23-05-2025
Danault and Team Canada Eliminated, Fiala and Team Switzerland Advance at Worlds
In what amounts to one of the biggest international hockey upsets seen in quite some time, Denmark stunned Canada 2-1 in the quarterfinals at the IIHL World Championships. Denmark will go on to face Kevin Fiala and Team Switzerland in the semi-finals on May 24th in Stockholm, Sweden.
Canada dominated much of the first and second periods in terms of shots on goal and puck possession, but Danish goalie Frederik Dichow made several key saves to put the Danes in position to pull off the upset late in the third period. The former 5th round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2019 had already made his presence known in this tournament by making four saves in a preliminary round game shootout against Germany but can now put Sydney Crosby and Team Canada on his kill count.
'We let them hang around and obviously they get huge goals and find a way to win a hockey game,' said Ryan O'Reilly during a post-game interview with TSN. 'Yeah, it's disappointing.'
Sydney Crosby also emphasized disappointment in his post-game interview as well: 'We got better as the tournament went on. I don't think tonight was necessarily our best but we still found a way to give ourselves the lead in a pretty tough environment here, a road game, with the lead, I liked where we were at, but yeah, disappointing. We had a great group here.'
The Danes came on big in the third period, outshot Canada 22 to 10 and finally tied the game with 2:15 remaining on a shot from Winnipeg Jet Nikolaj Ehlers. Nick Olesen would then pot the game-winner with just 48 seconds to go in the third period.
EHLERS! 😤🔥 #MensWorlds #IIHF @dkishockey
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 22, 2025
NICK OLESEN GIVES DENMARK THE LEAD WITH UNDER A MINUTE TO PLAY! 😱🇩🇰#MensWorlds
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 22, 2025
As for LA Kings participating in the 2025 Worlds, center Phillip Danault played in all eight of Canada's games and finished with two assists and a +1 rating in a fourth line role.
While Danault's tournament came to a shocking ending, Kevin Fiala and Team Switzerland dominated Austria 6-0, punching their ticket to the semi-finals against Denmark on May 24th.
Sandro Schmid makes it 5-0 Switzerland. #MensWorlds
— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) May 22, 2025
Fiala chipped in with a goal and an assist to help send Switzerland through to the semi-finals for the second straight year. Since joining Team Switzerland, the LA Kings' winger has had an excellent tournament. After missing the first three games, Fiala has three goals, six assists, and a +8 rating. The Swiss are looking to return to the gold medal game after losing to Czechia 2-0 in 2024 in Prague., and after today's shocker against Canada, Switzerland would be smart to not overlook the Danes.
