Heading into Saturday's semi-final against Switzerland, the surprising Danes have won five straight games, including their monumental 2-1 quarter-final upset over Canada.
photo: PHOTO: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
Amid the ecstatic scenes at Herning’s Jyske Bank Boxen, with more than 10,000 Danish fans celebrating an historic 2-1 quarter-final upset over Canada, it was easy to forget that Denmark has defeated the country that invented hockey once before.
At the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, Matthias Bau’s third-period goal proved to be the winner in a 3-2 preliminary-round victory in Helsinki.
However, it wasn’t hard for beaming Danish captain Jesper Jensen Aabo to articulate why Thursday's dramatic win – vaulting the Cinderella Danes into the semi-finals against Switzerland in Stockholm – meant so much more.
“Yes, we’ve beaten Canada before, but this feels totally different,” said Jensen Aabo, a 33-year-old defenceman competing in his 14th Ice Hockey World Championship. “We’re at home, full of red and white colours in the stands. All our friends are here. Our families are here. Most of Denmark was probably watching. This was a knockout game, and now we’re playing for medals. Just saying that gives me goosebumps and sounds surrealistic!”
Indeed, this ranks with the very biggest upsets in international hockey history. That includes the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” where the U.S. college kids shocked the mighty Soviet Union 4-3 in Lake Placid. And the 2002 Olympic quarter-final in Salt Lake City where Belarus eliminated a stacked Swedish team with a 4-3 win.
Denmark had never previously gotten further at this tournament than two quarter-final exits. In 2010, the Danes lost 4-2 to Sweden in Mannheim. In 2016, it was 5-1 to Finland in St. Petersburg. These were commendable achievements for a small hockey nation that returned to the top division in 2003 after a 54-year absence, but not exactly Hollywood-worthy.
Canada currently ranks first in the IIHF World Ranking and is the standard by which other hockey countries measure themselves. Denmark is 11th and has never won a top-division IIHF medal.
So how did the underdog 2025 co-hosts manage to stun a powerhouse Canadian team with future Hall of Famers like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Ryan O’Reilly?
“Our game plan was just to take the game as far as we can with a tight score,” Jensen Aabo explained. “Usually the good teams get kind of frustrated. I think we got better and better and we created more and more chances during the game. Somehow I felt like in the third period we were making a good push and they kind of were going with the 1-0 lead. We just pushed it. I don’t know if we deserved the win over 60 minutes, but we definitely deserved it at the end.”
At the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, Matthias Bau’s third-period goal proved to be the winner in a 3-2 preliminary-round victory in Helsinki.
However, it wasn’t hard for beaming Danish captain Jesper Jensen Aabo to articulate why Thursday's dramatic win – vaulting the Cinderella Danes into the semi-finals against Switzerland in Stockholm – meant so much more.
“Yes, we’ve beaten Canada before, but this feels totally different,” said Jensen Aabo, a 33-year-old defenceman competing in his 14th Ice Hockey World Championship. “We’re at home, full of red and white colours in the stands. All our friends are here. Our families are here. Most of Denmark was probably watching. This was a knockout game, and now we’re playing for medals. Just saying that gives me goosebumps and sounds surrealistic!”
Indeed, this ranks with the very biggest upsets in international hockey history. That includes the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” where the U.S. college kids shocked the mighty Soviet Union 4-3 in Lake Placid. And the 2002 Olympic quarter-final in Salt Lake City where Belarus eliminated a stacked Swedish team with a 4-3 win.
Denmark had never previously gotten further at this tournament than two quarter-final exits. In 2010, the Danes lost 4-2 to Sweden in Mannheim. In 2016, it was 5-1 to Finland in St. Petersburg. These were commendable achievements for a small hockey nation that returned to the top division in 2003 after a 54-year absence, but not exactly Hollywood-worthy.
Canada currently ranks first in the IIHF World Ranking and is the standard by which other hockey countries measure themselves. Denmark is 11th and has never won a top-division IIHF medal.
So how did the underdog 2025 co-hosts manage to stun a powerhouse Canadian team with future Hall of Famers like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Ryan O’Reilly?
“Our game plan was just to take the game as far as we can with a tight score,” Jensen Aabo explained. “Usually the good teams get kind of frustrated. I think we got better and better and we created more and more chances during the game. Somehow I felt like in the third period we were making a good push and they kind of were going with the 1-0 lead. We just pushed it. I don’t know if we deserved the win over 60 minutes, but we definitely deserved it at the end.”
