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Result after 2nd Period Gold Medal Match in Cologne Canada - Sweden 0-1 (0-0, 0-1,-) 39:39 Victor HEDMAN 0-1

Result after 1st Period Gold Medal Match in Cologne Canada - Sweden 0-0 (0-0,-,-)

and the final match just started the last cca 2 hours of the Winter sports 2016/17 season

Just read in our press that thanks Montenegro win today against Bulgaria 42:19 Slovakia won for the first ever time the lowest European Division so-called "Development Division" and advance to the Division II South. That super cool Congrats Guys

IIHF adds eight to Hall Local hero Krupp among inductees Today, the International Ice Hockey Federation inducted its 20th Hall of Fame class in a ceremony held at the German Sport and Olympic Museum in Cologne. The event, hosted by international hockey broadcaster Gord Miller, inducted eight members whose contributions to the sport have helped transform the game as they have served as hockey ambassadors for their respective countries. The IIHF Hall of Fame opened in 1997 to celebrate a century of the game being played. Inductees have included some of the biggest names and international contributors to the sport. Saku Koivu won eight medals on the international stage, including leading Finland to its first ever World Championship gold in 1995. Koivu would play for the Montreal Canadiens and, later, the Anaheim Ducks. He would become the first European captain of the Canadiens. Koivu is also known for his courage off the ice. He battled Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that kept him out for almost an entire season, including the 2002 Olympics. “It seems like I’ve come full circle coming back to Germany and being honoured for my career,” Koivu said, reflecting that he made his senior men’s debut with the Finnish national team at the 1993 World Championship in Germany. Angela Ruggiero was a world-class defenceman and competitor for Team USA. Her contributions in hockey continue to this day as she continues to break down barriers. She earned four Women’s World Championship gold medals and gold at the 1998 Olympics. In 2015, Ruggiero was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Ruggiero could not make the event when her father Bill passed away suddenly but her brother Billy was on hand to accept the honour and pay tribute to his sister. Dieter Kalt was a star player in the 1960s in the Austrian league and has been the face of Austrian hockey for half a century. He represented Austrian at the 1962 World Championships in Colorado Springs and in every major IIHF event from 1962-1972. After retirement, Kalt was a referee and coach and then President of the Austrian Ice Hockey Federation from 1996-2016. “This is an honor and I accept this for all that we have done for the development of our federation. We organized world championships and Olympic qualification games. We did this because we had big support from the IIHF, president, council, and delegates.” Joe Sakic had an illustrious career with the Quebec Nordiques and then the Colorado Avalanche when the team moved to the United States. He captained the Avalanche for 17 years making him one of the longest serving captains in NHL history. Sakic is also the NHL’s all-time leader in playoff overtime goals. Winning World Championship and Olympic gold, along with the Stanley Cup, Sakic is a member of the prestigious triple gold club. “It was always very humbling playing for your country,” Sakic said. “To be able to play in the World Championships, Olympics, World Cup, there is nothing like it. I am very fortunate for my teammates. I’ve had the good fortune to play with some of the best to play the game and learn from them.” The Richard “Bibi” Torriani award was presented to Tony Hand, the greatest player in Great Britain’s modern hockey history. The Edmonton Oilers selected Hand 252nd overall in the 1986 draft, the first British player ever taken. When Hand attended training camp, Edmonton general manager Glen Sather announced that the Scottish Wayne Gretzky would try out for the team, which some might have led to think that a player who trained and played in Great Britain would be a curiosity. “Turns out he was more than just a curiosity; he was a terrific player there and everywhere he played,” Miller said. “It is fair to say that very few players were better longer than Tony Hand.” Hailing from Edinburgh, Scotland, Hand played professional hockey in the BHL as a 14-year-old and finally in the English Premier Ice Hockey League at the age of 47. The Paul Loicq award was presented Patrick Francheterre. Francheterre has been involved with French hockey for the better part of half a century. As a pivotal builder of French hockey, Francheterre has overseen the development of the sport and his country’s ascension into the top division of the World Championships. Teemu Selanne said today’s honour means so much because as a boy, his hope was to play in the top league in Finland and, maybe if things went well, the national team. The NHL was not a thought at the time. Selanne, known as the Finnish Flash, scored 684 goals in 21 NHL seasons and won the Stanley Cup in 2007 and silver medals at the World Championships in 1999 and Olympics in 2006. “It has been an honour to put this jersey on,” Selanne said pointing to the legendary Finland blue. “You can’t describe this feeling of what it means to put this jersey on and play for your own country. I am so very thankful.” Finally, Cologne’s own Uwe Krupp gave an emotional presentation about receiving this honour in his hometown. First noticed by Scotty Bowman, Krupp was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres and would go on to an NHL career that spanned 14 seasons with honours that included being the first German to score a Cup-winning goal and the first German player to win the Stanley Cup. “I am privileged and fortunate to know so many people who were able to take this awkward kid from Cologne, Germany, the first German to come to North America to help him on his way and help him learn to play hockey in the best league in the world.” He spoke fondly of Franz Reindl and how he was an important person in his career and the next step in his career that has included coaching the German junior and senior teams.

