Team Canada suffers tight loss to Denmark at men’s hockey world championship
Team Canada fell to Denmark 2-1 in their quarterfinal match-up at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
Team Canada registered six wins and one overtime loss within preliminary play to finish at the top of Group A. The Canadians travelled from Stockholm, Sweden, where all their previous games had taken place, to Herning, Denmark, to play the Danes at home.
READ: Team Canada defeats Sweden at men’s hockey world championship
Team Denmark was fortified by the addition of Nikolaj Ehlers after his elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs with the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
Despite Team Canada controlling play and outshooting Denmark 18-4, it was a scoreless first period, with Denmark successfully fending off two Canadian powerplays.
It took almost another full period before what looked like the first goal of the game was scored by Denmark’s Morten Poulsen. However, the goal was called off for a hand pass. Still 0-0.
The game remained scoreless after 40 minutes of play. The second period saw the Canadians outshoot the Danes once again, 12-7, but Danish goaltender Frederick Dichow remained excellent.
Finally, after over 45 minutes of play, the game’s first official goal was scored. Team Canada’s Travis Sanheim notched the game’s first off of a beautiful sequence of passes from Sidney Crosby and Travis Konecny.
With just over two minutes to go, the Danes pulled Bichow for the extra attacker. With the extra firepower, Nikolaj Ehlers struck back to tie things up for Denmark, much to the excitement of the hometown crowd.
With only 49 seconds of play remaining, Denmark’s Nick Olesen scored to pull the Danes ahead for the first time, an unbelievable comeback by the Danish team in the last two minutes.
Unable to find a response, the clock wound down, and Team Canada’s medal hopes ended. Denmark will advance to the semifinal.
