photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
Denmark and Italy traded chances in a game in which the momentum shifted from one team to the other several times, but at the end of the day, Denmark bagged a 3-2 shootout win. More importantly for the Danes, the win secures their spot in the top division for 2027.
Denmark’s Patrick Russell was the only player to score in the shootout.
Tommy Purdeller scored twice for Italy, Christian Wejse and Mikkel Aagaard scored for Denmark in regulation time.
“Of course it's nice to know we’re safe. it’s been a disappointing tournament, but the way we’ve played hasn't been our style. Of course we wanted to fight for a spot in the quarterfinal,” said Denmark’s Christian Wejse.
“We started a little slow and gave them two goals. I’m proud of the team, we played well the rest of the way and I think we deserved better,” Italy’s Alex Trivellato said.
Of the seven previous IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship games between the two nations, Denmark had won six. Italy’s lone win came in Stockholm in 2012, a 4–3 OT win.
Just like in Sweden fourteen years ago, the stakes were high. The loser of the game would find itself in a must-win situation in its final game: Denmark against Norway, and Italy against Slovenia.
A little more than two minutes into the game, Denmark got a 3-on-2 and capitalized on it beautifully. Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup found Philip Bruggisser in the middle, and he sent the puck to his right, where Christian Wejse came flying down the wing and fired it in to give Denmark a 1–0 lead at 2:33. It was Wejse’s first point of the tournament.
Straight off the following faceoff, Nick Olesen entered the zone from the right. The puck was rimmed around and then back to Olesen in the corner. He looked up and sent a saucer pass right to the tape of Mikkel Aagaard, who was driving to the net and one-timed it in for 2–0 just sixteen seconds after the first goal.
Aagaard leads his team in scoring with nine points, while Olesen has eight points in six games.
Italy didn’t throw in the towel by any means. They created several dangerous chances, the best of which came to Nicolas Saracino, who fired from up close, but Aagaard was there to block it, making a glove save that any goalie in the tournament would have been jealous of.
As tough as Italy’s start to the game was, just as great was its start to the second period. Italy got an early power-play opportunity and capitalized on it after a great play by Mikael Frycklund, who patiently waited until he found Tommy Purdeller on his left, and Purdeller one-timed it in over a diving Sogaard to make it a one-goal game at 1:17 of the period.
The second period was all about Italy, who outshot Denmark 13–5 in the first 15 minutes and had several wide-open chances but didn’t seem able to beat Sogaard or the Danish defense.
Until they did.
With 4:26 remaining in the period, Frycklund — again— set up Purdeller, whose wrister from the left faceoff circle beat Sogaard top shelf to tie the game.
“We didn’t want to sit back but in a way, we did. They deserve a lot of credit, they had the chances to win the game, but we had a good goalie and defensemen who blocked shots,” Wejse said.
In the third, Denmark pushed back again, and halfway through the period, it had outshot Italy 5–2 but couldn’t quite get to the best scoring areas and the game went to overtime.
“We knew we had more to give and we started pressing them but you have to score goals to win these games. Hopefully, we'’ll get the bounces tomorrow [against Slovenia]," Trivellato said.
Denmark’s Patrick Russell was the only player to score in the shootout.
Tommy Purdeller scored twice for Italy, Christian Wejse and Mikkel Aagaard scored for Denmark in regulation time.
“Of course it's nice to know we’re safe. it’s been a disappointing tournament, but the way we’ve played hasn't been our style. Of course we wanted to fight for a spot in the quarterfinal,” said Denmark’s Christian Wejse.
“We started a little slow and gave them two goals. I’m proud of the team, we played well the rest of the way and I think we deserved better,” Italy’s Alex Trivellato said.
Of the seven previous IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship games between the two nations, Denmark had won six. Italy’s lone win came in Stockholm in 2012, a 4–3 OT win.
Just like in Sweden fourteen years ago, the stakes were high. The loser of the game would find itself in a must-win situation in its final game: Denmark against Norway, and Italy against Slovenia.
A little more than two minutes into the game, Denmark got a 3-on-2 and capitalized on it beautifully. Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup found Philip Bruggisser in the middle, and he sent the puck to his right, where Christian Wejse came flying down the wing and fired it in to give Denmark a 1–0 lead at 2:33. It was Wejse’s first point of the tournament.
Straight off the following faceoff, Nick Olesen entered the zone from the right. The puck was rimmed around and then back to Olesen in the corner. He looked up and sent a saucer pass right to the tape of Mikkel Aagaard, who was driving to the net and one-timed it in for 2–0 just sixteen seconds after the first goal.
Aagaard leads his team in scoring with nine points, while Olesen has eight points in six games.
Italy didn’t throw in the towel by any means. They created several dangerous chances, the best of which came to Nicolas Saracino, who fired from up close, but Aagaard was there to block it, making a glove save that any goalie in the tournament would have been jealous of.
As tough as Italy’s start to the game was, just as great was its start to the second period. Italy got an early power-play opportunity and capitalized on it after a great play by Mikael Frycklund, who patiently waited until he found Tommy Purdeller on his left, and Purdeller one-timed it in over a diving Sogaard to make it a one-goal game at 1:17 of the period.
The second period was all about Italy, who outshot Denmark 13–5 in the first 15 minutes and had several wide-open chances but didn’t seem able to beat Sogaard or the Danish defense.
Until they did.
With 4:26 remaining in the period, Frycklund — again— set up Purdeller, whose wrister from the left faceoff circle beat Sogaard top shelf to tie the game.
“We didn’t want to sit back but in a way, we did. They deserve a lot of credit, they had the chances to win the game, but we had a good goalie and defensemen who blocked shots,” Wejse said.
In the third, Denmark pushed back again, and halfway through the period, it had outshot Italy 5–2 but couldn’t quite get to the best scoring areas and the game went to overtime.
“We knew we had more to give and we started pressing them but you have to score goals to win these games. Hopefully, we'’ll get the bounces tomorrow [against Slovenia]," Trivellato said.