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knockout Round Bronze Medal Match Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Finland 3 - 5 Russia Period-by-Period: 0-1, 1-3, 2-1 May 21st 2016, h. 16:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne Russia captures bronze Gusev’s pair leads Znarok’s crew past Finland Nikita Gusev led the way with two goals and an assist as Russia beat Finland 5-3 to earn bronze Sunday in Cologne. It's Russia's fourth straight Worlds medal. Ever-plucky Finland rallied from a 4-0 second-period deficit to make it 4-3 in the third, but couldn't complete the comeback. Russia's Vladimir Tkachyov, Bogdan Kiselevich, and Nikita Kucherov also scored, and Valeri Nichushkin added three assists. Goalie Andrei Vasilevski posted his seventh win of 2017 as Russia outshot Finland 30-29. "For two periods we were fine, then we gave our opponent a chance and they scored three goals," said Kucherov. "We could have got nervous because there was still a lot of time remaining, but we stayed calm. We stayed confident, Vasilevski did great and we didn't take too many penalties." Under head coach Oleg Znarok, Russia also won gold in 2014, silver in 2015, and bronze last year in Moscow. This bronze somewhat makes up for the disappointment of blowing a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes versus Canada and losing 4-2 in the semi-finals. "We are happy with a bronze but not satisfied," said Kiselevich. "We didn’t lose to Team Canada yesterday, we lost to ourselves. Canada was good, but we played a stupid third period. We didn’t play for the gold, but got a bronze." Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, and Mikko Lehtonen and Veli-Matti Savinainen also tallied for Finland, while Sebastian Aho had two helpers. The Finns came fourth after taking silver in both 2014 and 2016. They last won the Worlds in 2011. Goalie Joonas Korpisalo got the start for Finland, even though Harri Sateri blanked the U.S. 2-0 in the quarter-finals and made 37 saves in the 4-1 semi-final loss to Sweden. But coach Lauri Marjamaki would yank Korpisalo in favour of Sateri halfway through this game. In front of 16,182 spectators at LANXESS Arena, the Finns gave it a valiant effort, but also made too many mistakes and let the opportunistic Russians grab a big lead. "We had a really good game against the U.S. to make it to the semi-finals, but yesterday Sweden was a lot better than us," said Finnish assistant captain Valtteri Filppula. "Today, we had a chance, but we couldn't get it done. Russia played well." Expectations were inflated after the Finns won the World Juniors in Helsinki and the U18 World Championship in North Dakota last year. The Finns never really hit their stride at this year’s Worlds, but eliminating the unexpectedly flat American squad at least guaranteed them a respectable outcome. Head coach Lauri Marjamaki and his staff faced criticism after a last-place finish at September’s World Cup of Hockey and a lackluster round-robin in Paris. The Russians struck first at 6:58, as Gusev’s high slap shot from the right faceoff circle flew past Korpisalo on the short side. The 25-year-old forward from Gagarin Cup champion SKA St. Petersburg has shone as a Worlds rookie. In the second period, the Russians made it 2-0 on a 2-on-1 shorthanded break. Nichushkin exploded down the right side and sent the puck over to Tkachyov, who made no mistake at 1:48. Korpisalo couldn’t stop Gusev when Artemi Panarin set him up down low on the power play to roof it at 7:01 for a 3-0 lead. The Finnish goalie misplayed a Kiselevich shot off his right arm and into the net just 1:07 later, and that was it for Korpisalo, as Sateri came in. "It was difficult to come in like that, after sitting on the bench for half the game, but that's our job," said Sateri. "You have to be ready to jump in." After Russian captain Anton Belov handed the puck away in his own zone, Rantanen spoiled Vasilevski’s shutout bid, tapping in a Filppula set-up with 27 seconds left in the middle frame. At 1:16 of the third period, Lehtonen cut the deficit to 4-2 with a long floater that bounced in off Vasilevski's left arm. The Finnish fans got into a frenzy when Rantanen set Savinainen up in front for a power play marker that made it 4-3 at 5:29. Znarok had genuine reason for concern at this point – after all, his players had already let Canada come back the day before – and called his timeout to regroup. It worked. On a solo dash, Kucherov crushed Finnish hopes, barging around defenceman Joonas Jarvinen to bang his own rebound past Sateri for a 5-3 lead at 9:49. With nothing to lose, the Finns pulled their goalie for a sixth skater with 3:16 left. During a frantic scramble, Belov was helped off the ice after twisting his leg, and Finland called its timeout. But there wasn't enough time to pull off a miracle. "It's disappointing," said Jarvinen. "We started poorly and didn't get the results we wanted from the round-robin. Now, to end the season in a loss is disappointing." Still, Finland has lots of good things to look forward to, and that goes beyond its crop of young talent. At the IIHF Congress in Cologne, it was awarded the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, which will take place in Tampere and Helsinki.

