Injured captain Sidney Crosby out for Canada against the US in the Olympic gold medal game

MILAN (AP) — Sidney Crosby will not play for Canada in the men’s gold medal hockey game against the U.S. at the Winter Olympics on Sunday, four days after suffering an apparent right knee injury.

Crosby’s status was revealed just over an hour before puck drop when the lineups came out. Crosby skated in a closed-to-reporters practice Saturday, according to coach Jon Cooper and other players.

Being without the two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time Stanley Cup champion is a huge loss for Canada in a showdown with the also-unbeaten Americans. Connor McDavid will again wear the captain’s “C” in Crosby’s absence. McDavid leads all Olympic players with 13 points over five games.

Cooper made it clear that Crosby would only be in uniform if he could play a regular role.

“No, no, it’s too important," Cooper said Saturday. "We don’t want to have somebody in there as an inspiration when we could have a player that could be capable of helping. You never know if guys are going to get hurt in the game. He wouldn’t want to do that, either.”

The 38-year-old center left the quarterfinal game against Czechia with the injury and he missed Canada’s semifinal game against Finland.

Even without Crosby, the U.S. against Canada for Olympic gold is a titanic showdown.

As the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago showed, the North American powerhouses are atop the hockey world on the international stage. They proved it at this tournament, with the U.S. going through Sweden and Canada getting past Czechia and Finland to make the most-anticipated final possible happen.

A gold medal would still mean everything to the players and coaches involved, but it feels right to have the two border rivals as the last teams standing in Milan.

“If you’re going to get through to your goal, you’re going to probably have to go through them at some point,” U.S. winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “They’ve had the success in pretty much all the Olympics that NHL players have been going to. Two great teams, and I can only speak for ourselves, we’re just so excited for this opportunity, honored to represent our country and honored to be in this position.”

Canada won the past two Olympics where NHL players participated, in 2010 and 2014. The U.S. has not taken home gold in men’s hockey since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team.

That’s ancient history. These countries have more recent history from two epic 4 Nations games, including the first one that opened with three fights in nine seconds. Fighting is not allowed at the Olympics, though Canada’s Tom Wilson didn’t care about the automatic ejection when he dropped the gloves against France.

“There’s no fighting (but) I expect a hard-fought game, the same as it was the last two times we played them,” U.S. forward J.T. Miller said.

The U.S. is at full strength after winger Tage Thompson — tied for the team lead in goals with three — left the semifinal against Slovakia after blocking a shot. Thompson is expected to be good to go for what is the biggest game of a lot of players’ careers.

“Everybody that’s playing is going to be 50 years old one day, not playing in the NHL anymore and playing thousands of games hopefully, and you’re going to remember start to finish a handful of games,” Tkachuk said. “This is probably one of them.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Canada's Sidney Crosby (87) is attended to after being injured during the second period of a men's ice hockey quarterfinal game between Canada and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Canada head coach Jon Cooper talks with his players after their win against Finland in a men's ice hockey semifinal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Canada's Nathan MacKinnon, not seen, scores his side's third goal during a men's ice hockey semifinal game between Canada and Finland at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Mike Segar/Pool Photo via AP)

United States' Jack Hughes (86) celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during a men's ice hockey semifinal game between United States and Slovakia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Budapest threatened to block a new package of European Union sanctions against Russia and to stall efforts to help Ukraine until Russian oil deliveries to Hungary resume.

The EU's foreign ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the bloc's 20th round of sanctions against Moscow, a measure they hope will be approved in time to coincide with the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday.

In a video posted to social media Sunday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said he would block the sanctions package, accusing Ukraine of deliberately holding back Russian oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline.

“We will not consent to the adoption of the 20th package of sanctions, because we have previously made it clear that until the Ukrainians resume oil shipments to Hungary, we will not allow decisions that are important to them to be approved,” Szijjártó said.

For the sanctions to pass, the 27-nation bloc needs to reach a unanimous decision.

Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since Jan. 27 after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian drone attacks that damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude across Ukrainian territory and into Central Europe, leading to rising tensions between Budapest and Kyiv.

Nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Yet Hungary and Slovakia, both EU and NATO members, have maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas, and received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil.

Szijjártó also said Saturday Hungary will block a major 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) EU loan to Ukraine meant to help Kyiv meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.

Earlier in the week, Hungary and Slovakia announced they would both cease diesel shipments to Ukraine over oil interruptions, and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico on Saturday said his country would cut off emergency electricity supplies to its embattled neighbor if oil deliveries were not restored by Monday.

Russian missiles and drones in recent months have pounded Ukraine’s energy grid, plunging people into frozen darkness in one of the country’s coldest winters on record.

In a statement on Saturday, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said it “rejects and condemns the ultimatums and blackmail" by Hungary and Slovakia, and that the two countries were “playing into the hands of the aggressor.”

“Such actions, in the context of massive and targeted Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and Moscow’s attempts to deprive Ukrainians of electricity, heating, and gas during extreme cold weather, are provocative, irresponsible, and threaten the energy security of the entire region,” the ministry wrote.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who maintains the closest relationship with the Kremlin of any EU leader, has long argued Russian fossil fuels are indispensable for his economy, and that switching to energy sourced from elsewhere would cause an immediate economic collapse — an argument some experts dispute.

Orbán has frequently threatened to scuttle the bloc’s efforts to sanction Moscow over its invasion, and has blasted attempts to hit Russia’s energy revenues that help finance the war. He has also vetoed EU efforts to provide military and financial assistance to Ukraine.

FILE - A general view of MOL's Danube refinery which produces fuel from Russian crude oil in Százhalombatta, Hungary, on Sept. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)