Selanne delivers super salty rant after Canada beats his home country at Olympics
Winning is sweet, but losing can make you salty.
Just ask the head coach of the Czech men’s ice hockey team at the Olympics.
Or, you can ask Finnish hockey legend Teemu Selanne.
After Canada’s win over Finland in the semi-finals, Selanne took to social media, voicing his displeasure with the referees’ decision to call a penalty against Finland late in the third period.
Beating greatest hockey country in the world and Canadian referees same night is impossible I guessā¦ absolutely embarrassing penalty 90 seconds to go in Olympic semifinal.. what a jokeš¤¬
— Teemu Selanne (@TeemuSel8nne) February 20, 2026
Selanne was apparently unhappy with the high-sticking penalty called against Niko Mikkola on Nathan MacKinnon.
The game was officiated by two long-time Canadian NHL referees, Eric Furlatt and Dan O’Rourke.
When MacKinnon was high-sticked, Furlatt’s arm didn’t appear to go up until MacKinnon flung his arms in the air.
Regardless, it was a pretty obvious high-sticking penalty, as Mikkola took one hand off his stick before flinging it in the face of MacKinnon.
Clear as day high stick pic.twitter.com/qEJvRFc9yX
— CW. (@CWM_CN) February 20, 2026
MacKinnon proceeded to score at the tail end of the power play with 35 seconds remaining, which gave Canada a 3-2 win over Finland.
Selanne was bombarded on social media by fans pointing out that it was a clear penalty.
“Hey Teemu, high sticking is still high sticking, regardless of how much time is left in the game or if itās a semifinal,” one person said.
Even Selanne’s former Anaheim Ducks teammate, Chris Pronger, clapped back at the 55-year-old.
“I hear ya, Teemu,” Pronger wrote.”But you know as well as I do you cannot sit back for 30+ mins in this type of tournament and not expect bad things to happen. Just sayin’.”
Even though Finland took a 2-0 lead over Canada, they had just nine shots over the final two periods. Meanwhile, Canada peppered Finnish goaltender Jusse Saros with 31 shots in the final two frames.
Not only did Selanne’s home country lose the game, but Connor McDavid broke two of his Olympic records in the process.
Finland will play for a bronze medal in men’s ice hockey at 2:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 21.