Canada pitches a shutout in blowout win over Czechia today

Team Canada faced their first test in the 2026 Olympics today and they passed with flying colours.

Canada earned an impressive 5-0 victory over Czechia in preliminary action at the Milano Cortina Olympics today, thanks to some stellar team play in all three zones.

Teenaged0 phenom Macklin Celebrini got the party started late in the 1st period.

The North Vancouver, BC native scored Canada's ice breaking goal against Team Czechia this morning with just five seconds remaining in the opening period of both teams' Olympic opener.

Celebrini performed a deft tip on Cale Makar's point shot to give Canada a 1-0 advantage.

Check it out:

This kid is something else. He's got that real star power that we've seen from the likes of other 1st overall picks like Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. The sky is the limit for Celebrini.

Unfortunately, early in the 2nd period Canada got some bad injury news when Josh Morrissey has left the game after suffering an apparent injury.

The Winnipeg Jets defenseman left the team's bench early in the 2nd period today and NHL insider Elliotte Friedman is reported that Morrissey would not return for the 3rd period.

Because rosters allow for 7 defensemen at the Olympics, it's expected that 7th defender Thomas Harley will take Morrissey's spot on Canada's 2nd pairing with Colton Parayko.

It's important to note though that Canada cannot make any injury call ups now that the tournament has started. This means the likes of Jakob Chyrun or Evan Bouchard are not an option.

Stay tuned for a post-game update on Morrissey's status moving forward.

As for the rest of the team, they kept things rolling through the 2nd and 3rd period en route to a 5-0 shutout win.

The victory was highlighted with some very, very, VERY skilled plays from some very, very VERY skilled players.

I mean, just check out these highlight reel tallies:

Olympic hockey is back!