The 2026 Winter Olympics have provided no shortage of drama, exciting action and shocking moments.
We’ve gotten all of that on Wednesday during men’s hockey quarterfinal action.
Let’s break down a couple of those moments and address complaints about the start time of the men’s hockey gold medal game in this latest edition of Screen Shots.
Finland’s rollercoaster Olympics just got more memorable
We’ve written about Team Finland having a rough time at the start of the Olympics, and we’ve written about their bounce-back performance that kept them in the hunt for a gold medal.
On Wednesday, they had another rough start and yet another bounce-back performance, barely making it past Team Switzerland in a 3-2 overtime win.
The Swiss got out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, and they tried to make that last, keeping the Finns off the scoresheet until the 13:54 mark of the third frame.
Slowly but surely, however, two of Finland’s star players – Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho and Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen – stepped up with a goal apiece in the final 6:06 of regulation to send the game to extra time. From there, another Finnish star – Colorado Avalanche left wing Artturi Lehkonen – won it to send the Finns to the semifinal.
Team Finland should be thanking their lucky stars they outlasted Switzerland. Like the Canadians did in their 4-3 overtime win over Czechia, the Finns overcame a prolonged scare before finding a way to win. But considering they face Canada next, Finland must be better for longer, or they’ll be playing for bronze rather than gold.
Czechia scores on Canada with too many men
We’re always wary of criticizing hockey’s on-ice officials, as they have a tough job officiating a super-speedy game in which things can happen in the blink of an eye.
But man oh man, the officials in the Canada/Czechia game totally blew a too-many-men penalty they should have called on the Czechs.
Just look at this still shot from the game – there’s clearly six Czechia skaters on the ice.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on the Canadian broadcast that a situation like that is non-reviewable, so if Canada didn’t tie the game or win, that goal would have been crucial.
At the risk of repeating ourselves, this play shows hockey’s need for an eye-in-the-sky official situated in the stands who can stop play by calling something the on-ice officials have missed.
This is something we’ve advocated for multiple times, but there’s a reason why – if you’ve got an official literally overlooking the play on the ice, you increase the chances a call doesn’t get missed. And while there’s no system that guarantees that every call that needs to be made gets made, you can’t convince us there’s no real value to either the International Ice Hockey Federation or the NHL making that change. It’s like refereeing insurance without bogging down the game with more reviews.
Early gold medal game start time? Deal with it
We’ve seen some complaints about the starting time of the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game, which is at 8:10 a.m. ET and 5:10 a.m. PT on Sunday.
The game, which is at 2:10 p.m. in Milan, had to be at that time on Sunday because the closing ceremonies for the Olympics are that evening at Verona Olympic Arena, over an hour-and-a-half drive away.
Sure, if the Olympic organizers wanted North Americans not to have to wake up early, then hypothetically, the gold medal game could have taken place at a later time the day earlier, when the bronze medal game takes place.
But welcome to the rest of the world. Everyone outside North America has had to adjust their viewing habits for NHL games for as long as they have been broadcast. Those in Europe have to watch weeknight games at midnight or later in most cases. And if people on the West Coast can wake up at 5 a.m. on Sunday, people on the East Coast should not have a problem right now.
Think of it as a fun adventure – you’re rising early in the day to watch two incredible teams square off. If that means you’re going to be a little bit tired, that’s a pretty fair tradeoff.
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