Non-call late in the third period of World Juniors Finals sparks outrage online.

Canada wins under very controversial circumstances.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Non-call late in the third period of World Juniors Finals sparks outrage online.
Simon Hasteg…Rd/Bildbyran/Zuma

It is now officially in the record books, Canada is your 2020 World Junior Championship winner. It is a moment that should, and is, a cause for celebration in Canada but this one has been marred by some considerable controversy.

To begin allow to me point out that this was one hell of a game with all of the drama that would expect from a World Juniors final and all of the action to go right along with it. The Russian appeared to be headed for a gold medal in the game's third period but an improbable comeback from the Canadian squad saw them take the lead away from the Russians late in the game and after that they never looked back. There are those however who feel the Russians should have had a chance to comeback in this one and that they were robbed of the opportunity to do so. 

The controversy stems from a moment very late in the third period when the puck appeared to be cleared up and over the glass by a Canadian defender, this as Russian was trying to mount a comeback and Canada was desperately trying to hang on to their lead. Now you would expect this to lead to a delay of game penalty for the Canadians and although the call was made by the linesman on the ice it appears as though he was overruled. You see although the puck clearly traveled up and over the glass here it did not go out of play directly, but instead it struck a camera. It appears as though the camera may be considered "in play" under IIHF rules, otherwise I have no idea why this call would have been overruled on the ice. 

Needless to say the fact that the puck hit the camera was a huge benefit to the Canadian team who not only avoided a penalty in the final moments of the game, but saw the Russians get a penalty of their own just seconds later. That camera by the way is owned and operated by TSN, a Canadian television station dedicated exclusively to sports. Now of course TSN did not try and sway the outcome of the game here, but it does paint an interesting narrative for people to latch onto. 

Even Canadian pundits have been quick to point out that they would not have wanted to win this way:



But they are not alone:




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