MILAN — The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics have yet to officially open, but Canada is already dealing with setbacks.
Canada’s opening women’s hockey game against Finland was postponed Thursday due to illness while snowboarder Mark McMorris pulled out of the big air preliminaries after a training crash on Wednesday.
The women’s hockey opener in Milan was rescheduled after some of Finland’s team fell ill.
“The decision was taken following consultations with medical professionals after cases of norovirus were identified within Team Finland,” said a joint statement Thursday from the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the organizing committee.
“It was made collectively and in accordance with established health and safety principles, with the health and well-being of players, team staff, officials and all tournament participants as the highest priority.”
The preliminary-round game will now be played Feb. 12 at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena. Canada is the defending Olympic champion, having beaten the United States for gold four years ago in Beijing.
Canada held a full practice Thursday evening after an optional morning skate at Rho Ice Hockey Arena.
“There’s a benefit of having a kind of a test event,” Canada’s general manager Gina Kingsbury said. “The opportunity right now is we had a great skate tonight.
“The champion way of thinking is ‘here’s a challenge. What are the opportunities that are coming with that? How can we take advantage of what’s in front of us?’ And I think that’s what we did.”
Canada faces Switzerland on Saturday, Czechia on Monday and archrival United States on Tuesday in Group A play. Finland won bronze at the 2022 Olympic Games.
McMorris, banged up after his nasty fall the night before, pulled out of Thursday’s men’s big air qualifying to focus on the slopestyle event.
The Canadian Olympic Committee said the decision was made as a precaution following consultations with Canada Snowboard and medical staff.
“Fortunately, things are looking good for slopestyle, so I’m staying positive and shifting my focus there,” McMorris said in a statement. “Huge thanks to the incredible medical staff who took great care of me.”
The 32-year-old from Regina has won bronze in slopestyle at each of the last three Olympics.
Canadian Francis Jobin advanced to Saturday’s big air final.
The 27-year-old from Lac-Beauport, Que., finished sixth in qualifying with a combined score of 170.75 to earn a spot in the 12-man medal round.
Eighteen-year-old Eli Bouchard, also of Lac-Beauport, narrowly missed qualifying in 14th place, while Cameron Spalding of Havelock, Ont., finished 22nd.
McMorris is among several Canadian athletes affected by injury before the opening ceremony. Forward Anthony Cirelli was replaced by Sam Bennett on the men’s hockey team, figure skater Deanna Stellato-Dudek pulled out of the team event because of injury, and snowboard cross racer Tess Critchlow withdrew from the Games.
Later Thursday, Hockey Canada announced Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes was added to the men’s hockey roster, replacing Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point, who is injured.
At its opening press conference, the Canadian Olympic Committee acknowledged the mounting issues, with chief executive officer Dave Shoemaker saying injuries and illness were an unwelcome start to the Milan Cortina Games.
“Certainly these injuries have not been something we’ve been happy to see,” Shoemaker said.
Canada had some positive results Thursday in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The mixed doubles curling team of Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman improved to 3-0 in round-robin play with a pair of wins Thursday at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.
The husband-and-wife duo from Chestermere, Alta., never trailed in a 6-3 afternoon victory over Norway before following it up with a 7-2 win over host Italy in the evening session.
“Every win is huge here because I think there’s so many evenly ranked teams,” Gallant said. “I think it’s going to be a dogfight, especially getting towards the playoffs. It’s going be very difficult.”
Canada needed only six ends to dispatch Italy, the reigning world and Olympic champions, in a showcase game at the 3,450-seat venue.
Gallant and Peterman opened play Wednesday with a tidy 10-5 victory over Czechia’s Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky.
After four sessions, Canada shared first place with Great Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat. Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse were the only other unbeaten team at 2-0.
The Milan Cortina Olympics officially get underway Friday with a multi-site opening ceremony.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2026.
The Canadian Press
