hckošice

Americans blank Swiss U.S. vs. Czechs, Canada vs. Swiss in QF USA's Kaller Yamamoto #23 celebrates a first period goal against Switzerland with Ryan Lindgren #18 during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship The United States completed its round-robin slate with a solid 4-0 win over Switzerland on Tuesday. The U.S. will face the Czechs in the quarter-finals. Casey Mittelstadt scored twice, Kailer Yamamoto had a goal and an assist, and Graham McPhee added a single for the Americans. Logan Brown and Luke Martin picked up two assists apiece. Looking ahead to battling the Czechs, U.S. head coach Danton Cole said: "Every game they play, they give the other team a hard game. We’re anticipating that it’s going to be a tough 60 minutes and that they’re going to be prepared. They’ve got skill, and they’ve added some guys since the last time we played them." Switzerland, which finished fourth in Group A, will take on Canada in the quarter-finals. "Canada is a very good team, like the USA," said Swiss forward Nico Hischier. "We must do the little things better and play 60 minutes of our best hockey." U.S. netminder Joseph Woll got the shutout as his team outshot Switzerland 37-15. Swiss goalie Philip Wuthrich played well in his first action of this IIHF U18 World Championship, while number one man Matteo Ritz didn’t even dress. Overall, with due respect to Switzerland's work ethic and attention to detail, the defending champions appeared to do just enough to pull off the win while avoiding injuries and excessive fatigue. "I don’t think it was our best game, for sure," said U.S. captain Ryan Lindgren. "Switzerland came out hard and banged bodies. They’re a good team. But it was definitely the result we wanted. It was a good shutout for us." The U.S. was a tad sloppy defensively to open the game. Hischier got a breakaway off the opening faceoff and Woll had to make a good stop. Kieffer Bellows was sent off for hooking, and the Americans worked hard to kill off the minor. Entering the Swiss zone, Brown drew two defenders to him and slipped it across to Mittelstadt, who tucked a backhand between Wuthrich’s legs at 12:47. Slick power play puck movement gave the U.S. a 2-0 lead at 16:44. Lindgren skimmed a perfect pass from the left faceoff circle to Yamamoto, who was standing on the edge of the crease and simply redirected it in for his tournament-leading fifth goal and ninth point. "Everyone’s moving the puck and we’re just finding seams," said Yamamoto. "It’s definitely good to be on a line that moves the puck, and you just shoot when you need to shoot." Switzerland’s failure to clear the puck away from its net helped the U.S. make it 3-0 early in the second period. At 5:24, McPhee knocked it in during a scramble. In the third period, Wuthrich made a lovely glove save on Joey Anderson's high backhand with under five minutes left to prevent a fourth American goal. But Mittelstadt got that fourth goal on a nice backhand deke with 3:27 remaining. This wasn't like the last time these two teams met in IIHF U18 play. Switzerland surprised the U.S. 4-2 on April 17, 2014 for its only win in (now) eight tries. The Americans have outscored their opposition by a whopping 30-4 margin through four games. A three-peat is three wins away for the host nation. "Now we move on to the real stuff," Cole said.

