<\/p>\n
Their rendezvous may be on Valentine\u2019s Day, but its nature looks likely to be anything but romantic: Denmark<\/a> and the US, their relations frostier than they have been for decades, are due to face each other at ice hockey next month.<\/p>\n A week into the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy<\/a>, the Danish Lions are scheduled to play Team USA in a preliminary round game at Milan\u2019s Santagiulia ice hockey arena on 14 February, according to the official programme<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bilateral diplomatic ties have been strained to breaking point by Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive drive to seize Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark, which the US president has said he would take \u201cone way or the other\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has criticised<\/a> what she called \u201ccompletely unacceptable pressure\u201d from her country\u2019s closest ally, adding: \u201cBorders cannot be changed by force, and small countries should not fear large countries.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump doubled down over the weekend, threatening tariffs on eight European countries<\/a> including Denmark until they dropped their objections to his plans, and telling Norway\u2019s prime minister<\/a> the US needed \u201cComplete and Total control of Greenland\u201d.<\/p>\n Tens of thousand of Danes joined Greenlanders in demonstrating across the kingdom<\/a> on Saturday in protest at the US president\u2019s territorial ambitions for the Arctic island, holding aloft signs saying \u201cHands off Greenland\u201d and \u201cGreenland is not for sale\u201d.<\/p>\n Ice hockey, a fast-paced, highly physical game in which tempers often flare, is no stranger to politically charged contests, including the 1980 Winter Olympics<\/a> \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d in which a young, mainly amateur US team beat the Soviet Union, the four-time defending gold medallists.<\/p>\n Sport has often collided with diplomacy, in encounters such as the Hungary-USSR water polo match at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, when the Hungarian team arrived in Australia to be told that Soviet tanks had just rolled into Budapest.<\/p>\n The two teams met in the semi-final, with Hungary winning 4-0 after an ill-tempered and violent match marked by kicking, gouging and punching from both sides. Five players were ejected and the game became known as the \u201cBlood in the Water\u201d match.<\/p>\n Team USA tops the 2025 ice hockey world rankings and are considered among the tournament favourites, with Denmark<\/a>, competing in men\u2019s hockey at the Winter Olympics for only the second time, ranked eighth and widely seen as the underdogs.<\/p>\n The stakes have also been raised by the inclusion of players from North America\u2019s National Hockey League (NHL) at the Games for the first time since 2014<\/a>, meaning many of the world\u2019s best players \u2013 including several from Denmark \u2013 will be competing.<\/p>\n