That was a close call.
Jubilation nearly turned to agony for the Canadian men’s hockey team when Nathan MacKinnon‘s go-ahead goal in the final minute of the Olympic semifinal against Finland on Friday was challenged for offside.
In this case, the old cliché “game of inches” bore true — but the measurement came out in Canada’s favour.
Macklin Celebrini’s skate appeared to lag just behind the puck on a zone entry around one minute before MacKinnon’s winner.
Officials took a long look at the play, but eventually confirmed the call. Canada then killed off the final 35 seconds of the game to punch its ticket to Sunday’s gold-medal contest, where it will face either the U.S. or Slovakia.
“I was nervous, there, I was nervous,” MacKinnon told Kyle Bukauskas on the CBC Olympics broadcast. “They said it was good but they were looking at it for a long time, and then he goes over to the ref and says a bunch of things so usually that’s not a good thing, but it was onside so happy when it counted.”
Finland’s challenge was its second key decision of the period.
On Canada’s tying goal earlier in the frame, goalie Juuse Saros immediately turned to the refs to wave the goal off for goalie interference.
Moments before Shea Theodore’s clapper beat Saros, Brad Marchand came crashing through the crease, knocking Saros briefly off his spot.
It was unclear whether Marchand was pushed by a Finnish defenceman or if he entered the crease first.
Either way, Finland head coach Antti Pennanen chose not to challenge the play for fear of losing and taking a penalty as punishment.
“We’re putting our country through it,” Connor McDavid joked post-game with Kyle Bukauskas.
A country exhales.