United States - Switzerland 4-0

Bucek-ing the trend! Slovaks rally to edge Czechs for third in group Slovakia's Erik Smolka #4, Adam Liska #20 and Slovakia's Roman Durny #30 celebrate a first period goal against Czech Republic during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship. The Slovaks hadn’t beaten the Czechs at this tournament since 2003, but rallied from a 3-1 deficit to edge their neighbors 4-3 for third place in Group B. Tuesday’s result sets up a quarter-final clash between the Slovaks and Sweden on Thursday. The fourth-place Czech Republic will play the defending champion Americans, who finished first in Group A. Samuel Bucek scored the winner with 3:27 remaining. It was his team-leading fourth goal of the tournament. This was a wild affair that saw Slovak captain Samuel Smolensky awarded two penalty shots. He converted on the second one early in the third period. The Czechs had a super start when Marek Zachar opened the scoring just 1:18 in. But two minutes later, Adam Liska tied it up for Slovakia. Jiri Karifiat put the Czechs back on top at 12:22. They appeared to have the game well in hand when 16-year-old phenom Filip Zadina made it 3-1 with his team-best fourth goal 43 seconds into the middle frame. But the Slovaks weren’t done. Smolensky had indicated before this game that he thought his team had a 50/50 chance against their rivals, and his words were borne out. First, Peter Bjaloncik cut the lead to 3-2 when he scored a shorthanded goal for Slovakia at 15:01 of the second period. Then, Smolensky got a penalty shot 41 seconds before the buzzer when he was hooked by Czech defenceman David Kvasnicka. But he couldn’t capitalize on his attempt. The Slovak captain atoned for that omission when he got his second penalty shot at 2:09 of the third period. This time, after getting slashed by Lukas Doudera, he made no mistake and it was 3-3. That set the stage for Bucek’s winner. The celebration was on for coach Peter Mikula’s crew. Both teams struggled on the power play, failing to convert despite Slovakia’s eight minor penalties and the Czech Republic’s five. Slovakia’s all-time World U18 record against the Czechs improved to four wins, one tie, and five losses. The previous Slovak win over the Czechs was 2-1 in the quarter-finals on April 19, 2003. The Slovaks had their best run ever that year, claiming silver with a 3-0 final loss to Canada

Slovakia - Czech Republic 4-3

Canada Finnishes off strong Fitzpatrick excels as Canadians top Group B Canada's Pascal Laberge #9 celebrates at the bench after giving his team a 1-0 over Finland during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship. Backstopped by Evan Fitzpatrick’s stellar netminding, Canada took a 2-0 first-period lead and beat Finland 3-1 on Tuesday to clinch top spot in Group B. Pascal Laberge, David Quenneville, and Tyson Jost scored for Canada. Of Fitzpatrick's play, Jost said: "Unbelievable. So many huge saves for us. He kept us in that game a few times. He’s played outstanding for us throughout the tournament and I’m sure he’ll keep it rolling." Eetu Tuulola scored for Finland, which outshot Canada 27-24. Unless Switzerland pulls a huge upset by defeating the defending champion U.S. in its last round-robin game, the Canadians will face the Swiss in the quarter-finals on Thursday. Likewise, assuming Switzerland loses to the U.S., the Finns will take on Russia in the quarter-finals. "Right now, we’re just focused on recovering from this game and getting ready for the quarters," said Fitzpatrick. "We don’t really care who it’s against. We’re just going to go out there and play our game." This defensive duel was a showdown between the 2015 silver medalists in Finland and bronze medalists in Canada. However, so far this year, the Canadians look like the better team. "Canada came pretty hard in the first 10 minutes and they scored two goals in the first period," said Finland's Eeli Tolvanen. "That was hard. But we played the last two periods pretty well. It was almost our game. We just didn’t capitalize on all those scoring chances." Fitzpatrick was full value for the victory, even though he didn't have as much work as in his 38-save performance in the 3-1 win over the Czechs. "To be honest, at the beginning of the game, I wasn’t feeling 100 percent," said Fitzpatrick, who plays for the QMJHL's Sherbrooke Phoenix. But I tried to battle through it. After that first glove save there, I really started feeling comfortable. Throughout the game, the puck just kept getting bigger and bigger, and it was easier to track." It was the fourth straight Finnish loss to Canada at the IIHF World U18 Championship. The last Finnish win was 4-2 on April 14, 2012. Finnish coach Jussi Ahokas juggled his lines to add Jesse Puljujarvi, the MVP of Finland’s 2016 World Junior gold medal run. Puljujarvi made his tournament debut on a new trio with Janne Kuokkanen and Otto Somppi. Canada countered by trying to get its top defensive pairing of Dante Fabbro and Jakob Chychrun out against the Karpat Oulu star whenever possible. "Obviously he’s such a skilled and elite player," said Jost of Puljujarvi. "We were keying on him a little bit and I thought we did a really good job of shutting him down. We kept him off the scoresheet, so that’s nice to see." The Canadians dominated with early pressure, and got on the board first on the power play at 7:16. Laberge skated in unobstructed and whizzed one past Finnish starter Leevi Laakso on the glove side. After a solid penalty kill that saw Finland pressing, the Canadians kept coming. At 12:30, Quenneville’s drive from the right point went five-hole with heavy traffic in front to make it 2-0. In the final minute of the first, Tolvanen came within a hair’s-breadth of getting Finland on the board when he took a drop pass on the rush and zipped one off the inside of Fitzpatrick’s left post. The Finns had the upper hand in the second period. But they had nothing to show for it, even with two power plays, thanks mostly to Fitzpatrick's heroics. "Our team’s playing real well," said Fitzpatrick. "We keep getting better every day. Playing behind them, it makes my job a little bit easier, for sure." Near the seven-minute mark, Markus Nurmi hit the left post again with a loud clang. Just seconds later, Fitzpatrick made a stellar glove save on Somppi’s one-timer from the right faceoff circle. Then, off a faceoff in the Canadian zone, Tolvanen took it to the net and again Fitzpatrick came through with his mitt. The Canadian goalie also foiled Tuulola on a clear-cut breakaway with three minutes remaining in the frame. "We had chances to score goals but we just missed them," said Puljujarvi. Early in the third period, Laakso gave his team a chance to stay alive by staring down Boris Katchuok on his point-blake deke. Fitzpatrick shone again during Finland's last power play of the game, coming across to foil Tolvanen again on Puljujarvi's sweet cross-ice set-up. But the blue-and-white team kept coming after the man advantage. Tuulola provided the screen in front and tipped defenceman Robin Salo's slapper over the goalie's left shoulder to make it 2-1 with 5:16 left. Finland called its time out with 54 seconds remaining and pulled Laakso for the extra attacker. Jost added an empty-netter after outhustling Finland's Miro Heiskanen to a loose puck.

