Nikolaj Ehlers and Team Denmark are 2026 Winter Olympic Games bound.
Nikolaj Ehlers and Team Denmark are 2026 Winter Olympic Games bound.
This week, the Jets' star winger helped his countrymen earn a place on the world's grandest stage - the upcoming Olympics, with a 4-1 victory over Norway.
The game came as a winner-take-all showdown between Ehlers and his Danes and Mats Zuccarello and the Norwegians.
Taking place in Aalborg - Ehlers' hometown - both Norway and Denmark entered the game with two wins. Each needed to find a third victory in the mini qualifying tournament to make their way to the Games.
Aided by a strong performance from Patrick Russell and Nicklas Jensen - who each scored twice - the Danes prevailed, with Ehlers finishing the three-game tournament with a goal and three assists.
Slovakia beat out Kazakhstan to earn the final spot in the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics, while Latvia and Denmark took care of business, sending home Team Norway, which can still possibly find its way into the games should Russia (which owns one of the 12 spots) ultimately be barred from competition. Norway would need to beat France three times in a three-game head-to-head for the final spot should that be the case.
For Denmark, it will be just the second Winter Olympic Games in national history, and first with the inclusion of NHL competition.
Ehlers, Jensen and Russell will be joined by Lars Eller, Frederik Andersen, Alexander True, Joachim Blichfeld, Jonas Rondbjerg and Mads Sogaard as names of familiarity heading into next winter's international showdown.
2026 Winter Olympic Games Hockey Groups:
GROUP A - Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy
GROUP B - Finland, Germany, Czechia, Denmark
GROUP C - Russia, United States, Slovakia, Latvia