Tom Wilson was a popular man after Team Canada’s practice on Tuesday morning. The post-skate media sessions were the first time Wilson was available to speak after his viral Olympic fight with French defender Pierre Crinon saw both men ejected and earned Wilson a once-thought impossible Olympic Gordie Howe hat trick.
Wilson’s bout with Crinon came in response to what he called a “dirty hit” on Nathan MacKinnon, where the French defenseman elbowed the Canadian superstar center in the head.
“Hockey is an emotional game,” Wilson told the New York Post’s Mollie Walker. “It’s a competitive game. And when you come together with a big guy, you kind of have to make the decision quickly, and the gloves came off.”
While Wilson wanted to get retribution, he admitted that he knew there was a line he couldn’t fully cross if he wanted to make sure to stay eligible for the rest of Canada’s run in the Olympic tournament.
“Obviously, when there’s a hit like that made, it gets you on your toes a little bit, and then I ended up on a shift with him, and we got tangled up, and I obviously knew it was the same guy,” Wilson told TSN. “I think it was more just him understanding that there’s going to be an answer, we’re going to stick up for our teammates. I didn’t know that necessarily it was going to be a fight, but it turned into that pretty quickly, and then obviously more of just kind of a wrestling match and a melee, kind of chaos.
“Once I got out of the pile and he kind of ended up on the bottom, I just wanted to make sure not to take it too far, obviously thinking about the more important hockey coming up. I think they got the message that we were going to stick together as a country. We’ll put it in the rear view now and focus on the quarters.”
When prodded further on how he knew where the line was that he couldn’t overstep, Wilson credited his years of engaging in rough stuff and familiarity with NHL referee Kyle Rehman, who drew the assignment for the game.
“I think you feel it out,” Wilson said. “I mean, I’ve been at this a long time. I’ve been in a lot of those situations. You feel it out, and you realize that sometimes it gets chaotic, and then you feel when it’s getting too far, and you have to stop.
“Kyle, one of the refs who we’re familiar with in the NHL, I think, was saying, like, ‘Tommy, enough, enough. It’s done, it’s done.’ I make sure that I listen to them and I stop because the linesmen are trying to do their job. The refs are trying to do their job. You never want to push it too far. You just feel it out and stick up for your teammate, and then when enough is enough, you kind of just move on.”
Wilson was also mindful of the score and the time left in the matchup. Canada was leading 10-2 with 6:59 remaining in regulation.
“Obviously, the game was kind of out of hand, so it wasn’t a big deal with five minutes left in the game there that I could potentially get thrown out,” Wilson added.
After learning that neither the IIHF nor the IOC would seek any additional discipline for Wilson and Crinon, the story of the rare Olympic fisticuffs died down until the French Ice Hockey Federation decided to step in and deliver its own punishment to Crinon.
The 30-year-old defender was already a controversial roster selection heading into the tournament, having been suspended for 7 games earlier in the year in France’s top league for punching a maskless goaltender. Given his past and his actions following the fight with Wilson, specifically taunting the crowd on his way back to the locker room, the FFHG barred his participation from games for the rest of the tournament.
“Obviously, probably a lot goes into that,” Wilson said. “I don’t know the guy. I don’t know the federation that well. I don’t know that league. I’m focused on these guys, this group, them understanding that I’ll do whatever it takes to win for this group, and I think everybody in that room would say the same for each other. It was obviously some big news this morning when that came out, but it’s not my decision; it’s not for me to have really any opinion on it.”
France, Crinon-less, was eliminated from medal contention by Germany in a playoff qualifier on Tuesday morning. Leon Draisaitl delivered three points (1g, 2a) from the Germans in a 5-1 victory.
Wilson and the rest of Team Canada do not play again until a February 18 quarterfinal matchup against Czechia.
