Canada (3-0-0-0) will now wait to see how the rest of the quarterfinal matchups shake out to determine its opponent.

Team will re-seed based on preliminary round record in the semifinal round.

Switzerland (1-1-0-1) is currently battling Finland (2-0-0-1) and the United States (3-0-0-0) and Sweden (2-0-0-1) are set to clash at 1:10 p.m. MST. Slovakia (2-0-0-1) defeated Germany (1-0-0-2) 6-2 in the early match.

NOTES

Lethbridge Hurricanes alum Oliver Okuliar netted a goal and an assist to lift Slovakia past Germany… 2015 WHL Champion and Playoff MVP Leon Draisaitl (Kelowna Rockets, Prince Albert Raiders) picked up an assist for Germany in the loss… At time of writing, Portland Winterhawks grad Nino Niederreiter has scored for Switzerland to lead Finland 2-0.