Losing 14-0 to host Canada didn't put the Danes (pictured: Jakob Wittendorf and Phillip Schultz) in a festive mood, but they should know that hockey history is full of much more significant blowouts.
photo: Matt Zambonin / HHOF-IIHF Images
Right now, Danish hockey fans probably aren’t big fans of Pitbull’s “Don’t Stop The Party.” After all, they had to hear Team Canada’s goal song 14 times as the host team thumped Denmark 14-0 on Boxing Day in Vancouver.
Even though the Danes looked better in a 4-0 loss to Russia on 27 December, it didn’t help in the standings. Unlike Danish pastry, there’s no sugarcoating this: the 2019 World Juniors aren’t going well for coach Olaf Eller and his boys so far.
However, life could be worse. Getting back to that 14-0 game, when you put it in perspective, hockey history is full of much more consequential blowout losses.
The Danes hate being reminded about this, but when their men’s national team debuted at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 1949 in Stockholm, Sweden, they lost 47-0 to Canada, represented by the amateur Sudbury Wolves. Denmark was relegated and wouldn’t return to the top division until 2003. It’s safe to say the modern U20 team will never endure a 54-year drought like that.
In World Junior terms, losing 14-0 isn’t pretty, but it’s not in the same league as Czechoslovakia’s record-setting 21-4 romp over Austria on 28 December 1980. Canadian captain Maxime Comtois lit up the Danish goalies with four goals, but even that outburst fell short of Swedish forward Ola Rosander’s record of six goals versus Poland on 28 December 1987.
And losing 14-0 is still better than losing 20-1, as Japan did against host Sweden on 30 December 1992. That game remains notorious for Peter Forsberg’s unrivalled 10-point performance in Gavle.
Facing Canadian coach Tim Hunter’s fired-up squad, it was actually quite a feat for Danish forward Jonathan Brinkman to post an even plus-minus rating in 14:29 of ice time – considering 12 Danes were -3 or worse.
When it comes to taking international hockey thrashings, Denmark has nothing on Thailand. At the 1998 Asia-Oceania U18 Championship in Harbin, China, Thailand lost 92-0 to South Korea. (That is not a misprint.) Meanwhile, Kazakhstan might be an underdog at the 2019 World Juniors, but its senior national team pounded Thailand 52-1 at the 2007 Asian Winter Games.
Since sensitive youngsters may be reading this web site, we’ll discreetly refrain from discussing the Thai plus-minus ratings in those games.
Danish skaters like Jonas Rondbjerg and Malte Setkov, who have promising pro careers ahead of them, can take solace in knowing that blowouts happen to the best of them. Take goalie Patrick Roy, the only player ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP three times (1986, 1993, 1996). His high-profile blowouts were life-changing.
Roy was in net for the Montreal Canadiens in an 11-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on 2 December 1995. It ended the 30-year-old’s illustrious Habs career, as his feud with then-coach Mario Tremblay boiled over and he was promptly traded to the Colorado Avalanche.
Yet that wasn’t the only time Roy got ventilated. In Game Seven of the 2002 Western Conference final, Colorado was dethroned as Stanley Cup champions, falling 7-0 to the eventual champion Detroit Red Wings, backstopped by Roy’s archrival, Dominik Hasek.
So what? In the big picture, Roy still won three Vezina Trophies and made the Hall of Fame.
2018 has been a magnificent year for Danish hockey. Copenhagen and Herning successfully hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship for the first time, and Lars Eller scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Washington Capitals. At the 2019 World Juniors, the Danes still have a great opportunity to put their early stumbles behind them and extend their top-division stay to a fifth consecutive year.
Olaf Eller put it nicely after the loss to Russia: “Let’s just say, ‘Thank you, Canada, for the lesson yesterday.’ I’m very happy that the guys took it in the right way.” And the Danes can kickstart their chances of avoiding the relegation round by beating winless Switzerland on Saturday.
So yeah, “Don’t Stop The Party.” Not just yet.
Even though the Danes looked better in a 4-0 loss to Russia on 27 December, it didn’t help in the standings. Unlike Danish pastry, there’s no sugarcoating this: the 2019 World Juniors aren’t going well for coach Olaf Eller and his boys so far.
However, life could be worse. Getting back to that 14-0 game, when you put it in perspective, hockey history is full of much more consequential blowout losses.
The Danes hate being reminded about this, but when their men’s national team debuted at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 1949 in Stockholm, Sweden, they lost 47-0 to Canada, represented by the amateur Sudbury Wolves. Denmark was relegated and wouldn’t return to the top division until 2003. It’s safe to say the modern U20 team will never endure a 54-year drought like that.
In World Junior terms, losing 14-0 isn’t pretty, but it’s not in the same league as Czechoslovakia’s record-setting 21-4 romp over Austria on 28 December 1980. Canadian captain Maxime Comtois lit up the Danish goalies with four goals, but even that outburst fell short of Swedish forward Ola Rosander’s record of six goals versus Poland on 28 December 1987.
And losing 14-0 is still better than losing 20-1, as Japan did against host Sweden on 30 December 1992. That game remains notorious for Peter Forsberg’s unrivalled 10-point performance in Gavle.
Facing Canadian coach Tim Hunter’s fired-up squad, it was actually quite a feat for Danish forward Jonathan Brinkman to post an even plus-minus rating in 14:29 of ice time – considering 12 Danes were -3 or worse.
When it comes to taking international hockey thrashings, Denmark has nothing on Thailand. At the 1998 Asia-Oceania U18 Championship in Harbin, China, Thailand lost 92-0 to South Korea. (That is not a misprint.) Meanwhile, Kazakhstan might be an underdog at the 2019 World Juniors, but its senior national team pounded Thailand 52-1 at the 2007 Asian Winter Games.
Since sensitive youngsters may be reading this web site, we’ll discreetly refrain from discussing the Thai plus-minus ratings in those games.
Danish skaters like Jonas Rondbjerg and Malte Setkov, who have promising pro careers ahead of them, can take solace in knowing that blowouts happen to the best of them. Take goalie Patrick Roy, the only player ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP three times (1986, 1993, 1996). His high-profile blowouts were life-changing.
Roy was in net for the Montreal Canadiens in an 11-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on 2 December 1995. It ended the 30-year-old’s illustrious Habs career, as his feud with then-coach Mario Tremblay boiled over and he was promptly traded to the Colorado Avalanche.
Yet that wasn’t the only time Roy got ventilated. In Game Seven of the 2002 Western Conference final, Colorado was dethroned as Stanley Cup champions, falling 7-0 to the eventual champion Detroit Red Wings, backstopped by Roy’s archrival, Dominik Hasek.
So what? In the big picture, Roy still won three Vezina Trophies and made the Hall of Fame.
2018 has been a magnificent year for Danish hockey. Copenhagen and Herning successfully hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship for the first time, and Lars Eller scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Washington Capitals. At the 2019 World Juniors, the Danes still have a great opportunity to put their early stumbles behind them and extend their top-division stay to a fifth consecutive year.
Olaf Eller put it nicely after the loss to Russia: “Let’s just say, ‘Thank you, Canada, for the lesson yesterday.’ I’m very happy that the guys took it in the right way.” And the Danes can kickstart their chances of avoiding the relegation round by beating winless Switzerland on Saturday.
So yeah, “Don’t Stop The Party.” Not just yet.