{"id":6183,"date":"2026-02-09T09:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T09:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/6183\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T09:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T09:08:10","slug":"denmark-facing-us-in-hockey-at-winter-olympics-after-trumps-greenland-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/6183\/","title":{"rendered":"Denmark facing US in hockey at Winter Olympics after Trump’s Greenland push"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 Denmark\u2019s athletes walking into the opening ceremony at the Olympics<\/a> led Eurosport broadcaster Davide Livermore to highlight an upcoming men\u2019s hockey game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big crunch derby on Valentine\u2019s Day in the ice hockey rink, given all that\u2019s happening in Greenland at the moment, is the USA against Denmark,\u201d Livermore said. \u201cThe Greenland Derby, as no one\u2019s calling it just yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s rhetoric in recent weeks about taking control of Greenland<\/a> has stirred up national pride in Denmark, which oversees the semiautonomous island. That the teams just happen to face off at the Milan Cortina Olympics<\/a> is no extra motivation to the players, but it is a chance for them to ride a wave of patriotism as significant underdogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re just going out there to try to win a hockey game,\u201d former NHL forward Alexander True said. \u201cWe\u2019re not thinking too much about anything other than the hockey game.\u201d<\/p>\n

To many back home, it may mean more than a hockey game. <\/p>\n

Onlookers and fans seem more tuned in to the geopolitical story line than members of the national team. Last month, thousands marched<\/a> in support of Greenland, and hundreds of military veterans waved Danish flags<\/a> at a silent protest in the capital city of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics and all the stuff going on in the world is not something we\u2019re focused on right now,\u201d forward Nicklas Jensen said. \u201cBut of course playing against the U.S is special. It\u2019s arguably the best team on the planet they put together, so it\u2019s going to be a tough challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a challenge Jensen and his teammates hope is also an opportunity to show how far the small country of 6 million people has come in hockey. Denmark was in the second-tier B division until 2003 and had not qualified for the Olympics until four years ago in Beijing.<\/p>\n

Now Denmark is at the Games for a second time in a row, a result of a pipeline of players making it to the NHL and inspiring others. Frans Nielsen led the way to the NHL and was followed by the likes of Jannik Hansen, Lars Eller, Frederik Andersen and Nikolaj Ehlers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long process, but we have been and we keep producing some top-level talent out of the small pool of players that we have,\u201d defenseman Oliver Lauridsen said. \u201cI think the fact that we have been able to perform on the biggest stage with the national team is also helping to foster the next generation of hockey players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morten Poulsen, 37, is Denmark\u2019s oldest player at the Olympics, and he has seen the growth firsthand. Poulsen has been around so long he has played with some of his younger teammates\u2019 fathers and older brothers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known these guys from a very, very young age and seen all the sacrifices, all the hard work they\u2019ve been doing to be such a great success, both for themselves but especially from the nation, too,\u201d Poulsen said. \u201cThe hockey country of Denmark has really gathered a lot from a lot of people that\u2019s shown the way for a lot of years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most tangible evidence of the growth came last spring when Denmark stunned Canada<\/a> \u2014 with three-time Stanley Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Sidney Crosby and Macklin Celebrini \u2014 on home ice in the quarterfinals at the world championships. Even losing in the bronze-medal game, fourth place was highest finish at any tournament in the national team\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019re actually a team that\u2019s competing for some fun games in those tournaments,\u201d Jensen said. \u201cIt\u2019s great steps for the whole country, and it gives good belief and it\u2019s really cool to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the NHL\u2019s best back at the Olympics for the first time since 2014, it\u2019s hard to imagine Denmark matching or topping what it did at worlds. The Danes have the longest odds of winning their group that includes the U.S., Germany and Latvia at 33-1. They are tied for the third-longest shot of winning it all in Milan at 300-1 on BetMGM Sportsbook.<\/p>\n

Rather than feel intimidated, True said he and his teammates feel like they have nothing to lose and being such an underdog \u201cmakes us play a little more free and not grip the stick too much.\u201d The task being so tall is nothing new and actually something players are embracing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMight go into every game as underdogs, but that\u2019s what we love,\u201d Jensen said. \u201cWe love to try to surprise. We have a very proud, strong group that\u2019s really looking forward to this tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 Denmark\u2019s athletes walking into the opening ceremony at the Olympics led Eurosport broadcaster Davide Livermore…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5471,5473,5476,108,27,5477,26,184,5482,3379,57,3776,5479,5475,5478,3380,5480,5470,5474,2374,5481,135,5472],"class_list":{"0":"post-6183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denmark","8":"tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","9":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","10":"tag-alexander-true","11":"tag-copenhagen","12":"tag-danmark","13":"tag-davide-livermore","14":"tag-denmark","15":"tag-donald-trump","16":"tag-frans-nielsen","17":"tag-frederik-andersen","18":"tag-greenland","19":"tag-hockey","20":"tag-lars-eller","21":"tag-morten-poulsen","22":"tag-nhl-hockey","23":"tag-nikolaj-ehlers","24":"tag-oliver-lauridsen","25":"tag-olympic-games","26":"tag-olympic-hockey","27":"tag-send-to-apple-news","28":"tag-sidney-crosby","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-sports-europe"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}