A special Saturday evening in Milan awaits …

I will spend the coming Saturday evening in Milan with 6 good friends – not to look at fashion clothes, expensive cars or opera in “La Scala”. The event is much more intense and interesting for a bunch of sports fans; Denmark’s second match in the Olympic ice hockey tournament against the big favorites from the USA. In my opinion, sports at the highest international level – especially ice hockey – should be experienced “live on location” and not in front of a TV screen. For this reason, a special experience awaits in Milan’s Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, which is a newly built multi-arena with space for 14,000 spectators.

Olympic Ice Hockey Finals – Magical Memories

One of my magical sports memories is the 2010 Olympic Ice Hockey Final between Canada and the USA, which I witnessed with 20,000 amazing hockey fans at Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver. The match between the two hockey giants was intense and dramatic from the first to the last second. Canada took a 2-0 lead in the 1st period, but just 22 seconds before the final whistle in the 3rd and final period, the USA tied the game at 2-2, shocking the home crowd and forcing the game into overtime. After 8 minutes, superstar Sidney Crosby scored the iconic “Golden Goal” and all of Canada exploded in cheers. I still remember the ecstatic atmosphere in all the bars and restaurants in Vancouver that Sunday evening and night 16 years ago. The 38-year-old Sidney Crosby, who has now played more than 1,500 NHL games and scored 1,947 points for the Pittsburgh Penguins over 21 seasons, can win his third Olympic gold medal for “Team Canada” in Milan.

Other Olympic ice hockey finals are also burned into my memory, including Sweden’s 3-2 victory over Canada at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer – the final that was decided by the legend Peter Forsberg’s penalty kick. Finland’s surprising gold medals at the most recent 2022 Olympics in Beijing and the USA’s victory in the semi-final over the Soviet Union’s big favorites – the “Miracle on Ice” – at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid are also strong moments in my memories.

NHL – the world’s strongest ice hockey league

The most skillful hockey players play daily in the National Hockey League (NHL), which is by far the world’s strongest and most commercial professional ice hockey league. The NHL is a national group consisting of 32 teams – 25 in the USA and 7 in Canada. The teams are divided into two conferences: Eastern and Western and 4 divisions: Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central and Pacific. All teams play 82 games in the regular season, which runs from October to April. After the regular season, a playoff is held between the 16 best teams according to the “best of 7 games” principle. The winner of the two conferences meets in the final for one of the world’s oldest and most famous sports trophies: the Stanley Cup. At present, only one Danish hockey player – Lars Eller – has won this trophy with the Washington Capitals in 2018. With more than 1,250 NHL games, the 36-year-old Lars Eller is by far the most experienced player in Denmark’s squad at the 2026 Olympics.

The NHL sets all common rules and commercial agreements for all teams. These include, for example, the match schedule (game times and arenas), salary levels for both the team and individual players (minimum and maximum), insurance amounts, player transfers between teams, disciplinary sanctions and much more. The NHL also decides whether the tournament should be suspended during the Olympics, which gives all NHL players the opportunity to win Olympic medals. The NHL tournament was not suspended during the last two Olympics (Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022), i.e. without many of the very best NHL players. However, this will not be the case during the upcoming Olympics in Milan.

USA – a national team of world stars

The suspension of the NHL during the Olympics means that both the USA and the other top nations – Canada, Finland, the Czech Republic and Sweden – will be fielding many world stars. Among the top players on the USA team are the two hyper dangerous forwards: Auston Matthews from the Toronto Maple Leafs (748 NHL games and 834 points) and Jack Eichel from the Vegas Golden Knights (706 NHL games and 719 points). In addition, the USA has a very strong defense with two guards with great offensive qualities: Quinn Hughes from the Minnesota Wild (515 NHL games and 492 points) and Charlie McAvoy from the Boston Bruins (640 NHL games and 387 points) as well as two of the NHL’s absolute best goaltenders: Connor Hellebuyck from the Winnipeg Jets and Jake Oettinger from the Dallas Star. The USA squad of 25 players has played a total of more than 15,000 NHL games to date, while Denmark’s squad has played a little over 3,000 NHL games.

Denmark – few NHL profiles, but strong fight and unique team spirit

In addition to Lars Eller, the Danish Olympic national team features several players who are prominent profiles on their respective NHL teams: Goalkeeper Frederik Andersen from the Carolina Hurricanes (624 NHL games), Nikolaj Ehlers also from the Carolina Hurricanes (776 NHL games and 584 points), Oliver Bjørkstrand from the Tampa Bay Lightning (724 games and 431 points). Among Denmark’s key players should also be mentioned captain Jesper Jensen Aabo, who has played no fewer than 14 World Cup finals for the “lions”. Jesper was deservedly Denmark’s flag bearer at the Olympic opening at Stadio San Siro. There is no doubt that these players must deliver top performances if Denmark’s dream of an Olympic quarterfinal is to be realized. There is also no doubt that the Olympic tournament is a major “platform” for the 20-year-old Oscar Fisker Mølgaard, who has already made his NHL debut for the Seattle Kraken and the 25-year-old goalie Mads Søgaard, who has been associated with the Ottawa Senator for several seasons.

Probably few people with knowledge of ice hockey expect points for Denmark against the USA on Saturday. Since their A-World Championship debut in 2003 and most recently at the 2022 Olympics and the 2025 World Championship on home arena in Herning, Denmark has repeatedly shown strong fight and unique team spirit. For that reason, I believe in Danish points – either against Germany on Thursday (12.2.) or Latvia on Sunday (15.2.), which is no. 9 on the IIHF rankings – just behind Denmark in 8th place.

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