The Danish national men's ice hockey team is the national

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team for

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. The team is controlled by

Danmarks Ishockey Union ('The Danish Ice Hockey Union') or DIU is the Sports governing body, governing body of ice hockey in Denmark. It is a member of the National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark (DIF) and the International Ice Hockey Federatio ...

. It was founded in 1949, and as of 2022, the Danish team was ranked 10th in the

IIHF World Ranking The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the performance of the national ice hockey teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is based on a formula giving points for each team's placings at IIHF-sanctioned tour ...

s. Denmark currently has 4,255 players (0.07% of its population). Their coach is Swedish

Mikael Gath Mikael Gath (born 17 June 1976) is a Swedish ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the ...

. Denmark once held the record for the largest loss when they were defeated by Canada in 1949, 47–0, only being surpassed by

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

who were defeated by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

58–0 in 1987.

History

The team played its first world championship in 1949, led by player-coach and captain Jørgen Hviid. Denmark lost its first game played, by a 47–0 score to the Canada men's national team. Denmark subsequently played 53 years in lower divisions. At the

2002 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships The 2002 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were held between 26 April and 11 May 2002 in Gothenburg, Karlstad and Jönköping, Sweden. It was the 66th annual event, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The competiti ...

, the team finished first in Division I-B to earn promotion to the top level for the

2003 IIHF World Championship The 2003 IIHF World Championship was held between 26 April and 11 May 2003 in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku, Finland. It was the 67th annual event, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Canada won the gold medal after de ...

, and has remained in the top pool since, due to developed higher calibre players. The 2002 and 2003 versions of the Denmark men's national teams were recognized with the IIHF Milestone Award in 2025, for earning promotion to and remaining at the top tier of the World Championships. Denmark finished the

2003 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships The 2003 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 67th such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The competition also served as qualification for division placements in the 2004 competition. Canada won the gold ...

in 11th place, defeating the United States men's national team 5–2, and tying Canada 2–2. At the 2010 World Championships Denmark finished 8th place, their best placing at the time. The feat was repeated in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. At the 2022 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships Denmark finished in ninth place, and earned their first victory versus Canada, in 73 years of competition, by a 3–2 score. At the

2025 IIHF World Championship The 2025 IIHF World Championship was co-hosted by Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark, from 9 to 25 May 2025. This decision regarding Sweden was made at the 2018 semi-annual International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) congress in Malta, and w ...

, co-hosts Denmark reached its first semifinals, after defeating Canada in the quarterfinals, in what was widely considered one of the biggest upsets in the IIHF World Championship history. Denmark were thus guaranteed to play in their first ever medal game and guaranteed to finish in the top four for the first time. After losing against Switzerland and against Sweden in the bronze medal game, they finished fourth.

Tournament record

Olympic Games

World Championship

Team

Current roster

Roster for the

. Head coach:

Former and current players in NHL

All-time record

''Updated as of the match versus

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

on 22 May 2025.''

Uniform evolution

File:Denmark national hockey team jerseys.png, 2013–2017 IIHF jerseys File:Denmark national ice hockey team jerseys 2018 IHWC.png, 2018–2021 IIHF jerseys File:Denmark national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 (WOG).png, 2022 Olympic jerseys File:Denmark national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 IHWC.png, 2022– IIHF jerseys

Notes

References

External links

*
IIHF profile
{{National sports teams of Denmark National ice hockey teams in Europe Men's national ice hockey teams