IIHF’s semifinal referee assignment for Canada vs. Finland has people talking
Photo credit: James Lang-Imagn Images
The refereeing during Finland and Canada's semifinal game came with some controversy as the nationalities chosen may have favoured the red and white.
Canada survived yet another scare at the 2026 Milan Olympics as they were able to come back from down 2-0 to surprise Finland and advance to the gold medal game against either the USA or Slovakia.
Led by Connor McDavid's record-breaking performance as well as a late winner from who else but Nathan MacKinnon, it was the Canadian side that managed to persevere though not without a little bit of controversy.
Officiating in semifinal game between Canada/Finland draws debate on social media
MacKinnon's goal came on the power-play with just over two minutes to go, and there seemed to be some issues with the choice of officials in that game, as it could have been the reason Canada came back in the first place:
NHL referees Eric Furlatt and Dan O'Rourke were both chosen to be the referees for the game, which drew controversy as fans speculated that there could be a potential bias from the officiating crew:
It was also something that caught the ire of arguably Finland's greatest player ever in Teemu Selanne, who was incensed afterwards regarding the officials and that he felt Finland was handicapped from the start:
Beating greatest hockey country in the world and Canadian referees same night is impossible I guess… absolutely embarrassing penalty 90 seconds to go in Olympic semifinal.. what a joke🤬
Fans were quick to point out to the Finnish Flash however that regardless of who was reffing the game -- a high-stick is still a high-stick:
Even his former teammate and Canadian Olympian Chris Pronger chimed in, and pushed back on Finland's style of 'park the bus' hockey that led to so many chances:
I hear ya Teemu but you know as well as I do you cannot sit back for 30+ mins in this type of tournament and not expect bad things to happen. 🤷🏼♂ Just sayin
One fan did point out also that things were still a bit fair on the Finnish side as the linesmen were American and Danish respectively:
While the Canadians might have had a little bit of a disadvantage, this is a team that was also subject to a Canadian ref nearly costing them their game vs. Czechia as they somehow, someway, had EIGHT players on the ice when they scored the go-ahead goal.
Selanne and the rest of Finland should be proud considering they made it this far, though a gold medal is still going to elude them and you can expect this situation to quiet down for Canada -- but not over in Scandinavia.
Also read on Hockey Patrol :
IIHF makes a change for the semifinals after the controversial goal against Canada
IIHF makes a change for the semifinals after the controversial goal against Canada
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 20|1561 ANSWERS IIHF’s semifinal referee assignment for Canada vs. Finland has people talking Did Canada have an unfair advantage in the semis vs. Finland? | ||
| Yes | 344 | 22 % |
| No | 1217 | 78 % |
| List of polls | ||