Incompetent Olympic officials allow goal vs. Canada with eight Czech players on the ice

Ryan Smitheram

Feb 18, 2026 (5:18 PM)

Photo credit: CBC

A whistle should have blown, the goal should have vanished, and the Czechs should have been heading to the box instead of the lead.

The hockey gods must be Canadian because what happened in Milano defies every law of the game.

Czechia didn't just have an extra man on the ice when they took a 3-2 lead late in the third.

They had a small army.

Initial reports said they had six skaters out there, which is a bench minor every day of the week.

But fresh video from CBC suggests the refs weren't just blind—they were mathematically challenged.

Some angles show as many as eight Czech skaters on the ice when the puck hit the net.

Eight.

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That is nearly two full lines playing at the same time while the officials just watched the play go by.

Ondrej Palat buried the puck glove-side to give them that lead.

The Czech forward didn't even realize he was part of a historical officiating disaster.

It is a miracle Nick Suzuki and Mitch Marner bailed out the tournament with those late heroics.

If Canada had gone home because the refs couldn't count to five, the outrage would have leveled the arena.

The play wasn't reviewable, which is the biggest joke of all in the modern era.

How do you miss a line change that results in six guys celebrating a go-ahead goal?

The stripes are lucky this didn't turn into a national incident.

Previously on Sunrise Hockey Insider

POLL
FEVRIER 18\|36 ANSWERS Incompetent Olympic officials allow goal vs. Canada with eight Czech players on the ice Should "Too Many Men" calls be subject to video review in the final 10 minutes?
Yes	32	88.9 %
No	4	11.1 %
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