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knockout Round Bronze Medal Match Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Finland 3 - 5 Russia Period-by-Period: 0-1, 1-3, 2-1 May 21st 2016, h. 16:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne

Final Result Bronze Medal Match in Cologne Russia - Finland 5-3 (1-0, 3-1, 1-2) 06:58 Nikita GUSEV 1-0 21:48 Vladimir TKACHOV 2-0 27:01 Nikita GUSEV 3-0 28:16 Bogdan KISELEVICH 4-0 39:33 Mikko RANTANEN 4-1 41:16 Mikko LEHTONEN 4-2 45:29 Veli-Matti SAVINAINEN 4-3 48:03 Nikita KUCHEROV 5-3

Result after 2nd Period Bronze Medal Match in Cologne Russia - Finland 4-1 (1-0, 3-1,-) 06:58 Nikita GUSEV 1-0 21:48 Vladimir TKACHOV 2-0 27:01 Nikita GUSEV 3-0 28:16 Bogdan KISELEVICH 4-0 39:33 Mikko RANTANEN 4-1

Result after 1st Period Bronze Medal Match in Cologne Russia - Finland 1-0 (1-0,-,-) 06:58 Nikita GUSEV 1-0

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAY 14 (Semifinals) The BEST OF Top 3 Goals of the Day 14 Top 3 Saves of the Day 14

[hide] Knockout Round May 18th - May 21st, 2017 8 Nations, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Bronze Medal Match and Gold Medal Match. Bronze Medal Match Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 May 21st 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Russia 2 Finland Gold Medal Match Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 May 21st 2017, h. 20:45, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Canada 2 Sweden [/hide]

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POWER RANKING As of May 20th, 2017 After a spirited third-period rally to beat Russia 4-2 in the semi-final, Canada sits first in our eighth Power Rankings. Sweden is second and Russia is third. 1. Canada: Russia, you don’t scare us with your fancy goals 2. Sweden: Kneel before Nylander! 3. Russia: Bear bites beaver, beaver eats bear 4. Finland: You laugh, but we try hard in bronze games! 5. United States: Hey, there’s 5 million Finns and only 320 million of us 6. Switzerland: Sixth in hockey, first in yodeling 7. Czech Republic: Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality 8. Germany: Give Grubauer whatever kind of massage he wants 9. France: Asterix skating to AC/DC > the Mona Lisa 10. Latvia: In 2021, we’ll win gold as the LOUDEST host nation! 11. Norway: Has Jonas Holos ever met Jenni Hiirikoski? 12. Denmark: Is it weird Korea’s coming here but we’re not going there? 13. Belarus: We’ll do ANYTHING to get the attendance record back! 14. Slovakia: God, it’s been years since we lost a quarter-final 15. Slovenia: Anze? Have more babies! 16. Italy: Does anyone have Enrico Ciccone’s phone number? Previous Editions May 5th May 7th May 10th May 12th May 14th May 16th May 18th *The Power Rankings are for the enjoyment of IIHF.com readers, and reflect the progress of teams during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. They are distinct from the official standings and IIHF World Ranking.

