Canada forward Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche was not happy after his team's startling loss to Denmark, and soon stormed out of an interview.
Canada entered the 2025 IIHF World Championship as one of the favorites to be the final team standing.
It's understandable, considering that they were stacked with talented NHL stars like Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks, Ryan O'Reilly of the Nashville Predators, and several others.
Their dreams of winning the gold ended after suffering a stunning defeat to Denmark, who got goals late from Nikolaj Ehlers and Nick Olesen to seize victory; Olesen's goal came with under a minute left in regulation.
MacKinnon was in a particularly frustrated mood afterward when interviewed by a reporter, and appeared to accuse him of having a Finnish bias.
Q: What do you think about the game?MacKinnon: Their goalkeeper ( Juuse Saros ) played brilliantly.
Q: Were you surprised by how good Finland ended up being?
MacKinnon: Their goalkeeper was good, yeah.
Q: Do you think you were the better team?
MacKinnon: Yes.
Q: So, do you think the goalkeeper was the only reason why Finland won?
MacKinnon: Yes. I agree.
Q: What did you think of the officiating?
MacKinnon: Terrible.
Q: Why?
MacKinnon: How could they have been good? What do you think?
Q: I asked you that.
MacKinnon: Horrible whistles. Both ways. We had the puck the whole game, but we only got one power play. So I don't understand. You must be from Finland or something.
MacKinnon had already suffered one bitter defeat earlier in the month with the Avalanche, as they were eliminated by the Dallas Stars in 7 games; his former Finnish teammate Mikko Rantanen scored a natural hat trick in the 3rd period of Game 7, erasing what was a 2-0 Avalanche lead.
He finished the World Championships with 12 points (7G, 5A) in 8 games.
This article first appeared on Blade of Steel and was syndicated with permission.
