Russia, Canada head to ice hockey world playoff
HALIFAX, Canada (AFP) — Russia and Canada could be on a collision course for gold at the World Ice Hockey Championships as the only countries to finish the round robin with unbeaten records.
As the top seed out of Group F, defending champion Canada will meet fourth-place finisher Norway in Halifax in a Wednesday quarter-final.
Russia, which placed first in Group E, faces fourth-place Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Wednesday in Quebec City.
The other quarter-finals see Finland square off against the United States at Halifax and the Swedes meet the Czech Republic in Quebec.
The Russia-Switzerland and Sweden-Czech matchups will be back-to-back games as they ended the round robin groups by playing each other.
So if momentum means anything, then give the edge to Sweden and Russia.
The Swedes scored three times in the final period to beat Switzerland 5-3 on Sunday while Russia held off a late rally by the Swiss to win by the same score on Monday.
Russian patriot Ilya Kovalchuk said the Big Red Machine is ready to roll now that the tournament is entering its playoff round.
"It's tough when you lead a team 4-0 and you are going to play against them Wednesday. You don't want to show them everything," Kovalchuk said.
Swiss coach Ralph Krueger said the key will be limiting their mistakes.
"The Russians punish you so quickly when you give them gaps," Krueger said. "I think what we showed in the last period what we need to do on Wednesday. "We will try to give the Russians a difficult night."
Finland doesn't need to be reminded about the significance of Wednesday's game against the United States, which also serves as a rematch of Sunday's bloody battle at the Halifax Metro Centre.
"You don't have to worry about getting up for those kinds of games," Finnish star Teemu Selanne said. "You have to worry when you play teams like Latvia.
"There is no way anybody will take this game with the USA lightly."
Selanne expects to see his teammates come out with plenty of resolve after a match that resulted in three suspensions, 202 penalty minutes and players from both teams leaving the bench during a game-ending brawl.
Oh yes, there was also a phantom goal for Finland, which sparked a third period comeback by the Finns en route to a 3-2 victory.
"Everybody will be ready on Wednesday," said Selanne, who lives in California and plays for the 2007 Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. "Our goal is to play the best game in the tournament."
The Czechs offence is led by Patrik Elias, who has scored a team high six goals and is second in tournament scoring to Canada's Dany Heatley, who has nine.
Defenceman Tomas Kaberle is also having an excellent tournament with nine assists and 10 points in six games. The Czechs have been relying on Milan Hnilicka (307 minutes and 2.54 goals against average) for the bulk of their goaltending and he has stepped up and performed admirably.
"We know what to improve and what we have to do to beat them, but we have to play our best game in the quarter-final," Czech forward Tomas Fleischmann said.
The Swedes were without captain Kenny Jonsson on Sunday and his status for Wednesday is unknown.
"We've played better and better and hope to win in the playoff stage as well," said acting captain Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals.
Canada is riding a 15-game win streak at the Worlds dating to last year's 9-0 run and should have an easy time with World No. 14 Norway.
"As a team you never want to back your way in," captain Shane Doan said. "It is a big thing to go the way we've done it and we want to keep it going. We know that the next game is as big as it comes."
Cam Ward will start in goal for Canada, which has been rotating its two goalies. That means they could go back to Pascal Leclaire if they make it to Friday's semi-finals in Quebec City.
Canada is trying to capture its 25th title and become the first country to win the worlds on home ice in 22 years.
