Czechia Coach Rips Olympic Refs Despite Viral Photo of Six Players on Ice vs. Canada

Canada’s men’s hockey team avoided a disastrous upset in Wednesday’s Olympic quarterfinal with a thrilling 4-3 overtime win over Czechia to keep their gold medal hopes alive. The tournament favorite faced a late scare when Czechia took a 3-2 lead in the third period, but Canada tied the game in regulation and then finished the job in overtime—which, looking back, was the best possible outcome to avoid a full-blown Olympic refereeing catastrophe.

Shortly after Canada’s triumphant win, a viral photo made the rounds on social media that clearly showed Team Czechia having six players on the ice during Ondřej Palát’s goal in the third period.

In Czechia’s ensuing celebration, five of those players were seen happily embracing each other while Czechia’s goaltender stayed in the net. That means six players were skating on the ice for quite some time before anybody noticed (and it seems nobody did notice in the moment).

Here are those photos for evidence:

Suzuki and Doughty struggled to sort out the 3-on-2 coverage on the goal that almost ended 🇨🇦’s Olympic tournament. Why? 🇨🇿 got away with having 6 players on the ice.

Credit eagle eye @DimFilipovic for noticing, but this screen shot is from right after Harley’s shot got blocked. pic.twitter.com/f58ydhjbrI
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) February 18, 2026

different angle. So clearly six Czechs in the zone. How did that not get called? https://t.co/VPp7EevaVd pic.twitter.com/HIovqAmQQw
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) February 18, 2026

In the referees’ defense, even the Canadian bench allegedly missed the blatant no-call. But, to make matters worse, Czechia coach Radim Rulik tore into the officiating after the game and went so far as to say his team was the one playing against six players.

“The referees really worry me. What they’re allowing against us is unacceptable,” Rulik said. “After every game, we send them two or three clips where they confirm that the opponent should have been penalized. I don’t understand it. I just don’t get it. I feel like everyone is afraid to call anything against Canada. We were basically playing against six players.

“I don’t want to make excuses, and no one has to agree with me, but the video backs me up. In this respect, it’s not a fair tournament. It was happening to us even against Denmark. The mix of NHL and European referees hasn’t worked—everyone calls the game differently.”

HC of Team Czechia, Radim Rulik, did not feel the officiating in their game against Team Canada was fair going as far as saying it felt like Czechia was playing against six players 😳

(via: @RonoAnalyst) pic.twitter.com/Aqc7AWdqSf
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) February 18, 2026

Rulik mentioned a few specific instances he thought the refs could have done better, including an uncalled penalty on Martin Nečas's breakaway chance when a Canadian player clearly hooked his stick around Nečas.

That being said, Rulik’s comments aren’t aging well at all, considering the fact that one of the biggest moments of the game—when Czechia scored their third goal to take a late lead—happened when they were blatantly breaking the rules.

Canada arguably had just as much to complain about in the wake of the rollercoaster quarterfinal, but the Olympic heavyweights let their on-ice play do the talking instead. Even if they were up against six men at one point in the game.