Finland - Canada 1-3

Blue is number two Sweden tops Russia, finishes second in Group A The puck gets past Russia's Maxim Zhukov #30 for a Sweden first period goal during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship With a 5-1 win over Russia at the Ralph Engelstad Arena on Tuesday, Sweden wrapped up second place in Group A behind the U.S. heading into the quarter-finals. The Swedes put the game away with three goals in less than three minutes early in the second period. Lias Andersson led the way with two goals, and Tim Wahlgren, Oskar Steen, and Axel Jonsson Fjallby also scored for Sweden. Timothy Liljegren added a pair of helpers. Goalie Filip Gustavsson got the win as the Swedes outshot Russia 40-23. Of finishing second in the group, Andersson said with a smile: "That’s better than third. That was our goal before the game, to win versus the Russians and take second place. The U.S. is a good team, so we’ll have to beat them maybe in the semi-finals or finals." In Thursday’s quarter-finals, the Swedes will face the winner of the Slovakia-Czech Republic game. Coach Torgny Bendelin's troops look to have improved during the preliminary round. After edging underdog Latvia 4-3 in overtime and falling 6-1 to the defending champion U.S., they slammed Switzerland 8-1 before posting another convincing victory here. Andrei Svechnikov had the lone goal for Russia, which had an up-and-down run in the round-robin. "We played a bad game," said Russian assistant captain Mikhail Sergachyov. "We didn’t play our structure the way the coach told us to play. We just lost the game. We got some bad penalties and played on the penalty kill a lot. " On Monday, three different games saw the victorious team prevail by seven goals. This wasn’t quite that lopsided, but it wasn’t a vintage Sweden-Russia battle. This has been a very even rivalry over the year, dating back to the inaugural IIHF World U18 Championship in 1999. Prior to this game, Sweden had won five and lost six of the 11 meetings. However, this matchup was different in that it featured a primarily U17 roster for Russia, and the age difference would be telling. "We’re obviously a young team, and we’ve got to play better and better," said Sergachyov. "It’s the first tournament like this for the boys, and it’s tough to play, especially against teams like Sweden and the States or even Switzerland." At 11:52, the Swedes opened the scoring on a broken play. Coming out of the corner, Andersson tried to pass the puck past Dmitri Samorukov, but it bounced right back to him off the Russian defenceman. Andersson then surprised Russian starting netminder Maxim Zhukov with a quick low backhander on the glove side. "I tried to shoot with my backhand and it went in," said Andersson. "So that was perfect. Good job by my linemates, Alexander Nylander and Elias Pettersson." With Sweden dominating play 5-on-5, Russia’s best hope was to capitalize on the power play. However, they proved ineffective with a man advantage before the buzzer. Shots favored Sweden 15-5 in the first period. The teams were four-a-side when Sweden grabbed a 2-0 lead on an odd-man rush just 52 seconds into the middle frame. Linus Lindstrom skated into the left faceoff circle and sent a centering pass past Veniamin Baranov, and Wahlgren fired it through the goalie’s legs. It was the 18-year-old Modo Ornskoldsvik forward’s fourth goal in the last two games. At 2:20, the Swedes gained an insurmountable 3-0 lead when Steen whacked the rebound from Liljegren’s point shot past Zhukov. Danil Tarasov was substituted between the Russian pipes, to no avail. Less than a minute later, Andersson cruised into the right faceoff circle on the power play and snapped the puck over a kneeling Tarasov’s glove to make it 4-0. Sweden showed good discipline for the most part, but captain Jacob Cederholm was sent off for boarding on a rough hit on Ivan Kozlov behind the Swedish net shortly after the midpoint of the game. Once again, the Russians couldn’t get anything going on the power play. The Swedes outchecked and outhustled them, blocking shots with great resolve. In the third period, Jonsson Fjallby zinged a wrister from the right faceoff dot past Tarasov’s blocker for the fifth Swedish goal at 11:37. All the Russians could aspire to now was spoiling Gustavsson's shutout bid. Svechnikov achieved that with a nice goal with 3:41 left, cutting hard to the net and tucking it past the goalie. "I think we played a solid game over 60 minutes," Andersson said.

