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The Winter Olympics were just a couple minutes away from a global hockey controversy.
The officiating crew on the ice for the Canada-Czechia quarterfinal has to be glad, at least in this context, that Nick Suzuki scored a game-tying goal and Mitch Marner won it in overtime for the Canadians.
Because all evidence shows that Czechia had six skaters on the ice for its go-ahead goal that took a 3-2 lead in the third period.
6️⃣
Is it just me? Or did team Chechia have six players on the ice? pic.twitter.com/lWPbPYNGxP
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You can count the six Czechia skaters (white jerseys) there before the breakout to the other end that led to Ondrej Palat's lead-taking goal.
The craziest part is that six players took part in the celebration. The photograph at the top of this article is from the immediate aftermath of the goal. Only guys on the ice would join in that celebratory hug. Clearly, there were six.
Too many men on the ice is a penalty. If the referees notice, they call it immediately. There'd be no chance for Czechia to possess the puck and then score.
The penalty usually comes during line changes, when one guy comes on too early or another guy stays on too long.
This, though, appears to have happened so organically that no one noticed besides some social media sleuths.
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If it were a delayed penalty, where the Czechia goalie hustled off for an extra skater, he wouldn't be there in that embedded screenshot. The goalie in that photo makes seven Czech players.
There are a couple of ironic phrases about cheating that apply here (although it's unlikely that Czechia was doing anything intentionally). It's only cheating if you get caught, and it's not cheating, it's strategy.
Regardless of intent, it was a brutal miss on the ice.
The Canadian hockey world would be outraged beyond belief if this had cost them their spot at the Olympics.
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