The shots on goal in the third period set this game apart from both the “Miracle on Ice” and the Belarusian victory over Sweden. The Danes outshot Canada by an impressive 22-10 margin to rally in that final stanza. They got the equalizer by Winnipeg Jets star Nikolaj Ehlers at 17:43 and the go-ahead goal by HC Ceske Budejovice ace Nick Olesen with just 49 seconds left.
While towering Danish goalie Frederik Dichow had to be a hero just like Jim Craig and Andrei Mezin in 1980 and 2002 respectively, the latter two netminders saw their teams outshot in every single period.
Even without veteran NHL forwards like Lars Eller or Oliver Bjorkstrand, Denmark has found the offensive sparkplugs it needs. Olesen, who leads the Danes in scoring (4+6=10), has stepped up when it matters. He also got the one-handed, Peter Forsberg-style winner in the 2-1 shootout win over Germany that sent Denmark to the playoffs.
Still, everyone can see that without Ehlers’ willingness to suit up for his country after a tough NHL season, the Danes likely wouldn’t find themselves with the golden opportunity they now enjoy in the Swedish capital. Ehlers, 29, scored a career-high five playoff goals for Winnipeg, the NHL’s top regular-season, before an emotional second-round exit versus the Dallas Stars. His 520 career NHL points are tops all-time among Danes.
“He loves this team as much as anyone else does,” said forward Morten Poulsen, a Herning native. “Every chance he gets, he comes in. He’s just a massive part on and off the ice. He’s such a great guy. It doesn’t matter here if it’s a veteran player or guys who are here for the first time – he comes in with the same status as the rest, and we absolutely love to have him on our team. Exceptional player, and a guy we can thank a lot for in Danish hockey. You know, he’s just such a role model for all of us and for all the sports people and hockey people in Denmark.”
It's all added up to an unforgettable moment for Danish hockey fans, Danmarks Ishockey Union, and the clubs, managers, coaches, and families who have worked hard to elevate the sport nationwide.
Jensen Aabo suggested that beating Canada was “probably the biggest moment in Danish sport.” Football fans might contest that assessment, citing Denmark’s jaw-dropping triumph at the UEFA Euro 1992 with a 2-0 final win over Germany – on Swedish soil, incidentally.
Yet remember, Denmark’s journey at this Ice Hockey World Championship is not yet over. We know coach Mikael Gath’s gutsy crew will play for a medal of some shade on Sunday. And then the fans and pundits can better judge where this heartwarming story fits into hockey history.
“It’s a fairy tale I don’t really want to wake up from,” said Jensen Aabo.
While towering Danish goalie Frederik Dichow had to be a hero just like Jim Craig and Andrei Mezin in 1980 and 2002 respectively, the latter two netminders saw their teams outshot in every single period.
Even without veteran NHL forwards like Lars Eller or Oliver Bjorkstrand, Denmark has found the offensive sparkplugs it needs. Olesen, who leads the Danes in scoring (4+6=10), has stepped up when it matters. He also got the one-handed, Peter Forsberg-style winner in the 2-1 shootout win over Germany that sent Denmark to the playoffs.
Still, everyone can see that without Ehlers’ willingness to suit up for his country after a tough NHL season, the Danes likely wouldn’t find themselves with the golden opportunity they now enjoy in the Swedish capital. Ehlers, 29, scored a career-high five playoff goals for Winnipeg, the NHL’s top regular-season, before an emotional second-round exit versus the Dallas Stars. His 520 career NHL points are tops all-time among Danes.
“He loves this team as much as anyone else does,” said forward Morten Poulsen, a Herning native. “Every chance he gets, he comes in. He’s just a massive part on and off the ice. He’s such a great guy. It doesn’t matter here if it’s a veteran player or guys who are here for the first time – he comes in with the same status as the rest, and we absolutely love to have him on our team. Exceptional player, and a guy we can thank a lot for in Danish hockey. You know, he’s just such a role model for all of us and for all the sports people and hockey people in Denmark.”
It's all added up to an unforgettable moment for Danish hockey fans, Danmarks Ishockey Union, and the clubs, managers, coaches, and families who have worked hard to elevate the sport nationwide.
Jensen Aabo suggested that beating Canada was “probably the biggest moment in Danish sport.” Football fans might contest that assessment, citing Denmark’s jaw-dropping triumph at the UEFA Euro 1992 with a 2-0 final win over Germany – on Swedish soil, incidentally.
Yet remember, Denmark’s journey at this Ice Hockey World Championship is not yet over. We know coach Mikael Gath’s gutsy crew will play for a medal of some shade on Sunday. And then the fans and pundits can better judge where this heartwarming story fits into hockey history.
“It’s a fairy tale I don’t really want to wake up from,” said Jensen Aabo.