NBC Sports
For the second straight match, Team Canada‘s men’s hockey team survived an upset scare at the 2026 Winter Olympics. But this time around, it appears they may have also gotten some help from a pair of Canadian referees.
After rolling through pool play as the top overall seed, Canada needed a late goal against Czechia just to reach overtime, where Mitch Marner’s lifted them to the semifinals.
In the semis, against Finland, the Canadians fell behind 2-0 before coming back to win 3-2 thanks to a pair of third-period goals, including one with under a minute to go from Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon.
However, the comeback win involved plenty of controversy.
Team Canada Gets Benefit Of The Doubt From Canadian Referees At Olympics
Finnish superstar Mikko Rantanen gave his country an early 1-0 lead in the first period, before Erik Haula doubled the advantage with a shorthanded goal in the second.
Canada fought back into the contest with a power play goal from Sam Reinhart to make it 2-1 heading into the third. But the Fins were still fighting hard.
With 9:26 left in the third period, the Candians tied the game on a controversial goal from defenseman Shea Theodore. Theodore’s shot from the point bounced off the shoulder of Finnish goaltender Juuse Saros, but only after Saros was seemingly interfered with by Team Canada’s Brad Marchand.
Should Finland have challenged the Canada game-tying-goal for goalie interference? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/9ypqWpnog0
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 20, 2026
The Canadians then continued to pile on the pressure and went on the power play with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
With just two seconds remaining on the man advantage, MacKinnon fired home a shot that just snuck past Saros at his near post.
However, Finland quickly challenged, claiming that the play was offside. Upon review, it did appear Canada’s Macklin Celebrini just barely entered the zone before the puck did. But the referees confirmed the call on the ice instead.
That alone would be controversial. But things become even more dicey when you realize that the two referees for the game were both from Canada.
The referees for Canada-Finland. I’m sure everybody in both countries will be very rational about this. pic.twitter.com/gnIZYtucqA
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) February 20, 2026
“The referees should have to be from neutral sites. Especially since Canada already got caught blatantly cheating in curling already,” one fan wrote on X.
“Being so real, this should not be allowed. All officials need to be unaffiliated with the countries playing,” said another.
Ultimately, what’s done is done. But it’ll be interesting to see where the referees for the gold medal match on Sunday are from.