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knockout Round Bronze Medal Match Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Finland vs Russia Period-by-Period: - May 21st 2016, h. 16:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne Gold Medal Match Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Sweden vs Canada Period-by-Period: - May 21st 2016, h. 20:45, LANXESS Arena, Cologne *Playing Format for the Gold Medal Match: If after 60 minutes of regulation Time the score will be still tied in the Gold Medal game there will be a 20-minute sudden-death overtime period, following a 15-minute intermission during which the ice will be resurfaced. The teams will change ends. (the Bronze Medal Game is played by same format as all previous KO phase matches so a 10 minutes "sudden death" overtime played by 4 skaters in both sides) The Gold Medal Game overtime period shall be played with each team at the numerical strength of five (5) skaters and one (1) goalkeeper. The team which scores a goal during this period is declared winner If no goal is scored during the sudden-death overtime, there will be Penalty-Shot Shootout according to the Penalty-Shot Shootout Procedure. five in playoff and medal games - will take alternate shots, until a decisive goal is scored. If the game is still tied after five shots by each team, the shootout will continue with a tie-break shoot out by one player of each team, with a reversed shooting order. The same or new players can take the tie-break shots.

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knockout Round Semifinals Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Finland 1 - 4 Sweden Period-by-Period: 1-1, 0-2, 0-1 May 20th 2016, h. 19:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne HIGHLIGHTS

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knockout Round Semifinals Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Canada 4 - 2 Russia Period-by-Period: 0-0, 0-2, 4-0 May 20th 2016, h. 15:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne HIGHLIGHTS

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knockout Round Semifinals Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Finland 1 - 4 Sweden Period-by-Period: 1-1, 0-2, 0-1 May 20th 2016, h. 19:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne Sweden powers past Finns Tre Kronor to battle Canada for gold Sweden’s power play clicked twice in the second period en route to a 4-1 semi-final win over Finland. The Swedes will face Canada for gold on Sunday in Cologne. It was a dominant performance for Sweden in this latest episode of the fabled Nordic rivalry on Saturday night. The underdog Finns worked hard, as they traditionally do, but were outsmarted and outskilled by their big-name opponents. Sweden is now one win away from capturing its first IIHF World Championship gold medal since 2013, when it famously ended the 27-year-old “home ice curse” in Stockholm with a 5-1 victory over Switzerland. Dating back to 1953, the Swedes have won nine golds at this tournament. Defeating Canada, the two-time defending champions, will be a big challenge. In goal, Finland’s Harri Sateri came to play, but the Vityaz Podolsk backstop couldn't win his duel with superstar Henrik Lundqvist. Shots on goal favored Sweden 41-23. The late addition of Lundqvist from the New York Rangers and Backstrom from the Washington Capitals continues to pay off. Lundqvist, who led Tre Kronor to victory at the 2006 Turin Olympics, has won four straight starts and is hungry for his first IIHF World Championship gold medal. The 35-year-old has silvers from 2003 and 2004 -- the last two times Sweden played Canada in the final. In front of 11,242 spectators, William Nylander led the way with a goal and an assist, while Alexander Edler, John Klingberg, and Joakim Nordstrom also scored for Sweden. Nicklas Backstrom added two assists. Joonas Kemppainen had the lone goal for Finland. The disappointed Finns, who settled for silver last year with a 2-0 final loss to Canada, still have a chance to medal for the second consecutive year when they take on Russia for bronze. Despite not blowing most of their opponents out of the water, the Swedes have gotten stronger and stronger since early group-stage losses to Russia (2-1 in OT) and the United States (4-3). Sweden has scored first in every game so far. Edler maintained that trend when Backstrom won a faceoff in the Finnish end and the Vancouver Canucks defenceman blasted it inside Sateri’s left post for a 1-0 lead at 1:49. It was Edler’s second of the tournament, as he also tallied in the 3-1 quarter-final win over Switzerland. The Finns quickly tied it up on an Edler turnover. He tried to backhand it out up the middle and Kemppainen jumped on it and wristed it past Lundqvist at 4:45. Emotions ran high as scrums broke out around both goalies. When Backstrom and Nylander worked a neat give-and-go off a Finnish giveaway, Sateri stood his ground on Nylander’s backhander and surrendered no rebound. The Swedes outshot Finland 11-5 in the first. At 4:36 of the second period, Sweden grabbed a 2-1 lead on the power play with Finnish assistant captain Valtteri Filppula off for tripping. Klingberg’s seeing-eye shot from the centre point whizzed high past Sateri. Battling to keep the game close, the Finnish netminder robbed Oscar Lindberg with his glove on a shot from the left faceoff circle. With Jesse Puljujarvi in the box, the Backstrom-Nylander combo clicked at 14:52. The veteran centre found Nylander cruising in the slot, and he squeezed a high one home for a 3-1 lead. Sateri persevered during a late-period Swedish man advantage, stoning Nylander at the side of the net when he tried to finish off a tic-tac-toe passing play. There was little hope of a third-period Finnish rally. Coach Lauri Marjamaki has a far less offensively stacked team than last year’s edition with Patrik Laine and Aleksander Barkov. The blue-and-white boys got just 20 goals in the preliminary round, compared to 29 in 2016. In the first half of the third period, the biggest fireworks came when Anton Stralman laid out Finland's Mikko Rantanen at the Swedish blue line with a colossal bodycheck. With 6:08 left, Nordstrom added some insurance with a short-side wrister to make it 4-1. The Finns pulled their goalie for the extra attacker with 2:07 left, but it was too little, too late. Surprisingly, this was just the third time in history that Sweden and Finland have faced each other in the World Championship semi-finals since the IIHF inaugurated the playoff system in 1992. The Finns prevailed in the two-game format in 1999 in Norway, while Sweden blanked the Lions 3-0 in Stockholm in 2013.

