Team Canada was pushed to the brink for a second time in the knockout rounds of the 2026 Olympic men’s hockey tournament on Friday. After surviving against Czechia with an overtime goal in the quarterfinals, they needed a power-play marker from Nathan MacKinnon with just 35.2 seconds remaining in regulation to beat Finland.
Canada was put on that power play by a high stick from defender Niko Mikkola on MacKinnon, with the Colorado Avalanche superstar theatrically throwing his head back to draw the attention of the two Canadian referees, Eric Furlatt and Dan O’Rourke.
The two men in stripes calling the penalties, both being from the same country as the winning team, wasn’t lost on Finnish legend Teemu Selanne, who voiced his complaints in a postgame tweet.
“Beating greatest hockey country in the world and Canadian referees same night is impossible I guess…” Selanne tweeted, “absolutely embarrassing penalty 90 seconds to go in Olympic semifinal.. what a joke.”
While one could argue that MacKinnon embellished on the play, he was grazed by Mikkola’s stick, which is a definite penalty under both NHL and IIHF rules. The referees were left with no other decision but to put their fellow countrymen up a man, but there was a more subjective play earlier in the game that the Finns also had a problem with.
With 9:26 remaining in the third period, Shea Theodore pumped a one-time blast past Juuse Saros in Finland’s net to tie the game at two goals apiece. The point drive came just after Brad Marchand had bowled over Saros in the crease, pushed in by Finland’s Erik Haula. However, Marchand had originally established himself in the blue paint, so, under IIHF rules, there could have been a whistle stopping play before the puck crossed the goal line.
Saros and a few Finnish defenders tried to plead their case to the referees, but their coaching staff did not challenge, and the goal stood. “Five-on-five, they got one goal that was goalie interference,” forward Joel Armia told the New York Post’s Mollie Walker postgame.
The collision wasn’t the first from a Panthers forward in the game with Saros after Sam Bennett, accidentally on purpose, ran the Nashville Predators’ backstop over during the first period. Bennett, unlike Marchand, was penalized for the play, and Mikko Rantanen scored on the ensuing power play.
“I mean, he does that all the time,” Saros told Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. “So, it’s part of his game. You guys have seen him multiple times, so I think you know [it was on purpose].”
On MacKinnon’s game-winner, the Finns did use a coach’s challenge to see if the power-play zone entry may have been offside. But, after review, they also lost that officiating decision.
The Canadians are no strangers to opponents complaining about the officiating after they’ve been taken down at these Olympics. Czechia’s head coach, Radim Rulik, made viral comments after his team’s quarterfinal loss, stating his belief that the referees are “afraid to call anything against Canada.”
Despite joint consternation from their European competitors, the Canadians will be playing for gold on Sunday. They’ll take on the winner of the other semifinal matchup between Team USA and Slovakia.
