Denmark’s men’s hockey team held its first practice on Wednesday before the start of the Olympic tournament without six of its players due to testing positive for COVID-19 after arriving in China.
The Danish Olympic federation has announced that strikers Matthias Asperup and Nick Olesen have tested positive for coronavirus and have been placed in isolation. Former NHL forward Mikkel Boedker, defenseman Markus Lauridsen and two players from the team’s reserve squad also missed practice after testing positive. The team, however, believes the results are inaccurate and expects them to return to the ice soon.
“Fortunately, it looks like four of them were hopefully false positives,” said former NHL forward Frans Nielsen. “I wouldn’t say I’m scared, but there are always worries about whether there will be others. »
Head coach Heinz Ehlers said he was optimistic that four of the players could be brought out of isolation on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. The National Olympic Committee and the Danish Sports Confederation said they did not believe other members of the Danish delegation, which numbers 62, would need to be isolated.
Ehlers said all members of Denmark’s men’s hockey team tested negative twice in the 48 hours before leaving for Beijing.
The tournament starts in a week. Denmark will play their first match on February 9 against Czechia.
