Stone notches three points in rout of France, Canada stays perfect at Olympic Games

Milan, Italy- Former Brandon Wheat Kings captain Mark Stone piled up a goal and two assists while Western Hockey League alumni combined for six points in Canada’s 10-2 rout of France on Sunday.

The win sees Canada improve to 3-0-0-0 at the games, having already locked up first place in Group A while having a strong shot at finishing first overall in group play.

Canada needed to score as many goals as possible to pump up its goal differential in case of a tiebreak with the United States (2-0-0-0)- which will now need to beat Germany (1-0-0-1) by at least 10 goals to finish first and earn a key advantage for re-seeding heading into the quarterfinals.

“When you go into these tournaments, you expect everyone’s best coming in, coming out of the gates in the first period,” Stone told the IIHF. “But we feel like if we’re playing 60 minutes, rolling over four lines, we’re going to start wearing teams down. I think that’s what ended up happening.”

The early goings of the match were marked by a flurry of Canadian shots, but nothing to show as far as goals before the teams erupted for three goals in under a minute.

OHL graduate Tom Wilson and Flouran Douay trade blows to tie the game at 1-1 just 13 seconds apart before Devon Toews restored the Canadian lead for good with a trailing wrister one a three-on-one rush for boys in red.

Stone capped off the period by breaking up a French powerplay pass and marching down the ice on a shorthanded breakaway to loft a backhanded shot into the net for a buzzer-beater.

At 33 years old, Stone is the oldest Canadian player to score a shorthanded goal at an Olympics with NHL Players, per the NHL.

Young guns Cale Makar and Macklin Celebrini added to the damage in the second before Stone teed up Captain Canada Sidney Crosby for his first goal of the tournament.

Crosby is now Canada’s all-time leading Olympic scorer on the men’s side in the NHL era with 16 points (7G-9A) in 16 games at three different Olympic Winter Games.

However, 2015 CHL Player of the Year Connor McDavid will likely join Crosby at the top of that list soon.

The former Eerie Otters captain was the next skater on the scoresheet with a third period lamp-lighter. He now leads all skaters with nine points (2G-7A) in three games.

France was able to get one more goal past Jordan Binnington, but two-time Stanley Cup champion Sam Reinhart (Kootenay ICE) bombed a long shot on net, with two-time OHL Champion Bo Horvat parked on the doorstep hammer home the rebound at a sharp angle.

Reinhart can now add his first Olympic point to his lengthy resume, which includes a WHL Championship, WHL Rookie of the Year honours, WHL Player of the Year, WHL Most Sportsmanlike Player, World Junior gold, World Championship gold, and the first 4 Nations Face-Off win.

Red Deer Rebels grad Brandon Hagel continued the pile-on as he notched his first goal on a three-on-one rush, with Memorial Cup winner Nathan Mackinnon and Seattle Thunderbirds alum and 2015 WHL Defenceman of the Year Shea Theodore serving up the assists.

Stone sealed the scoring with a centering pass for Celebrini, who struck for the second time with a wrister from the slot to make it 10-2.

Wilson also completed a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist, and a fight as he dropped the mitts against Pierre Crinon late in the game.

Among the rowdiest fans in the crowd were Portland Winterhawks alum Seth Jarvis’s friend group from Winnipeg, who made the trip to Milan to support their star pal after gaining viral notoriety for making a 30-hour road trip to cheer on Jarvis at the 4 Nations Face-Off in Boston last year.

The boys are here! 🇨🇦

Seth Jarvis's friends from Winnipeg have made the journey to Milan to watch @HockeyCanada at #MilanoCortina2026 🏒 pic.twitter.com/cSdanY8SWc

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 15, 2026

Canada now awaits its quarterfinal opponent and start time on Tuesday, February 17.

NOTES

Olympic bronze medalist and 2012 WHL Champion Martin Gernat (Edmonton Oil Kings) logged a goal and an assist for Slovakia in a 5-3 loss to Sweden, bringing his total to four points (1G-3A) in three games… Kamloops Blazers alum Rudolfs Balcers had an assist for Latvia to edge Germany 4-3, while 2015 WHL Champion and Playoff MVP Leon Draisaitl picked up one helper… Portland Winterhawks grad and WHL Western Conference Second All-Star team defenceman Henri Jokiharju earned an assist for Finland to demolish Italy 11-0… 2017 WHL Champion Alexander True (Seattle Thunderbirds) added an assist as Denmark fell to the United States 6-3.