Despite being just two days in, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has already found itself embroiled in controversy following Thursday’s ice hockey event.
This comes after players in the USA vs Finland women's clash were ordered to return to the rink, after match officials remarkably missed a ‘ghost goal’ scored by the Fins earlier on in the match.
As the final hooter sounded the players made their way off the ice with the Americans comfortably winning 5-1 over their opponents.
However, chaos then descended on the arena, after the red-faced referees revealed that they had to return the players to the ice after somehow missing a Finland goal.
The officials then announced the blunder to both sets of confused players, and ordered that the game was to be restarted from when the ghost goal took place, with the point being added to the scoreboard.
As a result the match resumed with 2:20 on the clock and the score now amended to 5-2.
But the battling Fins were unable to capitalise on their second chance, as neither team were able to add to their tally, with the match ending in the same way it was restarted.
Team USA headed to China as reigning champions after collecting the gold medal in Pyeongchang back in 2018.
And despite the controversy in their group opener posing a little scare, they got their title defence off to the perfect start with victory.
Do you agree with the referees' decision to restart the match? Let us know in the comments section below.
Things started well for the Americans, as two early goals a piece from Kendall Coyne-Schofield and Alex Carpenter gave the Olympic champions a commanding lead.
The Fins were then able to get themselves on the scoresheet as Susanna Tapani pulled one back, however this was soon cancelled out as Amanda Kessel added a fifth for the Americans.
The controversy then came after as Tapani looked to have scored her and Finland’s second, however after the puck appeared to crash off the inside of the post and out of net, the officials wrongly waved play on.
Their mistake was then realised post-match, which led to the goal being awarded and the game being restarted.
However, Finland’s lifeline came in vain, as the Americans responded to the restart in professional fashion to secure the 5-2 win.
