Denmark Overcomes Estonia 3-2, Odfeldt Records Two Points – 05.12.2018

Estonia and Denmark met four times in the WFC history so far and the Danes have won three of the four encounters, including the last one in 2016, when Denmark defeated Estonia 6-5 in overtime. And Denmark won today’s very close game as well. The Danish captain Mikkel Skov Nielsen scored the game-winning goal and the MVP of team Denmark was Emil Odfeldt, who recorded two points (1+1).

The Interesting first period brought a fast floorball with scoring chances on both sides. At 7:06 Emil Odfeldt scored quite a surprising game-opener for Denmark. He sent a shot at the Estonian goal and despite Daniel Vaigur had a clean view, he wasn’t able to save it. In the 14th minute, Mathias Glass probably accidentally hit one of the Estonians in the head with his stick and received a 5-minute penalty. But his teammates showed a great penalty kill and didn’t allow the Estonians to score.

In the middle period, the 4,013 spectators could see an offensive effort from both teams, just like in the opening period. But the Estonians were probably a slightly better team. In the fourth minute, the Danish forward Jesper Roland Bückner could have added a second goal for Denmark from a counter-attack, but was well saved by Daniel Vaigur. The Estonians tied the game at 32:09 with Patrik Kareliusson’s spectacular goal.

The fast-paced game continued in the third period, too. And although the Estonians still played slightly better and controlled the ball, it was Denmark who went into a 2-1 lead. Jesper Schmidt fired a shot from the centre of the rink and the ball took a deflection before ending in the Estonian net. The 20-year-old Schmidt, who participates in his first career WFC, is Denmark’s best scoring defenseman with 2 points (2+0). But only 42 seconds later, the Estonian Mats Tamme tied the game again. Tamme also scored a goal in Gothenburg in 2014, where Estonia lost 2-7 against Denmark. From this moment on, the Estonians began outplaying Denmark and absolutely dominated the game. But they made one mistake, which the Danes punished them for. Mikkel Skov Nielsen scored from a quick counter-attack and as a proper captain decided the game. He is also Denmark’s scoring leader at the championship with 3 points (2+1).