Despite not being able to play at all in Santagiulia Arena in the dramatic Olympic final - a 2-1 sudden-death loss to the USA - the 38-year-old Pittsburgh forward met with journalists after the game.
"It's a gold medal game in the Olympics. If I could have played, I would have," Sidney Crosby said about how close he was to the game.
He injured himself in the quarterfinal against the Czech Republic and then missed the semifinal against Finland entirely. Crosby was in a race against time to be ready for the final.
It was a tough decision to make, but it is what it is. In your head, you want to be out there.
Sidney Crosby, at the age of 22, scored the gold medal for Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in overtime against the United States. Four years later, he was the team captain and scored one of the goals when Sweden was defeated 3-0 in the Olympic final in Sochi.
Corrected: In a previous version, the wrong team was listed as the winner.