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knockout Round Semifinals Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Finland 1 - 4 Sweden Period-by-Period: 1-1, 0-2, 0-1 May 20th 2016, h. 19:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne

Nicklas Backstrom + William Nylander

Final Result Semifinal QF4-QF1 in Cologne Sweden - Finland 4-1 (1-1, 2-0, 1-0) 01:49 Alexander EDLER 1-0 04:45 Joonas KEMPPAINEN 1-1 24:36 John KLINGBERG 2-1 34:52 William NYLANDER 3-1 53:52 Joakim NORDSTROM 4-1

Result after 2nd Period Semifinal QF4-QF1 in Cologne Sweden - Finland 3-1 (1-1, 2-0,-) 01:49 Alexander EDLER 1-0 04:45 Joonas KEMPPAINEN 1-1 24:36 John KLINGBERG 2-1 34:52 William NYLANDER 3-1

Result after 1st Period Semifinal QF4-QF1 in Cologne Sweden - Finland 1-1 (1-1,-,-) 01:49 Alexander EDLER 1-0 04:45 Joonas KEMPPAINEN 1-1

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knockout Round Semifinals Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Canada 4 - 2 Russia Period-by-Period: 0-0, 0-2, 4-0 May 20th 2016, h. 15:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne O'Reilly scores late winner Canada pulls off stunning rally to win, 4-2 Down 2-0 after 40 minutes and looking overwhelmed, Canada scored four goals in the third – three late – to beat Russia, 4-2, and advance to the gold-medal game. Having won in 2016 and 2015, Canada will play the winner of tonight's Sweden-Finland game looking for a golden hat trick. Russia will play tonight's loser for bronze. “It was loud out there,” said Canadian forward Jeff Skinner. “That’s what you want. You want to come and play in big games, big moments. For us, fortunately we got the result we wanted, and now we’ve got another test coming up.” “That was a pretty special game, the way it all played out being down a couple,” said defenceman Colton Parayko. “Credit to them. They scored some nice goals early on; they moved the puck well. But credit to us as well for sticking to the game plan. I thought it was a good effort. It's pretty special to be playing for gold tomorrow. It gives you chills, goosebumps when you think about it. We have a good group and it's going to be a lot of fun.” Ryan O'Reilly scored the winning goal with only 3:02 remaining in the third period, knocking in a loose puck off a scramble from the side of the goal. Nathan MacKinnon had tied the game just two minutes earlier. He lost control of a pass in the slot, but no sooner had Vladimir Tkachyov gained control of the puck than MacKinnon stripped him of it and fired a low shot all in one motion, beating Andrei Vasilevski to the short side. In both cases, the Canadian player simply beat the Russian opponent to puck possession to create the goals. Sean Couturier added an empty netter with 1:07 left to finalize the outcome. “Canada got that early goal in the third and suddenly it was a different game,” conceded Artemi Panarin. “We got nervous, and that's why we lost. We didn't play badly, and we had the initiative early on.” “In the [second] intermission, we focused on spark,” O'Reilly noted. “We needed something to get us going, whether it was just a couple of good chances or scoring a goal. Getting that first power-play goal, you could see a weight was lifted, and we started to play our game again. There wasn’t any sort of panic. There were 20 minutes to go, and we’ve done a lot with 20 minutes before. So we were confident in each