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By Tyler Erzberger
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The men's hockey gold medal game at the Winter Olympic Games on Sunday has been a barnburner, as it's tied going into the final period in Milan, Italy.
Team USA opened the scoring with a Matt Boldy goal in the first period, while the Canadians tied it up late in the second with a snipe from Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar.
But that wasn't the biggest opportunity Canada had in the second frame.
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Canada got a power play, and then, shockingly, 20 seconds into it, the referees called a second penalty, putting them in a 5-on-3 for almost a full 2 minutes.
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Although the refs had called a penalty on Canada in the first, they had generally let the two heavyweight sides play a physical, aggressive game up until that point.
While United States fans didn't object to the first penalty, the second, which put the likes of Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini in prime scoring position, was where the outrage sparked.
Team USA's goalie, Connor Hellebuyck, came up gigantic in the 5-on-3, stonewalling Team Canada throughout both power plays to keep the Americans ahead.
Refereeing around Canada has been a hot-button issue throughout the men's hockey tournament, as both their quarterfinal and semifinal opponents, Czechia and Finland, complained about the officiating.
The Czechia coach, Radim Rulík, went as far as to say his team was playing "5-on-6" as the officials were favoring Team Canada.
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