Teemu Selanne Blasts ‘Canadian Referees’ After Olympic Semifinal Loss

The Finnish hockey legend took to X right after the game to blast the referees—specifically calling out a late high-sticking penalty on Finland’s Niko Mikkola (for a stick up high on Nathan MacKinnon). Presumably suggesting it was embellishment, fans were quick to respond that the penalty, while not egregious, was a penalty. With about 90 seconds left in regulation, it was clear the stick came up and hit MacKinnon in the face. That penalty gave Canada a power play, leading directly to MacKinnon’s game-winning goal with 35.2 seconds remaining.

Selänne’s post blew up with thousands of likes/reposts. He wrote: “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?”

He implied bias since the refs (Eric Furlatt and Dan O’Rourke) are Canadian. That garnered some over 1000 responses, one of which came from former NHL great Chris Pronger. He replied, “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.”

Pronger was right in that Finland played the game trying not to lose it after taking the lead. Canada applied all of the pressure, eventually forcing Finland to take penalties.

It was a close game with lots of drama, and it’s expected that Finnish players, past and present, would be upset. Finland’s Joel Armia said after the loss, “Five-on-five, they got one goal. That was goalie interference.” He was referring to the goal that got scored when Brad Marchand crashed into Juuse Saros in the crease.

Selänne might also be a little upset personally. His 11-point record from 2006 had just broken and added to by Connor McDavid in that game. He was watching as his team got eliminated and his record got erased.