Ryan O’Reilly delivers vivid message to Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Canada after disheartening elimination vs Denmark

Hockey fans around the globe were in for a shock as Denmark eliminated Canada from the 2025 IIHF World Championship with a late comeback victory—shattering the hearts of the Canadian delegation, which few expected to see collapse so early in the tournament. Following the unexpected, cold-shower-like 2–1 defeat to the co-hosts, Ryan O’Reilly didn’t mince words, delivering a blunt message to the locker room—including Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon.

Canada featured its best lineup in a very long time for the 2025 IIHF World Championship. The international tournament which is usually taken for granted by both American and Canadian national teams seemed to draw lots of interest in The Great White North this time around. Canada boasted a lineup with three future Hall of Famers in Crosby, MacKinnon, and Fleury. Yet they made the trip across the Atlantic to Sweden and Denmark, only to fall in quarterfinals against a team with only one NHL player in the lineup, Nikolaj Ehlers.

The Maple Leaf found no luck in Scandinavia. Instead, they ran into an unexpected executioner when their path crossed with the Danes, who were backed by a passionate home crowd. Denmark knocked out a Canadian team featuring Crosby, MacKinnon, O’Reilly, and several other stars—delivering the upset of the tournament.

After leading 1-0 heading into the final minutes of regulation, Canada allowed two goals with less than three minutes left, including the game-winner with 49 seconds remaining. Following the gut-wrenching defeat, O’Reilly dropped a blunt admission.

Sidney Crosby of Canada during the 2025 Ice Hockey World Championship match between Slovenia and Canada at Avicii Arena on May 10, 2025 in Stockholm, Sweden.

“We didn’t represent the country the way we wanted to,” O’Reilly said during his postgame interview with TSN. “We had a chance to win this game, and we didn’t—it’s disappointing. We’ve got guys like [Fluery], you want to win for him, and no one feels good right now.

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“We’re better than what we showed, we’re disappointed, and it stings. The expectation, everytime you put on this jersey, is to win, and when you don’t it’s ultra disappointing. It’s not a good feeling right now.”

Crosby’s postgame comment

In addition to the heartbreak of losing so late in the game, there’s a sense of embarrassment in having to look teammates in the eye after such a defeat—especially for Crosby, who likely missed his last chance to deliver alongside longtime best friend Marc-André Fleury. After the game, the Canadian captain was visibly emotional when addressing the loss.

“Pretty tough environment, we had a road game, but just disappointing, we had a really great group here,” Crosby admitted after the 2-1 defeat against Denmark. “I thought we had all the things to make a deeper run than we did, we got better as [the tournament] went on, but just unfortunate we couldn’t get it done tonight.”

You either win or learn

While the elimination in Denmark will linger in Canada’s locker room for some time, the focus will soon shift to the 2026 Winter Olympics—and this disheartening result might be the perfect fuel for the team as they set their sights on the most coveted gold medal.