Canadian calls for Winter Olympics men’s ice hockey final to be moved, stirs up hornets nest

Podcast host Nick Alberga is facing a fierce backlash after his cry for the men’s gold medal match to be moved for a friendlier timeslot for viewers in Canada and the United States.

The ice hockey media figure vented his frustrations in a comment shared on X that has gone down like a led balloon across international social media users.

“I don’t care which time zone the Olympics is being staged in, it’s downright criminal to schedule the men’s hockey Gold Medal Final for Sunday @ 8 AM ET / 5 AM PT,” he posted.

“It’s the feature presentation of the entire two weeks.”

The post has been viewed more than 2.5 million times and has attracted scathing responses.

The gold medal match at Milano Santagiulia IHO Arena begins from 8am on the eastern coast of Canada and the United States.

The match is being played at 2pm Central European Time just hours ahead of the Milano Cortina Closing Ceremony.

The match begins just after midnight on Monday morning in Australia.

The unfriendly time for viewers in Australia, Asia and many other parts of the world is one of many reasons Alberga’s post has received a barrage of criticism.

Canadian podcast host Matt Robinson posted: “This is the very definition of entitlement”.

One X user wrote: “The Olympics end Sunday. The closing ceremony is that evening in Italy. It’s a global event watched all over the world. You want the host country to delay the closing just to cater to the North American audience? The world doesn’t revolve around the US and Canada lol”.

Another X user wrote: “It’s almost like it takes place in Italy and not in North America”.

Australian football journalist Kieran Yap posted: “5am is prime time for many Aussie sports fans. 3am is worth complaining about”.

Many Canadian users said they were embarrassed by Alberga’s comment and tried to distance themselves from the post.

Ice hockey is treated as a religion in Canada, where seven NHL franchises call home.

Alberga is far from the only hockey fan in North America to have shared thoughts about the unfriendly timeslot.

Posts on official ice hockey Reddit groups also showed Americans complaining about the time zone difference.

A post on Reddit’s Hockey Memes group also caused a stir.

“The NHL Four Nations Face Off was better than the Olympics because everyone could actually f***ing watch it,” the person posted.

The responses were not kind.

“Man these guys would die if they had to experience what the regular Australian sports fan had to to watch our favourite sports,” one Reddit user responded.

“The Australian Open is one of the few opportunities we get to see something at a decent time zone.

A similar post was met with responses of: “local man discovers time zones”.

Aussies are only too familiar with unfriendly time zones with European football, Formula 1 Grands Prix and other major events taking place at times even night owls would shudder at.

Alberga is facing a similar social media backlash to American Eric Balchunas, who earlier this month called for the Australian Open to be moved to accommodate American audiences.

The financial analyst was torn to pieces across social media on Sunday after a boneheaded comment about the Australian Open men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

The Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst caused a stir with post on X that quickly turned viral.

“I know this sounds US-centric but they really should have figured out a way to play this epic final match not at 330am EST,” Balchunas posted.

“US audience - and all those extra ad dollars - totally shot. I love tennis but I love my beauty sleep even more.”

The very nerve of those Australians and their meagre dollarydoos.

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