Team Canada is preparing for their quarterfinal matchup at the Olympics against Czechia. After practice on Tuesday, Canada was hopeful to have some key players back from injury for their quarterfinal game.
Now, lineups have been released for the contest, per hockey insider Elliotte Friedman.
Brad Marchand will be returning to the lineup for Canada. He has missed the last two games, but did play the first time that Canada faced Czechia in the group stage of the tournament. Marchand had an assist in the game and played 9:29 of ice time.
Meanwhile, both Sam Bennett and Josh Morrissey will be out of the lineup. Bennett has played in all three games so far in the tournament, having one assist in the games. He did not tally a point against Czechia the first time, while playing just 7:19 in the contest. Bennett was held out of practice on Tuesday, on what was called “maintenance,” at the time.
Morrissey has also played in just one game in the Olympics so far, playing 7:10 against Czechia. He suffered an injury in the game and did return to practice on Tuesday, but will not dress.
Nathan MacKinnon is also active, after taking a big hit against France, leading to Tom Wilson engaging in a rare Olympic fight.
MacKinnon is expected to play on the second line with Brandon Hagel and Nick Suzuki. Marchand will join Bo Horvat and Sam Reinhart on the fourth line. Beyond Morrissey and Bennett being scratched, Darcy Kuemper is the other scratch for Canada. This means Jordan Binnington will be in the net, while Logan Thompson will be the backup.
Binnington stopped all 26 shots he faced in the first game with Czechia, as Canada won the game 5-0.
