The decision to sit out the Olympic gold-medal final against the United States came down to Sidney Crosby himself.

The captain, who was injured in Canada’s quarterfinal win over Czechia, wanted to give his spot to a healthy player, according to Canadian general manager Doug Armstrong.

The lower-body injury also kept Crosby out of the semifinal win over Finland on Friday.

“It was obviously a drawn-out process in the sense that he skated, he went through his rehab, he met with the coach, he met with the doctors for probably 45 minutes, discussed the game plan and how he could be used and at the end of the day, he felt it was best for the team to give that opportunity to somebody else,” Armstrong said on the CBC Olympics broadcast.

Crosby will earn his third consecutive Olympic gold medal with a win today.

Armstrong said the Canadian staff was there to support Crosby. But the 38-year-old captain knows his body best. He knows what he can and can’t do right now, and the decision had to come from him.

“It’s obviously a very gut-wrenching decision for him, but it shows the character he has of stepping aside because he didn’t think he could be at his best to give him an opportunity,” Armstrong said.

Crosby had six points over the four games he played at this tournament.

More than that, he’s been this team’s emotional leader, even from the sidelines. When they were down against Czechia and Finland, the team rallied behind the idea that they wanted to give Crosby another chance to wear the Canadian jersey.

“He’s meant so much to everybody throughout the years,” Armstrong said. “It’s a very difficult decision, but [I’m] very honoured and proud to have worked with him in this event and what he’s done for us to put us in this spot today.”

A loaded top line

Defenceman Josh Morrissey and goalie Darcy Kuemper are also not dressed for today’s gold-medal game.

Canada is sending out a loaded top line of Macklin Celebrini, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.

Nineteen-year-old Celebrini led all players in ice time in the semifinal win over Finland, and sits second in tournament scoring behind McDavid, with 10 points in five games.

Further down the lineup, Canada is rolling out Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett and Tom Wilson on a hard-to-play-against line together.

Goaltender Jordan Binnington is starting in net.

“For us, all the adversity that we’ve gone through to this point, obviously the last couple of games in general, it was a huge key marker in terms of getting to where we are right now,” defenceman Cale Makar told CBC Olympics reporter Kyle Bukauskas before the game on Sunday. “I feel like group is closer than we have been, at least in the last couple years of being together.”

Here’s the full Canadian lineup:

Forward:

• Macklin Celebrini – Connor McDavid – Nathan MacKinnon
• Mitch Marner – Nick Suzuki – Mark Stone
• Brad Marchand – Sam Bennett – Tom Wilson
• Brandon Hagel – Bo Horvat – Seth Jarvis
• Sam Reinhart

Defence:

• Devon Toews – Cale Makar
• Thomas Harley – Colton Parayko
• Travis Sanheim – Drew Doughty
• Shea Theodore

Goaltender:

• Jordan Binnington
• Logan Thompson