The hometown party continues in Herning. Denmark snatched a shoot-out success over Germany in the final game in Group B, advancing to the quarter-finals at the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Goalie Frederik Dichow stopped all four German attempts in the shoot-out after a 1-1 tie in regulation.

Nick Olesen opened up the shoot-out with a beautiful drag move to the backhand and Joachim Blichfeld followed up with a great release over Philipp Grubauer’s glove. But it was Dichow whose name rang around the arena after denying Justin Schutz, Leonhard Pfoderl, Tim Stutzle and Dominik Kahun.



For the Germans, a fourth successive loss spelled the end of this year’s tournament at the end of what was, in effect, a game seven decider.

This was jubilation for Denmark. The host nation seemed down and out after dropping its first three games. But Mikael Gath’s team never stopped believing and reeled off four wins in a row to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

“It's special,” said Danish goalscorer Nikolaj Ehlers. “It’s obviously what we were hoping for. I think the guys put this team in a great spot. And, you know, we played against a Germany that played really well. They had chances, we had chances. But I think overall, we stuck to our plan, and we didn’t give up and were able to get that one goal. And from, I think, the third period on, we were the better team. So that's exciting.”

Germany’s captain Moritz Seider was left to rue what might have been. “I think we came out with a very solid game plan,” he said. “I think we weathered the storm pretty well, defended from the inside out. We knew they were coming out pretty hard, probably, and found a way to get into the game after five or 10 minutes. 

“We played overall a very solid game. But if you look at the big picture, scoring one goal probably won’t do it in international hockey, and that’s very frustrating right now.”

Befitting the high stakes, the action was intense and anxious. It was night destined for greater drama than quality as two nervous teams struggled for cohesion and structure.

The big pre-game boost for Denmark was the sight of Ehlers suiting up for the first time in the championship. He jetted in from Winnipeg this morning to try and help his country into the last eight on home ice. Defender Nicholas B Jensen also returned for only his second game of the tournament.

There was a long wait for the opening goal. Denmark had the better first-period opportunities, starting with the opening power play of the game when Mathias Bau provoked Korbinian Gieble into a cross-check. With Ehlers quarterbacking the play, the Danes moved the puck nicely around the zone but managed nothing more threatening that a Patrick Russell shot off the side of the net.

There was less to show from the German offence and Harold Kreis’s men struggled even on the power play.

Late in the frame, the teams traded big chances. First, the lively Nick Olesen profited from Marc Michaelis’s wayward pass, collecting the puck between the hash marks and forcing Grubauer into a blocker save. Then, at the other end, Frederik Tiffels got on the rush and saw the ice open out in front of him. He fired in a dangerous shot, but Dichow had the answer.

Things remained disjointed at the start of the second. With little cohesion, the key moments came from individual flair. Stutzle, a player whose obvious talent seemed to need a goal to settle him down, had a great early look when he used his pace to race into the Danish zone before his shot was stopped.

But late in the middle stanza, Germany grabbed the lead. There were just 45 seconds left in the frame when Geible roasted a shot from the blue line. There were four men in front of Dichow, denying him a view of the shot as the puck found the net.

Then the Germans almost added a second on the next shift. A three-on-one rush had Denmark exposed at the back, but a diving block from Markus Lauridsen cut out Alexander Ehl’s attempted pass to Maximillian Kastner and the chance was gone.

Denmark managed just four shots in the second period as Germany shut much of the play down. Coming out for the third, Gath moved Jonas Rondbjerg to the top line alongside Nicklas Jensen and Russell.

But Ehlers continued to have influence and he shrugged off the jetlag to grab a tying goal with exactly 10 minutes to play. Oscar Moelgaard dumped the puck into the corner as Ehlers hit top speed to collect a big rebound off those spring Herning boards and rifle a lethal shot to the top shelf.

“That’s just a super-smart hockey play,” said Ehlers of Moelgaard’s set-up. “I’ve played with him before, and his hockey IQ is really, really nice. So to be able to make that play and see me coming on the side and not make the direct pass instead, that was awesome. I told him that as well. That was a special play.”

Ehler's celebratory roar showed that it was worth every last one of those airmiles.

“These guys made it a pretty easy decision to come home and play,” Ehlers said. “They worked hard to put us in a situation where this Game Seven means something. It was obviously a dream as well to come home and play in front of the Danish crowd. So it was well worth it.

Neither team could win it in regulation, but overtime proved far more entertaining. From Stutzle’s audacious attempted chip and bunt to a scintillating spin play from Moelgaard, there were big chances at both ends. Dichow then made a huge late save to send us to a shoot-out.

After Germany’s tournament came to an end, Seider found some positives from 12 days in Herning. “Despite having a young team, I think we can be dominant out there if we want to,” he said. “We’ve shown that we can play with everyone over certain amount of times, certain stretches. 

“But we’ve got to show up every single shift, every single power play. We just can’t take moments off, shifts off, minutes off. That’s something we’ve gotta take away from here, because I think there was more in the tank than we showed, unfortunately.”

But the day belonged to Denmark and Herning was ecstatic after the disappointment of failing to advance as host in 2018. “You saw the celebration; it was like we won the whole thing,” Ehlers concluded. “It’s an unbelievable feeling.”