– This was fun. We knew we would play a lot in our own zone, but everyone fought and did the shitty job, Danish forward Frans Nielsen told Viasat after the match.
– We played smart and took the chances we got.
A year ago, Denmark offered a huge bang when they for the first time ever won over Sweden in a hockey World Cup.
But Monday night’s bang at the hockey World Cup in Finland was even bigger.
Denmark’s victory against Canada was not expected by anyone.
Although Canada also lost something unexpected on Saturday’s group stage match against Switzerland, that loss should rather have acted as an alarm clock and made Canada play its best hockey on Monday night in Helsinki.
That did not happen. Instead, Canada collected its second straight loss in the group stage, and the fact that Canada loses two straight games in a World Cup is not uncommon.
– We usually surprise at some point in each World Cup. This year it was against Canada, last year against Sweden. It is fun that we not only come here and get to play to survive, but that we can also have a chance against the better teams, said Frans Nielsen.
Denmark took a grip on the match already in the first period where they took the lead with 2-0 after goals by Markus Lauridsen and Peter Regin.
In the second period, Canada reduced to 2-1, but when the Canadians in the third period chased the 2-2 goal, it was instead Denmark who scored the next goal.
With just under eight minutes left of regular time, Mathias Bau increased Denmark’s lead to 3-1, and the happy Danish supporters on site cheered.
Canada then put a lot of pressure on the remaining minutes, and also managed to reduce to 3-2, but Canada did not get any closer than that.
Thanks to sacrifice Danish game, where all Danish players tore hard, and with the help of the posts that took care of a couple of the Canadian shots, Denmark won 3-2.
Denmark and Canada have met on eight occasions in the World Cup, and this was the first time that Denmark won.
Despite the impressive victory, however, Denmark may miss to advance to the playoffs. In the last group game match, Denmark will meet Slovakia, and in all probability Denmark will need to score points in that match in order for them to play in the quarterfinals.