Team Canada and Team France found themselves in a fight during their group stage game that involved Tom Wilson and Pierre Crinon. The result of the fight was not great for France, as Crinon has been suspended by the French Olympic Federation for the rest of the tournament.
The fight started after Crinon made a high hit on Nathan MacKinnon. Wilson, who has never backed down from any situation, came to defend his teammate and interacted with Crinon first. Crinon then slammed Wilson on the ice face-first, and things got out of hand from there.
Wilson got up and went after Crinon, and the two got into a shoving match from there.
The French Federation released a statement about Crinon's actions during the game.
“The provocative behaviour of Pierre Crinon when he left the ice, even though he had just been excluded from the match for a fight, constitutes a clear violation of the Olympic spirit and also undermines the values of our sport,” the statement said. “The decision was therefore taken, in full alignment with the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, not to allow his participation in the next match/matches of the Olympic tournament.”
France finished at the bottom of Group A with zero points, and they will face Germany in the playoff round, where the winner will advance to face Slovakia. There is a good chance that Crinon just misses one game, because France may not have enough to get past Germany.
As for Canada, they will wait to face the winner of Czechia and Denmark in the Olympic quarters.
