The last remaining members of the 麻豆传媒映画Canucks at the 2025 IIHF World Championship will face off in the semifinals on Saturday.
Earlier on Thursday, Conor Garland and Drew O'Connor moved on from the quarterfinals with Team USA, thanks in part to Garland's two goals against Finland. Later in the day, they were joined by Marcus Pettersson and Sweden, who knocked out Filip Hronek and Czechia in one of the other three quarterfinal matches.
The end result is that Pettersson and Sweden will face Garland, O'Connor and team USA in the semifinals, with the winner moving on to the gold medal game and the loser playing for bronze.
Pettersson and Sweden eliminate Hronek and Czechia
The battle between the two Canucks defencemen swung heavily in favour of Pettersson and Sweden in the first period, as Sweden took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Leo Carlsson opened the scoring on the power play with a nifty deflection on a Rasmus Andersson pass, then Lucas Raymond added two even-strength goals, both assisted by Rasmus Sandin.
That was the end of the night for Czech goaltender Karel Vejmelka, who was replaced for the start of the second period by Dan Vladar.
Czechia got one back on a 5-on-3 power play that was quarterbacked by Hronek, though he did not get an assist on the goal, which came from a smart backdoor pass by Martin Necas to set up Roman Cervenka.
Carlsson restored the three-goal lead later in the second period. Pettersson got the play started with a retrieval in his own zone and a quick bank pass off the boards to spring Sweden on a rush. Marcus Johansson dropped the puck to Mika Zibanejad, who set up Carlsson for the one-timer from the slot.
Another Czechia goal in the third period gave them some life, Michael Spacek beat a couple of former Canucks. Spacek, dressed as Czechia's 13th forward, outbattled Elias Lindholm in front of the net to jam a rebound past Jacob Markstrom.
That was as close as Czechia would come. Pettersson, who didn't pick up an assist on the second-period goal by Carlsson, finally got on the scoresheet late in the third. Pettersson jumped on a faceoff win by Mikael Backlund and sent the puck around the boards to Filip Forsberg, who sent the puck into the empty net from the defensive zone.
Previously paired with Rasmus Andersson, Pettersson was with Adam Larsson on Thursday against Czechia. While the duo was listed as the third pairing, Pettersson finished with 18:41 in ice time, which was fourth on Sweden's defence behind Jonas Brodin, Rasmus Sandin, and Simon Edvinsson.
After he was a minus-three in Sweden's last game against Canada, Pettersson was a plus-three against Czechia.
Hronek, meanwhile, was a horse for Czechia, playing 25:24, behind only David Pastrnak in ice time. Despite playing so many minutes in a 5-2 loss, Hronek was only a minus-1, and that came from the empty-net goal. You can't fault Hronek for his performance.
Sweden will now face Team USA in the semifinals, which wasn't supposed to happen.
Denmark's shocking upset over Canada
Pettersson and Sweden ought to have been facing Switzerland in the semifinals. Instead, a stunning upset changed the script.
With three minutes remaining in the quarterfinal game between Team Canada and Denmark, it looked like Canada was going to hang on for the win. Given the talent at their disposal, "hanging on" shouldn't have been the gameplan. Canada brought a loaded roster led by Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon, featuring plenty of other top-tier talent like Macklin Celebrini, Ryan O'Reilly, and presumed 2026 Olympics starter Jordan Binnington.
But Canada could only manage one goal against Denmark, a third-period marker by Travis Sanheim. Still, Canada was on track for a win, after which they would face Team USA in the semifinals as the tournament's top seed.
Denmark, however, had other ideas.
It was an inspired effort by the Danish side, as they outshot Canada 22-to-10 in the third period, pouring on the pressure in a way that no one expected. After all, Denmark has just one legitimate NHLer on their roster, Nikolaj Ehlers, and a couple of other players who have played some NHL games like Jonas Rondbjerg, Alexander True, and former Canuck Nicklas Jensen.
It was enough. Ehlers tied up the game with 2:17 remaining on a shot from distance that found its way through Binnington, who was masterfully screened by the 6'5" True.
The tying goal stunned Canada and enlivened Denmark in front of their home-country crowd. Just over a minute later, Denmark again hemmed Canada in and Jensen threw a puck on net from a bad angle. The rebound came out to Denmark's leading scorer, veteran forward Nick Olesen, who was left all alone by Phillip Danault in front. Olesen calmly took the puck to his forehand and roofed it over the lunging Binnington.
Bedlam in Herning.
With only 49 seconds to work with, Canada pulled Binnington for the extra attacker, but couldn't get the puck through to the net.
Perhaps Canada should have seen it coming. After all, it looked like Denmark had opened the scoring in the second period on a breakaway goal by Morten Poulsen, only for the goal to get waved off for a hand pass by Nicholas B. Jensen, who was upset that Poulsen played the puck instead of leaving it for him.
That disallowed goal should have been a wake-up call for Canada. Instead, they got sleepier and sleepier as the game progressed, perhaps feeling the effects of playing three games in four nights.
That shouldn't discount the heroics from Danish goaltender Frederik Dichow. The 24-year-old, a one-time draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, was spectacular in net for Denmark, stopping 39 of 40 shots. To no one's surprise, Dichow was named Denmark's player of the game.
It's legitimately one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament, particularly given that it came against the likes of Crosby and MacKinnon.
"I don’t have any words for this,” said Ehlers on TSN after the game. “To beat Canada at home and go through is one of the biggest things I’ve done in my career, so it’s amazing...I was almost crying on the ice.”
The win for Denmark left them as the bottom seed heading into the semifinals, meaning they'll face surprise top seed Switzerland, leaving Sweden to face Team USA. Denmark has never even made the semifinals at the World Championships, let alone won a medal, so this is guaranteed to be their highest finish at the tournament, which feels extra special given they're co-hosting the event with Sweden.
