There will be no supplemental discipline for the fight between Team Canada’s Tom Wilson and Team France’s Pierre Crinon at the end of Canada’s 10-2 win on Sunday per Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The Olympic rulebook has long been strict about fighting, even calling it out as “not part of international hockey’s DNA”. Fighting majors result in automatic match penalties and are reviewed for supplemental discipline after the game. In this case, neither player will face a suspension for their actions, keeping two of the top enforcers in the tournament on the ice.
Wilson has been strategically rotated onto Canada’s top line for much of the tournament. His intense physicality has filled a gap next to superstar Connor McDavid and Canada’s youngest player, Macklin Celebrini. Wilson has earned three points in three games in that role, though he’s averaged less than 12 minutes of ice time a game – partially thanks to an ejection in the third period on Sunday.
Crinon has long been known as a bruiser. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound defenseman currently has 66 penalty minutes in 29 games in France’s Ligue Magnus, the country’s top league. He served a seven-game suspension earlier in the league’s season for knocking out an opposing goalie with a punch during a scrum. Cronin racked up 95 penalty minutes in only 36 games of the 2023-24 Ligue Magnus season.
This decision will allow Wilson to stick with Canada as they head into the quarterfinals. At their current pace, Canada seems likely to face one of Germany, Latvia, or Czechia. Crinon will bring his enforcer presence to the qualifying rounds against Italy and Denmark.
I am confused about the format for this tournament. My supposition was that the top two in each group advance, plus the two best third place finishers. Is that not the case?
Never mind, chat GPT answered my question for me:
Advancement Format
Top 4 teams overall → receive a bye directly to the quarterfinals.
Teams ranked 5–12 → play in a qualification round (play-in):
5 vs 12
6 vs 11
7 vs 10
8 vs 9
Winners of those four games advance to join the top four in the quarterfinals.
This is crazy because it basically means Slovakia gets a bye into the quarter-finals. I don’t think anyone predicted that.
Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament Format
1. Tournament Structure Overview
• 12 teams total
• Preliminary Round (Group Play)
• Qualification Round (Play-in)
• Quarterfinals
• Semifinals
• Bronze
Why is Pierre Crinon not on an AHL/NHL roster? Does he completely suck at defense?
If you haven’t heard of a player on an international roster, there’s a pretty solid chance it’s because they’re not good enough for the NHL. Maybe like 2% of the time, you find an incredible international talent that scouts just slept on, but generally speaking, and enforcer from a French pro league probably isn’t going to be good enough to maintain a roster spot on an ECHL team.