Sweden - Russia 5-1

this feeling when you defeat the czechs..

Trampoline Individual +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

Trampoline Individual +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

Belo Horizonte (Estadio Mineirao) Sports: Football Zone: Football Cities (Belo Horizonte) Location: 346km North of Rio de Janeiro The Estadio Governador Magalhaes Pinto also known as Mineirao Stadium was established in 1965. Is located in Belo Horizonte and the capacity is 58.170. During the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics will host some matches of both Football Tournaments. Belo Horizonte is the sixth largest city of Brazil. The city is built on several hills and is completely surrounded by mountains. Belo Horizonte is the capital of state Minas Gerais, the second most populous state in Brazil.

Go ahead for the too

Canada surpasses Slovaks Two points for Jost, Canadians still perfect Canada's David Quenneville #18 scores a second period goal against Slovakia's Roman Durny #30 during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Patient and opportunistic, Canada topped Slovakia 3-1 at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. Canada will battle Finland on Tuesday to determine first place in Group B. David Quenneville, Brett Howden, and Boris Katchuok scored for Canada. Captain Tyson Jost had a pair of assists. "We really stuck to our game plan of getting pucks deep and using our speed and size," said Jost. "The Czechs and this team here, they both sit back and try to clog up the neutral zone. That’s something we talked about before the game, trying to bypass that and get pucks deep." Samuel Bucek replied for Slovakia, which will finish off its round-robin against the rival Czech Republic on Tuesday. Of facing the Czechs, Slovak captain Samuel Smolensky said: "It’s 50/50. It’s a rivalry between Slovakia and Czech. We want to start the quarter-finals with third place, so we want to beat them and we will do everything to win tomorrow." Canada has won three straight games in regulation, whereas Finland, now second in the group, needed a shootout to beat the Czechs 4-3 in its opener. "We’ve got to play hard and smart, and that’s something we’ve got to key on in the next game against the Finns," said Jost. In this game, the teams got off to a slow start, turning over the puck frequently. With about seven minutes left in the first period, forward Noah Gregor, freshly added to the Canadian lineup, was foiled at close range as Slovak starter Roman Durny made a left pad save. There was some physical action, too, as a pair of #25’s, Jordan Kyrou and Peter Bjaloncik, collided in the neutral zone. Canada finally broke through at 3:50 of the second period when Quenneville crashed the net in the midst of a scramble and backhanded the puck up over Durny. At 8:16, Canada went up 2-0 as Howden scored his third goal in just two outings, converting a nice centering feed from Gregor. The two are teammates with the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors. "I thought I played pretty well," Gregor said. "It’s a little different playing internationally, but there were some familiar faces, with Howden on my line. It was nice to get an assist." The game got chippy and scrambly at times. Canada's Jakob Chychrun and Slovakia's Adam Ruzicka were sent off after a mid-game wrestling match in the neutral zone. "We’ve done some research on international tournaments, and the team who’s the most disciplined is usually the one who comes out on top," Jost said. "That’s one of the things that going into this tournament we wanted to bear down on, and it’s something we do need to be a little bit better on." It was 3-0 Canada with 41 seconds left in the middle frame, thanks to a lovely three-way passing play on the rush. From right wing, Jost sent it across to William Bitten, who centered it to Katchuok, and he made no mistake. Durny did his best to keep his team in it, stopping Howden on a clean break in the opening minute of the third period. Bucek made it 3-1 with an unassisted shorthanded marker against Canada's Stuart Skinner at 10:17. But that was as close as the Slovaks would get, despite generating some late pressure on the power play and pulling their goalie for the extra attacker. Final shots favored Canada 39-27. Smolensky said of Durny's performance: "He was fantastic, and he saved many chances from the Canadian team."