other. It was just about getting out of our heads and trusting each other and winning battles.” The first period was scoreless and cautious, far more so than most games between these great rivals. But that caution was abandoned in the second, in large measure because of four Canadian penalties. A bad line change and confused defence on Canada's part gave Russia the first goal midway through the second when Artemi Panarin found Yevgeni Kuznetsov wide open to the back of Canada’s goal. Kuznetsov had a tap-in at 12:16 to make it a 1-0 game. This was the latest a Canada-Russia game had waited for a first goal since the quarter-finals of the 2006 Olympics in Turin. Just two and a half minutes later, Russia made it 2-0 on a power play. Coming in over the line on a three-on-two, they executed a nice three-way passing play between Panarin, Vadim Shipachyov, and Nikita Gusev. Gusev fanned on the back-door pass, but the puck still floated in above Cal Pickard’s outstretched pad. Canada got back into it just 17 seconds into the third on a power play that had carried over from the second. MacKinnon slid a pass to Mark Scheifele in the middle of the Russian box, and Scheifele expertly redirected the puck past the glove of Vasilevski. That was just the boost Canada needed, and it dominated the third, outshooting Russia, 19-5, and looking like the more confident team right to the end. The game may have had a 15.15 start time, but the gamesmanship started two minutes earlier. Canada came out on the ice on time and lined up along the blue line as is international tradition. The players waited. And waited. No Russians. Realizing what was happening, the Canadians then started to skate around, and when they saw the Russians come out, they went to the bench, ready to start the game. The Russians skated to the blue line to line up, realizing what the Canadians were now doing, and retreated to their goalie, Vasilevski, for a final pep talk. The warrior of the opening 20 minutes must surely have been Russian forward Sergei Andronov. He was nailed behind his own net by a very effective hip check from Travis Konecny. Later he was blind-sided by Mark Scheifele, which resulted in the only penalty of the period, and near the end Andronov, head down behind his goal, was hammered with a clean but fierce hit from Brayden Schenn. “We know we blew a big chance,” Andronov said. “It hurts. It hurts for us, and it hurts for the fans, who've been crazy here throughout the tournament.” “It was exciting,” said Pickard. “Our backs were against the wall going into the third period, and we just regrouped and came out and played our game. Everybody in the building saw it. It was a pretty good clinic, for sure.” “You come over here to win and we put ourselves in a good situation,” Skinner said. “We want to try and get off to a good start tomorrow. We are going to face a good team either way so it will be a challenge for us.”

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knockout Round Semifinals Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Canada 4 - 2 Russia Period-by-Period: 0-0, 0-2, 4-0 May 20th 2016, h. 15:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne

Final Result Semifinal QF3-QF2 in Cologne Canada - Russia 4-2 (0-0, 0-2, 4-0) 32:16 Evgeny KUZNETSOV 0-1 34:50 Nikita GUSEV 0-2 40:17 Mark SCHEIFELE 1-2 55:07 Nathan MACKINNON 2-2 56:58 Ryan O´REILLY 3-2 58:53 Sean COUTURIER 4-2