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Olympic Hockey Recap: Horvat scores in Canada’s 5-0 shutout win over Czechia; USA defeat Blueger’s Latvia 5-1
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Photo credit: © Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Lachlan Irvine
Feb 12, 2026, 19:58 EST
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The day we’ve waited 12 long years for finally arrived. NHLers have returned to the Olympics, and Team Canada arrived in Italy with one of its most stacked rosters of all time.
This game lived up to the billing and more, with a whole bunch of superstars on one side, and the Vancouver Canucks‘ Filip Hronek and David Kämpf on the other. The heavyweight battle everyone’s been asking for!

Canada vs. Czechia

The opening of this game was everything hockey fans had waited for. Fast-paced, back-and-forth hockey with a smattering of hard checking thrown in. Heck, Connor McDavid threw a massive hit in the corner on Lukas Sedlak on his very first shift!
We thought we’d gotten our first Canada goal midway through the first after a shot by Nathan MacKinnon beat Lukas Dostal. But the referees immediately waived it off to call an interference penalty on Nick Suzuki after his stick blade got caught on a Czech defender’s foot as he entered the zone. Fil Hronek was in charge of the Czechs’ first power play unit, but Canada killed the penalty off before getting right back to work.
The first was an even battle right up until the final minute of play when the Canadians finally struck.
CANADA GOAL: Macklin Celebrini (1) – Assists: Cale Makar (1), Connor McDavid (1) – 1-0 Canada
In the final seconds of the first, Connor McDavid won a race to the puck and found Cale Makar with a cross-ice pass.
Makar’s shot gets deflected by the North Vancouver kid just below the crossbar and past Dostal, scoring Canada’s first goal by an NHLer since Chris Kunitz (talk about a throwback) sealed the gold medal game against Sweden at Sochi 2014.
Fun fact: Celebrini was seven when Canada last won gold. Feel old yet?
CANADA GOAL: Mark Stone (1) – Assists: Mitch Marner (1), Sidney Crosby (1) – 2-0 Canada
The floodgates fully opened for Canada in the second, after Sidney Crosby won a puck battle along the boards, Mitch Marner cut to the net and saucered a pass over a sliding Czech defender to Mark Stone. All Marner’s Golden Knights teammates had to do was tap it in the net for the 2-0 lead.
CANADA GOAL: Bo Horvat (1) – Assists: Brad Marchand (1), Thomas Harley (1) – 3-0 Canada
Then, a former Canuck made his presence known in his first Olympic tournament. As Brad Marchand collected the puck near the red line and drew two Czech-ers towards him, it opened up a lane for Bo streaking through the middle. Marchand made the pass, Horvat split the D and tucked the puck underneath Dostal’s pads for a gorgeous 3-0 goal.
Shades of his breakaway goal against (current Team Canada teammate!) Jordan Binnington in the 2020 bubble playoffs! Those were the days…
CANADA GOAL: Nathan MacKinnon (1) – Assists: Connor McDavid (2), Sidney Crosby (2) – 4-0 Canada
If there was one goal that every Canadian fan was waiting for, Nathan MacKinnon’s power play tally midway through the third was it.
With Dominik Kubalik in the box for interference, out went Canada’s top unit quarterbacked by Cale Makar, with – are you for this? – MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Sam Reinhart. It took just 13 seconds for the most lethal power play unit ever assembled to put together a tic-tac-toe passing play that MacKinnon finished off.
McDavid, with the pass below the goal line, picked up his second assist, and Crosby earned his second on the pass to #97. I hope there’s so much more of this to come.
CANADA GOAL: Nick Suzuki (1) – Assists: Connor McDavid (3), Thomas Harley (2) – 5-0 Canada Final.
Unsatisfied with just four goals, Team Canada salted the game away on McDavid’s third assist of the night, a pass to the doorstep for Nick Suzuki, who made up for his penalty earlier by tipping the puck behind Dostal.
In the shock of all shocks, Jordan Binnington picks up a 26-save shutout in a game where the score doesn’t match how even the play was in the earliest parts of the game. It took until the third period for the Canadians to finally pull away.
Here are the final ice times of this contest:
Daily Faceoff’s Canadian standout players: Jordan Binnington, Cale Makar, Thomas Harley, Macklin Celebrini, Mitch Marner and Connor McDavid.
Daily Faceoff’s Czech standout players: Tomas Hertl and Ondrej Kase.
Canucks:

Latvia vs. USA

The other big matchup from a Vancouver point of view was Teddy Blueger and Team Latvia squaring off against former Canucks Quinn Hughes and JT Miller for Team USA.
USA GOAL: Brady Tkachuk (1) – Assists: Matthew Tkachuk (1), Zach Werenski (1) – 1-0 USA
It didn’t take very long for the Americans to get the scoring started. Brady Tkachuk hasn’t had much playoff success in his career yet, but he seems to routinely show up on the international stage. Tonight he took a pass from his brother Matthew and ripped a shot past Latvian goalie Elvis Merzlikins, off the post and in to open the scoring.
The Americans nearly made it 2-0 a few minutes later, when frenemies of the province Quinn Hughes and JT Miller linked up for a play that ended with a Hughes goal. But Latvia’s video coach noticed that Brock Nelson had entered the zone before the puck did, and the goal was quickly reviewed and disallowed.
LATVIA GOAL: Renars Krastenbergs (1) – Assists: Zemgus Girgensons (1) – 1-1 Tie
With a new lease on life, Latvia turned the play the other way extremely quickly, starting with a high hit on Auston Matthews by Dans Locmelis that didn’t earn a penalty call. The Latvians created a scramble of chances in front of the American net, where Renars Krastenbergs snapped the puck past a stunned Connor Hellebuyck. Game tied.
Team USA was forced to reset, and once again, the Americans thought they had their second goal off the deflected stick of Brock Nelson. But Latvia challenged again, this time for goaltender interference. The command centre determined that Miller made contact with Merzlikins and prevented him from stopping the puck, resulting in yet another American goal called back. So far, Latvia’s video coach is making a case for tournament MVP.
USA GOAL: Brock Nelson (1) – Assists: Jack Hughes (1), Vincent Trocheck (1) – 2-1 USA
To the shock of many, the game stayed deadlocked until the midway mark. This time, no coach’s challenge was going to stop Brock Nelson from dekeing out Merzlikins on a feed from Jack Hughes that he buried in the back of an open net.
USA GOAL: Tage Thompson (1) – Assists: Jack Eichel (1), Quinn Hughes (1) – 3-1 USA
After an ill-timed cross-checking penalty from Roberts Mamcics, the Americans smelled blood in the water. Tage Thompson somehow got wide open near the right corner of the net on the ensuing power play, and quickly roofed a backhander over Merzlikins’ shoulder and under the bar.
USA GOAL: Brock Nelson (2) – Assists: Jack Hughes (2), Matthew Tkachuk (2) – 4-1 USA
With the ice firmly tilted into the Latvians’ end, the Americans found a dagger in the final seconds of the middle frame off so many passes. The puck went – in this exact order – from Jack to Quinn to Matthew to Jack to Brock to the back of the net. Poor Merzlikins – who’d be replaced in the third by another former Canuck, Arturs Silovs – could only watch in exhaustion as the puck pinballed around him.
USA GOAL: Auston Matthews (1) – Assists: Jack Eichel (2), Quinn Hughes (2) – 5-1 USA Final.
Team USA would find one more goal before the night was out, courtesy of their captain. Auston Matthews had been noticeably quiet for most of the night, but he got on the scoresheet eventually with a power play goal early in the third. None of the four Latvian penalty killers in his orbit could get the puck off his stick as he rifled it under the bar.
The Americans play next on Valentine’s Day against Denmark, while the Latvians face Germany earlier that morning.
Here are the final ice times of this contest:
Daily Faceoff’s Latvian standout players: Video Coach, Kristians Rubins, Alberts Smits, and Renars Krastensbergs.
Daily Faceoff’s American standout players: Zach Werenski, Quinn Hughes, Matthew Tkachuk, Brock Nelson, and Jack Hughes.
Canucks: Teddy Blueger finished this contest with a minus-one rating in just over 15 minutes of ice time while playing his usual defensive game.

Olympic Roundup

  • The men weren’t the only Canadian hockey team to play today! The Women’s Team made it a clean sweep on the day with a 5-0 victory over Finland to secure second place in Group A. Among the point getters today: Surrey native and Vancouver Goldeneye Jenn Gardiner, who picked up a goal and an assist in less than ten minutes of ice time. Someone deserves a bigger role than the fourth line, if you ask me.
  • Elsewhere in Group A, Switzerland shut out France 4-0, thanks to a pair of third period goals for Timo Meier and a shutout performance from Leonardo Genoni. The Swiss might not be a juggernaut on the level of some other teams in this tournament, but they’ll certainly give a Canada a hard battle for the Group A lead on Friday.
  • And finally, Germany was the other big winner out of Group C. Leon Draisaitl scored 23 seconds into the contest (to the surprise of absolutely no one), and Tim Stützle potted a pair in the second period en route to a 3-1 win. That makes current Abbotsford Canuck Lukas Reichel one of just two Olympians in the Canucks system to start the Olympics on a winning note. The other was Elias Pettersson and Sweden.

Canucks

Filip Hronek: Hronek manned heavy minutes, playing 21:09, quarterbacking the Czechs top power play unit. He finished with a minus two rating and one shot on goal.
David Kämpf: Had a minus-one rating and one shot on goal in 17:41 minutes of ice time. He led the Czech’s centres in minutes (by two seconds), and nearly opened the scoring with a wide-open net, but shot the puck into Binnington’s glove.
Teddy Blueger: Finished with a minus-one rating in just over 15 minutes of ice time while playing his usual defensive game.

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