Fans gather in N.S. pubs, schools to cheer on Team Canada in Olympic semifinal

Students at École Bois Joli in Dartmouth, N.S., watch the men's hockey semifinal on Feb. 20, 2026. (Jon MacInnis/CTV News Atlantic)

Fans gathered all across Canada to watch the men’s hockey team take on Finland in the semifinal game at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games.

At Big Leagues Pub in Cole Harbour, N.S. – the community where Sidney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon both grew up and played minor hockey – fans were glued to the TVs during Friday’s game.

Things were tense early as Canada fell behind 2-0.

Confidence however didn’t wane.

“I think we can come back. I think we’re gonna go and we’re gonna win,” said Ed O’Neill.

Chants of “Can-a-da” could be heard throughout the halls of École Bois Joli in Dartmouth, N.S., as students tuned in to watch and cheer on Team Canada.

Grade 2 teacher Sabrina Fenyvesi took the opportunity to teach her students about the importance of hard work to get to perform on the Olympic stage, but also about some of the countries Canada is competing against.

“We also talked about the other team that they’re playing, that Canada is playing against and how we want to encourage them because they also worked really hard and they’re not any less important than Canada, but we do want to cheer for Canada,” said Fenyvesi.

Back at Big Leagues, there was a sense of nervousness as Canada trailed the Finns. However, Canada tied things up in the third period, bringing the score to 2-2.

And then it was Cole Harbour’s own MacKinnon who scored the winning goal, giving Canada a 3-2 lead over Finland with less than a minute left in the third period.

“Just love to see the boys win you know, I mean we’re gonna go for gold,” said Teyen Abelleria.

Finland captured gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and was chasing back-to-back titles. But Canada entered Friday’s matchup undefeated and fresh off a wild 4–3 overtime quarterfinal win over Czechia.

Canada will go on to play in the gold-medal game Sunday.

With files from CP24

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