Team Canada's stunning 2-1 loss to Team Denmark in the 2025 IIHF men's World Championship quarterfinal deserves a deep rewind.
Going into this tournament, the stage was set for Canada to win it all and take home the gold medal.
The star talent and storylines surrounding this team were endless. In the weeks and even days leading up to the World Championship, veteran star players, such as Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Bo Horvat, Travis Konecny and Jordan Binnington, among many others, committed to playing for Canada.
On top of the veteran talent, Canada recruited a wave of young talent, including Macklin Celebrini, Tyson Foerster, Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson.
To put the icing on the cake, Marc-Andre Fleury joined the team to play his last hockey games before retiring for good, the final stop in his retirement tour.
Covering this team was like following an all-star team. It felt as if it was above every squad in the tournament, and it had the skill to back that up.
Through the preliminary round, the Canadians breezed through the competition, dominating the pace during every game they played as they won six out of the seven games.
The only game they lost was against Team Finland in a 2-1 shootout defeat, but it didn't feel like there was any need to panic, especially after Canada redeemed themselves against Team Sweden the very next night.
Watching Canada, you mostly witnessed pure greatness and exhilarating hockey. However, if you watched closely, you may have noticed one tiny problem.
Canada tended to take their foot off the gas pedal for small moments, giving up turnovers and odd-man chances, which breathed hope into their opponents.
Canadian coach Dean Evason once said that his team was "cheating the game," which should have been a sign of concern, but it was hard not to believe Canada was the clear favorite to win gold.
Toward the end of the preliminary round, Horvat sustained an injury that took him out for the remainder of the tournament. Before sustaining this injury, Horvat was arguably Canada's most productive player, recording four goals, four assists and eight points in six games.
The loss of Horvat going into the quarterfinals was deemed to be costly.
Over the first two periods against Denmark, the Canadians dominated in shots and scoring chances once again, but the score remained 0-0.
The longer Canada allowed the Danes to hang around in front of their hometown fans in Herning, Denmark, the more dangerous this situation could get.
Travis Sanheim scored early in the third period, but Denmark just didn't go away. Canada looked unsettled, something we hadn't seen over the past couple of weeks.
With just over two minutes remaining, Nikolaj Ehlers tied the game, and the crowd erupted. The momentum dramatically shifted.
With 49 seconds left, Nick Olesen scored after a defensive breakdown by the Canadians. Everyone on Team Canada was left stunned, and fans at Jyske Bank BOXEN went into a frenzy.
"Obviously, this is a devastating loss," Evason said, "We needed to be better in all areas, but unfortunately we were not. It is tough to swallow, and it is very frustrating and disappointing to come this far and fall short."
Denmark pulled off the upset of the year in front of thousands of hometown fans, a special moment for a hockey program that has not been able to celebrate too many victories.
On the other hand, Canada left the World Championship with nothing to show out of it.
"There is a lot of disappointment…" Crosby said. "It is disappointing because we have such a great group, but unfortunately, we could not get it done."
Given all the talent on their roster and the star players who came over to play, Canadians won't remember this tournament fondly.
Instead of being known as one of the greatest Canadian teams to ever play at a World Championship, they'll be known for this epic failure and collapse.
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