Canada - Slovakia 3-1

Czechs dominate Danes Najman the man with five points Team Czech Republic enjoys their national anthem after a 9-2 victory over Denmark during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship With a 9-2 victory on Monday night, the Czech Republic sent Denmark to the relegation round of the 2016 IIHF World U18 Championship to face Latvia. Apparently very little has changed since these two nations last clashed at the U18. The Czechs also beat Denmark 9-2 in 2014. (The first meeting was in 2012, an 8-4 Czech victory.) Ondrej Najman paced the Czech attack with two goals and three assists. Matyas Kanter added two goals, and Pavel Kousal had three assists. All in all, 13 Czech skaters had at least one point. Even with nine goals, lack of power play production could be a concern for the Czechs. The Danes took six minors, but every Czech goal came at even strength. Kanter was the only scorer in the first period, played on relatively even terms. Denmark’s Daniel Nielsen tied it up one minute into the second. However, the Czechs struck right back with goals 40 seconds apart by Daniel Kurovsky and Najman. They ran away with it in the third period, rendering Joachim Blichfeldt’s 5-on-3 goal with under six minutes to play meaningless. Newly promoted Denmark has lost four straight games and needs to find its form pronto. The Czechs will jockey with neighbouring Slovakia for quarter-final seeding in their round-robin finale on Tuesday night. Denmark’s first relegation game against Latvia is on Thursday.

Czech Republic - Denmark 9-2

Great btw awesome idea. great thread again

according your criterias about less than 50 athletes, and out of the top 30 in the final tally...Slovakia will be eligible but I assume that we are not so much "exotic", so anyone know that my second favorite nation will be Ecuador, but they are probably not eligible too..so in this case I´ll choose Nicaragua

