Russia, Canada in semis

Halifax, Canada: Russia and Canada cruised into the semifinals while Sweden and Finland needed overtime to advance as the World Ice Hockey Championships now converge on Quebec City for Friday’s semifinals.

Defending champions Canada and Sweden both kept streaks alive on Wednesday, with Sweden advancing to their eighth and Canada reaching their sixth consecutive semifinals at the Worlds. Canada, who will face Sweden on Friday, are trying to capture their 25th title and become the first country to win on home ice in 22 years.

Derek Roy scored a hat-trick as Canada crushed Norway 8-2 and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 22 shots as unbeaten Russia blanked Switzerland 6-0 in their quarterfinals on Wednesday. Russia will face Finland in the other semifinal.

Both Sweden and Finland had to work overtime to get past their opponents. Mattias Weinhandl scored the winner in overtime as Sweden beat the Czech Republic 3-2 and Finland needed an extra-time goal from defenceman Sami Lepisto to beat the USA 3-2.

For the first time in the 100-year history of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Canada are the hosts for the men’s championships. Canada and Finland now travel from Halifax to Quebec City to join the two other teams for the semifinals, bronze medal and gold medal games.

With Wednesday’s victory, defending champions Canada extended their winning streak at the tournament to 16 games, including a perfect 9-0 record in 2007 at the Moscow Worlds. "They are a very disciplined, quick team with great mobility up front and they have one of the best goaltenders in the world," Canada coach Ken Hitchcock said of Sweden.

Rick Nash, Jonathan Toews, Dany Heatley and Ryan Getzlaf also scored on Wednesday for Canada, who won gold in 2003, 2004 and 2007.

"It was one of those games," Roy said. "On the first goal I knew where I wanted to shoot it, but I didn’t know where the goalie was. But on the second and third goal I looked up and saw a huge gap. That’s when you just have to shoot and trust your shot." (AFP)