Nik Scores Early, Denmark Gets Silver

A slashing penalty by Halifax Mooseheads player Nikolaj Ehlers costed his Denmark team a gold medal at the World Junior A Challenge. The Danes were competing against Team USA in the last game of the tournament and were defeated 3-2 in overtime by the States. Ehlers got the Danes on the board early in the game scoring 33 seconds into the first period. The US tied the game in the middle
frame and than Ehlers set up Denmark's second goal. The goaltending by Danish goalie George Sorenson made it look like his team would skate to a gold medal but a Ehlers penalty at 15:07 followed by a Mads Eller penalty at 16:54 gave the States an even more offensive push and the Americans were able to convert on the second PP to tie the game at 2. Sorenson faced 63 shots by USA but he 60 saves were not enough to help his team win.

Nikolaj and Team Denmark will now travel to Montreal to get ready for the World Juniors that are set to start on Boxing Day. After 9 points (6 goals and 3 assists) in this tournament, I can't imagine that Denmark will be cutting Ehlers. I will have coverage of Denmark's journey in the U20 tournament.