Macklin Celebrini welcomes pressure as spotlight on Sharks starts to grow

SAN JOSE – Macklin Celebrini had just finished his first practice back with the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday – after an unforgettable Olympic experience — when he entered a room filled with cameras and reporters.

“Most media we’ve had. Ever,” Celebrini said. “Starting to feel like a Canadian market.”

And a reflection of his growing popularity, as Celebrini’s record-setting performance at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics – capped by a gold medal game watched by tens of millions of fans — raised his profile here at home and across the NHL.

Roughly a dozen news outlets, several more than usual, attended the Sharks’ practice on Wednesday as Celebrini skated with his teammates for the first time since he returned from Italy late Monday night.

Some of those local media outlets were at a Sharks practice for the first time this season, underscoring the team’s growing relevance and Celebrini’s reach as one of the Bay Area’s most recognizable sports figures.

“I know Mack is certainly proud to be Canadian, and he should be,” but we were also proud to represent, you know, San Jose Sharks, the Bay Area, the community around here, the fans, obviously, he’s become, you know, the face of the franchise, in a sense,

Thursday’s game against the Calgary Flames, which begins a six-game homestand, is trending toward a sellout crowd of 17,435.

Tickets are also scarce and pricey for San Jose’s weekend games against McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and goalie Connor Hellebuyck – who made 41 saves for Team USA in the gold medal game — and the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.

The Sharks have already sold out 12 of 26 home games this season, after having capacity crowds in 15 of 41 games at SAP Center last season.

“This was the goal,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Not to talk to this many media people, but the goal was to get the energy back in the building and get people talking about the Sharks again, and I think the players did a great job of doing that.”

“This homestead is going to be pretty much sold out,” Warsofsky added. “Crowds and people are going to be excited to see our team play again.”

As excited as Celebrini was to be back in San Jose, there was still some bitterness as to how the Olympic tournament ended.

Playing alongside the game’s greatest player in Connor McDavid, Celebrini had a tournament-leading five goals in six games, and his 10 points made him the highest-scoring teenager in an Olympics involving NHL players.

While Celebrini on Wednesday expressed gratitude for the opportunity to represent his native country of Canada on hockey’s biggest international stage, where he played with several of the game’s greatest stars, there remained – reasonable or otherwise — a feeling of failure.

Celebrini and the Canadians did enough to beat the United States in Sunday’s gold medal game at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Italy. But the heart-stopping final came down to 3-on-3 overtime, where New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes scored the winning goal, handing the Americans a 2-1 win and their first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980.

For anyone who thought Celebrini would now be past the disappointment of losing the men’s hockey gold medal game, think again.

“A lot of those guys I looked up to my whole childhood, and it was an honor play with them and be around them every single day,” Celebrini said at Sharks Ice. “But it sucks. It’s a little sour that you look back at it and just didn’t get the job done.”

How long does he think that sour feeling will last?

“Forever,” Celebrini said.

Now the Sharks are hoping other Olympians, Sweden’s Alex Wennberg, Switzerland’s Philipp Kurashev, and Slovakia’s Pavol Regenda, can use the pressure of an Olympic tournament – and the disappointment that came with it — to their benefit as their playoff chase resumes.

Celebrini said playing with McDavid, the NHL’s leading scorer before Wednesday and a three-time Hart Trophy winner, and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, the league’s second-leading scorer, showed him “where the bar is at.”

“Those guys play with such pace, and they think the game so fast, and the level that they play at, the practice that they play at, probably the fastest practices I’ve ever been a part of.

“Just being around them, practicing with them, playing with them, it’s a different level.”

The Sharks’ homestand is going to be vitally important to any postseason hopes, as they entered Wednesday five points out of a playoff spot with 27 games left to play.

Celebrini’s performance so far this season, with 81 points in 55 games, is clearly a big reason why the Sharks are in the mix for their first playoff appearance since 2019.

“We want to take those next steps, and all this comes along with it,” Celebrini said. “The fans, the attention. We want those expectations. We want that pressure, because that means we’re doing a good thing and we’re trending the right way.

“So I think just at the end of the day, all this comes into it, and hopefully you guys come back more.”