According to CNN<\/a>, Trump has stated that the minerals are part of the deal he worked out with NATO. Private land ownership is a foreign concept to Greenlanders, as all land is owned by the people and governed by the authorities.<\/p>\nIn the event that any Greenlanders qualify for the Olympics, they\u2019ll compete under the Danish flag. There are no Greenland-born players on the Danish men\u2019s national team, and the women\u2019s team did not qualify for the Olympics.<\/p>\n
USA vs. Denmark Olympic hockey preview<\/p>\n
The Feb. 14 matchup is just a round robin game, meaning neither team will be in a do-or-die situation unless previous games put them there. But that won\u2019t make it any less spirited.<\/p>\n
On paper, Team USA is the heavy favorite. Every player on their roster is an NHL star, while three of Denmark\u2019s seven NHLers have played more in the minors than they have in the big league this season. Their best player, Nikolaj Ehlers, would hardly have even garnered a look from Team USA if he were American.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t count Denmark out.<\/p>\n
At the World Championship this past spring, the group banded together to pull off one of the biggest upsets in international hockey history, topping Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Team Canada by a 2-1 score in the quarterfinal. Canada had to travel from Sweden to Denmark for the game, and they were so confident they\u2019d win, they didn\u2019t even check out of their hotel while they were gone.<\/p>\n
All but six of the players from that Danish team are returning for this Olympic tournament, so they know they\u2019re capable of conducting an upset.<\/p>\n
The United States\u2019 only Olympic gold medals in men\u2019s hockey came in 1960 and 1980. They also have eight silver medals and one bronze. Denmark has never medaled at the event.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Team USA<\/p>\n
Quinn Hughes: Generally accepted as a top-two defenseman in the world, Quinn Hughes will be paramount to any success Team USA has. He scores as much as some of the NHL\u2019s best forwards and he\u2019s a force in the defensive zone, despite his relatively small size.<\/p>\n
Hughes is a one-man breakout machine and a gifted playmaker. He\u2019s not to be confused with his brother, Jack Hughes, another superstar who will play for Team USA \u2014 or his other brother, Luke Hughes, who didn\u2019t make the team but plays alongside Jack with the New Jersey Devils.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Connor Hellebuyck: As the reigning Hart Trophy winner (the NHL\u2019s MVP award), expectations are high for goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. That being said, his performance in the playoffs has not been up to par, and he fell just short at the 4 Nations Face-Off last year. If he can figure out how to maintain his elite level of play in big moments, the Americans will have the chance to go far.<\/p>\n
Auston Matthews: The 2016 first-overall pick was an easy one: Auston Matthews was always supposed to be a generational talent. He has lived up to that thus far in his NHL career: His 69 goals in 2023-24 is the 15th-best single-season total of all time.<\/p>\n
Last season and so far this year, Matthews has taken a step back. He\u2019s still producing at a star-level rate, but not quite what fans came to expect from him. He captained Team USA at the 4 Nations, where he tallied three assists in three games \u2014 again, good, but not vintage Auston Matthews.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Team Denmark<\/p>\n
Nikolaj Ehlers: As mentioned, Ehlers is, by far, Denmark\u2019s best player. By the time free agency rolled around last summer, he was the biggest name left on the market, and he got paid as such.<\/p>\n
Ehlers is always on the ice when his Carolina Hurricanes need a goal \u2014 as he was with the Winnipeg Jets the previous 10 years. If Team Denmark is to have any success at the Olympics, he will be right at the center of it.<\/p>\n
Ehlers\u2019 cousin, Alexander True, is also on the team. True played 27 NHL games from 2020-2022, and now plays professionally in Finland.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Frederik Andersen: When Frederik Andersen is healthy, he\u2019s usually among the top goalies in the NHL. He has twice finished fourth in Vezina Trophy voting for goalie of the year, and has twice won the Jennings Trophy, awarded to the goalie with the best save percentage.<\/p>\n
At age 36, the best years of his career are likely behind him, but it\u2019s been proven time and time again that any goalie can get on a hot streak, which is all it takes to change a team.<\/p>\n
Oliver Bjorkstrand: The Tampa Bay Lightning this season have proven to be much more than the sum of their parts, which is exactly what Team Denmark will have to do to get anywhere at the Olympics. Oliver Bjorkstrand plays on the Lightning\u2019s fourth line, but he\u2019s on their top power play unit, where 11 of his 23 points have come this season.<\/p>\n
As a 12-year NHL vet and a one-time all-star, Bjorkstrand is a good pro.<\/p>\n
What to expect of Olympic hockey<\/p>\n
The International Ice Hockey Federation, which governs the Olympics and a number of other international tournaments, has a different rule book than the NHL. Generally, it penalizes physicality more harshly than the NHL does.<\/p>\n
For that reason, don\u2019t expect the type of fighting that made headlines at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which was governed by the NHL. IIHF referees have a wide scope of ability to penalize players based on the severity of a fight, but it would most often result in game ejections in addition to on-ice penalties \u2014 and suspensions aren\u2019t off the table, either.<\/p>\n
The 4 Nations tournament, which happened at the height of Trump\u2019s antagonism of Canada, saw booing of the American national anthem<\/a> and, in response, booing of the Canadian anthem. In Olympic hockey, the winning team\u2019s anthem is the only one played, and it therefore happens after the game.<\/p>\nFans can expect to see a high level of competition, with the best hockey players in the world (minus Russians) battling it out on the biggest stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you care about hockey \u2014 especially against the background of politics \u2014 cancel your Valentine\u2019s Day plans.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5,1442,4,51,5290,232,5291,5289],"class_list":{"0":"post-423793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-hockey-club","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-news-feed-national","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-utah","12":"tag-utah-hc","13":"tag-utah-hockey-club","14":"tag-utahhc","15":"tag-utahhockeyclub"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115945180049275234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}