Czechia star David Pastrnak puts Brad Marchand, Team Canada on notice with blunt warning in 2026 Winter Olympics

Brad Marchand and Team Canada learned their opponents in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Winter Olympics after David Pastrnak’s Czechia defeated Denmark by a score of 3-2 in the first round of the elimination stage. With the Winter Olympics hockey bracket set, the former teammates in the NHL will meet on Feb. 18th at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

After missing the last two games of the group stage, Marchand is ready to be back on the ice in the Winter Olympics. Marchand has gone through almost every emotion as he voiced sincere feelings on his role with Team Canada. Hoping to be back in the lineup in the first win-or-go-home game of the tournament for Canada, Marchand will most likely take on Pastrnak, who he knows like the back of his hand due to their shared NHL history in Boston.

However, there might be no love—or respect—from Pastrnak’s Czechia, as it eyes a historic upset victory in the 2026 Winter Olympics. Widely considered the favorites to strike gold—along with Team USA—Marchand and Canada can’t afford a misstep, but Czechia will grant them nothing. If the Maple Leaf wants to move on to the semifinals, it will have to earn it.

“It might be the best team ever,” Pastrnak admitted about Team Canada, via NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. “So maybe we have to put the respect aside a little bit and try to take their game to them.”

David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand during a game with the Bruins

Emotional matchup

While both teams will hold nothing back, only one can go through to the next stage in Milano Cortina 2026. Czechia acknowledges—and fully embraces—the underdog role set upon it. Meanwhile, the Czech hope their Canadian counterparts crumble to the pressure on their shoulders.

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“We let them win the first one because we knew we were not going to win two in a row against Canada,” Czechia star Martin Necas jokingly—and not so much—stated about the upcoming showdown against Canada. Czechia fell by a score of 5-0 when the two sides met in Group A. However, now they will play for all the marbles, and that precedent has become utterly meaningless.

Necas’ message, as well as Pastrnak’s, shows just how much respect Team Canada’s lineup demands across the Winter Olympics. Still, that doesn’t mean the rest of the teams will go easy on them. In the contrary, it might mean the complete opposite. Everybody is coming for the The Great White North, so Marchand and company must sleep with one eye open.