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Strange Hockey Stories - Denmark Waits 50 Years to Play Canada
The Little Guys Fight Back Not every country that has ice in winter, is dedicated to hockey, but in Canada it's consider the national sport, and so it wasn't unexpected when in 1947, the national hockey team literally slaughtered the underdogs from Denmark, 47-0 at the world championships. But their comeuppance was coming. 1949 was the first time that Denmark had entered the fray, and so was placed with the top teams, even though in 1947, the structure of play had been divided into four pools, A, B, C and D, with A being the top sixteen ranked countries in the world. After that year's championships, Denmark sank to the bottom of the pool like a lead weight. And it would be over 50 years before they rose to the top again. For most of the next half century, Denmark, which today has only 4,000 hockey players in total, was included in the B and C pools. They finally made it back to the top, in 2003, and played in Level I, the ranking system having changed to two divisions. But they had not yet had a re-match with their nemesis, Canada. That would come in the world tournament. After stomping the American team 5-2 in their opening game, Denmark played Canada for the first time in 54 years. They didn't win, but the 2-2 tie put a smile on many a Danish face. |
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