Heinz Ehlers said direct words about the match program.
Heinz Ehlers led Denmark to four wins and three losses. AOP
Denmark played qualifiers in Helsinki’s A-block, but the team was left out of the playoffs.
The team was destined for fifth place when Slovakia crushed Denmark in the final game 7-1.
Head coach of Denmark Heinz Ehlers accused the race organizers of being left out of the playoffs.
– The players were tired. This was a pretty shitty match schedule. The IIHF did horrible, absolutely horrible work, Ehlers would speak according to the Slovak Šport.
Slovakia played their previous game against Italy on Saturday, May 21 at 8:20 p.m. Denmark’s previous game, on the other hand, was the night before the match against Slovakia against Canada on Monday 23 May at 8.20pm.
– Slovakia had 66 hours of rest, we have 17. It’s not fair. Of course we played against a good team, coach Ehlers counted.
Historical qualifying
Denmark won Canada for the first time at the World Cup level, but still did not make it. Kimmo Brandt / AOP
The Danes scored 12 points in the group stage. It beat Kazakhstan (9-1), Italy (2-1), France (3-0) and, surprisingly, Canada (3-2). Losses came to Switzerland (0-6), Germany (0-1) and Slovakia (1-7).
Denmark were tied with Slovakia at the end of the block, but Slovakia was fourth due to the result of the mutual game.
– The match schedule was so bad that maybe this will not happen again. We can still be happy with our own tournament. The team that has never scored 12 points has never been left out of the playoffs, the Danish head coach recalled.
Heinz Ehlers’ words are true. Denmark was the first country to fail to reach the semi-finals during the current World Cup format, introduced in 2012, despite receiving 12 points.
– Slovakia played wisely and immediately attacked us, we would have done the same in their position. The game from last night took us too much energy, Ehlers lamented.
There will be a break at the World Championships on Wednesday. The semi-finals will be played in Tampere and Helsinki on Thursday. The semi-finals will be played in Tampere on Saturday and the medal games in Tampere on Sunday.