Sensation in Herning: co-hosts Denmark knock record world champions Canada out of the tournament with two late goals
Keystone
What a sensation! Denmark achieves the impossible at the home World Championships and beats top favorites Canada 2:1 in the quarter-finals. The Danes will face Switzerland in the semi-finals on Saturday.
What Austria was miles away from doing against Switzerland in the quarter-final in Herning in the afternoon, where they lost 6-0, Denmark managed hours later against record world champions Canada: a big surprise!
Double strike shortly before the end
With the crowd behind them, the Danes were full of confidence against the NHL team, showed great willingness to fight and created many good chances. Nevertheless, it was the Canadians who, as expected, took the lead in the 46th minute through Travis Sanheim.
But thanks to goals from Nikolaj Ehlers (58′) and Nick Olesen (60′), the Danes managed a late turnaround and thus qualified for a World Championship semi-final for the first time. Danish goalkeeper Frederik Dichow, who made way for a sixth outfield player in the final phase, shone against Crosby and Co. with 39 saves.
World champions Czech Republic fail to beat Sweden
The other semi-final will be contested by the USA and Sweden. The Scandinavians eliminated defending champions the Czech Republic with a 5:2 victory in Stockholm. Leo Carlsson and Lucas Raymond scored twice for the co-hosts.
The USA also won their quarter-final against Finland 5:2. For the Finns, who had six players from the Swiss National League, it was their third consecutive quarter-final defeat since winning the title at the 2022 World Cup.