Day One at the 2024 Men’s Final Olympic Ice Hockey Qualification Group F in Aalborg brought the anticipated wins for Norway and Denmark. But neither team had it entirely easy. The Norwegians trailed Japan until the 35th minute before recovering to win 4-2. And the Danes could not build on a fast start against Great Britain: pegged back in the first period, the tournament hosts had to wait until the third to secure a 3-1 verdict.
 

Norway 4 Japan 2 (0-1, 3-0, 1-1)

Norway survived an early scare to deliver its expected victory over Japan in the opening game in Aalborg. Although the Japanese took a first period lead, three Norwegian goals in five minutes late in the second turned this game around. Rising star Michael Brandsegg-Nygard scored twice, underlining the teenaged forward’s potential.

Japan rarely gets a chance to play top-division nations and made a nervous start. Norway got an early power play, on which Brandsegg-Nygard tested Yuta Narisawa in the Japanese net. Midway through the opening frame, the young forward hit the post on another power play.

It felt like Norway was close to making a breakthrough, but the opening goal came against the run of play after 16 minutes. Another Norwegian attack saw Mats Zuccarello bang a wayward shot into the boards. Chikara Hanzawa grabbed the loose puck and stormed down the left to launch the counter. His pass picked out Teruto Nakajima in front of the net and his one-timer beat Henrik Haukeland to give the unfancied Japanese a shock lead.

As Norway pushed for a quick response, another counter almost opened the defence again. However, Yu Sato’s attempted pull back for Hanzawa was misplaced and Haukeland was not tested.

Playing with a 1-0 lead, Japan was more assured at the start of the second period. Norway was no longer outshooting its opponent, nor dominating possession to the same extent. 

However, after killing a penalty midway through the session, Norway stepped up a gear to take control of the game. At 14:15, Ken Andre Olimb tied the score. Sander Engebraten’s shot was deflected wide, but Thomas Olsen managed to knock it back to the doorstep for Olimb to stuff it home.

That changed the momentum completely. Japan killed a penalty, but could not make it to the intermission without falling behind. Veteran Patrick Thoresen, the oldest player in this weekend’s tournament at 40, used his experience to drift into space at the back door before thumping home a one-timer off a feed from Zuccarello. 

A minute later Norway switched from experience to youth as Brandsegg-Nygard’s power play goal made it 3-1. The 18-year-old, a first-round draft pick for Detroit in June, launched a devastating snipe from the left-hand dot after Zuccarello found it all to easy to cruise around the net and pick him out.

Any doubt about the final outcome was extinguished at the start of the third, when Brandsegg-Nygard got his second of the game. Japan pulled a goal back thanks to Yushiroh Hirano’s power play strike with six minutes to play. Narisawa left his net with two-and-a-half minutes to play, but the extra skater could not bring Japan any closer to saving the game.

Denmark 3 Great Britain 1 (1-1, 0-0, 2-0)

Host nation Denmark had to wait for it, but wore down a battling Great Britain to start its Olympic qualification campaign with an important victory in Aalborg.

In the previous round, the Brits rattled in the goals, putting away the likes of China and Serbia. This was very different company, though, and Pete Russell’s team started the game with containment in mind. The plan was clearly to try to keep Denmark’s offence – powered by NHLers Nikolaj Ehlers and Lars Eller – as far from the puck as possible.

However, when a Joachim Blichfeld feed across the front of Ben Bowns’ net was poked out in front, Markus Holton was first to the loose puck and ripped home an unstoppable one-timer to open the scoring. With less than four minutes played, the home crowd was on its feet, while British hopes of frustrating their hosts seemed in tatters.

However, the Brits looked to their offence. Sean Norris had a breakaway chance, and then on the game’s first power play, Liam Kirk tied it up when he rifled home a Cade Neilson feed to the right-hand circle. Earlier this year, GB pushed Denmark hard in a 4-3 loss at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Prague, and suddenly a similar scenario seemed possible.

Unlike that Czech encounter, this one saw the home team dominating the play. Twice, the ding of the iron disappointed the Danes. On another occasion, Blichfeld dangled dangerously on his way to the slot but couldn’t beat Bowns in the GB net. A second British power play resulted in a bigger scoring chance for shorthanded Denmark, but the game remained tied at the intermission.

That suited Britain far more than Denmark, and the second period produced more anxiety for the hosts. Not because there was a serious threat of more British scoring, but because the defence was obdurate, while too much attacking play suffered from the kind of summer sloppiness that can afflict August hockey. A Danish penalty for too many men as the midway point approached rather highlighted the problem.

On that PK, though, Eller had a great chance to get Denmark back in front. His initial rush was halted illegally by Cade Neilson, at the cost of a penalty shot. Eller took the attempt himself, but could not beat Bowns. The game remained tied through 40 minutes.

Denmark thought it was back in front at the start of the third when Eller's shot bounced out to Niklas Jensen and his effort rippled the outside of the net with Bowns beaten. And the home team had the lead for real a couple of minutes later when Ehlers grabbed a power play goal. Cole Shudra sat for slashing and at last the Danish offence was able to move the puck at will. Ehlers stepped up from the point and wired a shot into the top corner, giving Bowns no chance.

By now the British defence was tiring and Eller added a third when he spun away behind the net and had an unimpeded view of the target. That made it 3-1 and put the game beyond reach.

Denmark next plays Japan in Friday's evening game, while the Brits have a short turnaround before facing Norway in the afternoon.