Both referees for Canada-Finland Olympic semifinal hockey game are Canadian originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Canada-Finland men's hockey Olympic semifinal on Friday has a curious pair of referees.
Both are Canadian.
That can't be an ideal setup for a clash that has a spot in the gold medal game on the line.
Sure, there are only so many referees brought to the Olympics. And yes, they want to have the most skilled stripes on the ice for the biggest games.
But this setup could be viewed negatively.
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Referees in Canada-Finland
The two referees are Eric Furlatt and Dan O'Rourke.
Furlatt has been an NHL referee since 2001-02.
O'Rourke dates back to the 1999-2000 NHL season.
Clearly, both are experienced. Furlatt is from Quebec, while O'Rourke is from Calgary.
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
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Fans won't love this in either direction.
Any call that goes toward Canada will feel iffy. And any call toward Finland could feel like the referees are trying to avoid showing any bias toward their home country.
Seems like this was avoidable.
More Olympics news:
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- Controversy and cursing with Canada curling
- NHL players' return to Olympics was meant for a day like that