Swedes swat down Swiss Nylander leads Sweden with six points in romp Sweden's Timothy Liljegren #19 and teammates celebrate after a second period goal against Switzerland's Matteo Ritz #30 during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Alexander Nylander ran wild with two goals and four assists and Tim Wahlgren had a record-setting natural hat trick as Sweden trounced the Swiss 8-1 on Monday. The Swedes will have a showdown with Russia for second place in Group A on Tuesday. "It’s a very important game for us," Nylander said. "We have to come in like we came into this game and work hard every shift. Everybody has to play their best, and hopefully we’ll win that game." Nylander's six points versus the Swiss tied him with several players for the second-highest single-game total in IIHF World U18 Championship history. Finland's Toni Rajala set the record with seven points versus Norway in 2009. "It’s pretty big," said Nylander. "It was a lot of fun to play today with the new linemates." Marcus Davidsson added two goals and an assist for Sweden. Jesper Bokvist potted a single, and Elias Pettersson had three helpers. Nando Eggenberger replied for Switzerland, which wraps up its round-robin against the defending champion Americans on Tuesday. "In the second and third period we took too many penalties," said Swiss captain Livio Stadler. "We were not committed to our game plan. It’s tough. We have to work harder each day and focus on the game tomorrow." Swedish goalie Filip Gustavsson enjoyed a much lighter outing than Swiss starter Matteo Ritz, who was pulled after surrendering seven goals. "Ritz is absolutely a good goalie, but we didn’t help him," said Stadler. "We didn’t clear out the rebounds in front of our net." Shots on goal favoured Sweden 36-13. It was a smart, methodical performance that resembled the style of the senior Tre Kronor team. The Swedish power play was on fire, capitalizing five times. Of facing Russia next, Swedish coach Torgny Bendelin said: "I think they have a good team. They play well together. You can see their boys have been together for a long time. Of course, it’s going to be a tough game." Eggenberger made it 1-0 Switzerland on a nice solo dash at 8:55. He outraced Swedish defenceman Erik Brannstrom for a loose puck and cut in off the right side to beat Gustavsson in tight on the forehand. The Swedes picked up their game after that -- significantly. Nylander tied it up at 15:04, as he had all day to roof the puck over a down-and-out Ritz after receiving a cross-ice pass from Lias Andersson. The younger brother of Toronto Maple Leafs prospect William Nylander was named the OHL’s rookie of the year today after recording 75 points in 57 games for the Mississauga Steelheads. "It’s very nice to get that honor," said Nylander. "I couldn’t do it without my coaching staff and my teammates." Sweden went up 2-1 at 2:33 of the second period. Timothy Liljegren stepped in off the blue line, faked a slap shot, and then sent a slap pass to Davidsson, who tipped it through Ritz’s legs from the high slot. Thomas Lust had a great chance to knot the score on a shorthanded breakaway with about five minutes left in the middle frame, but he lost the puck as he tried to deke the goalie. That was the last gasp for the Swiss. The Swedes started to pull away with a power play goal at 16:09. Davidsson whacked a rebound past Ritz's right leg to make it 3-1. Nylander put the game out of reach at 18:56 when he dipsy-doodled past Switzerland's Kai Suter and sent a great wrister over Ritz's blocker. In the third period, Wahlgren scored his natural hat trick entirely on the power play in just 2:57. That shattered the old record for the fastest U18 hat trick, set by Kazakhstan's Konstantin Pushkarev in 2003 versus Belarus in 7:14. At 6:28, Wahlgren came down right wing and beat Ritz cleanly on the blocker side. He followed that up with a nice breakaway goal at 8:17 and then scored from the slot at 9:25. At 10:04, Bokvist stickhandled to the net unbobstructed and scored on the backhand to round out the scoring at 8-1. "We’d been a little bit so-so before," Bendelin reflected. "I said before it was important for the players to score a couple of goals and just let it go instead of playing under pressure." With eight points in total so far, Nylander is now in contention for the tournament scoring title. This was the 11th U18 meeting of all time between these two nations. Sweden also won every time before, except for a 3-2 defeat in 2002.

Switzerland - Sweden 1-8

Russians rule the roost Latvia to play relegation after another big loss Russia celebrates a second period goal against Latvia during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Russia scored four first-period goals and never looked back in a 7-0 shellacking of Latvia on Monday. Mikhail Bitsadze and Maxim Marushev both scored twice. Alexei Lipanov added a goal and an assist, and Andrei Svechnikov and Mark Rubinchik also scored for Russia. Captain Kim Kostin and Vladimir Kuznetsov had two assists apiece. The result sends Latvia to the relegation round, starting on Thursday. "We played with a focus on structure," said Russian assistant captain Mikhail Sergachyov. "It was a better game than we've played before. One of the best in the tournament so far." Russian goalie Danil Tarasov earned his first U18 tournament shutout and second win as Russia outshot Latvia 46-20. It was Russia's first regulation win in Grand Forks after losing 8-2 to the host U.S. and edging Switzerland 2-1 in overtime. After a promising start with extra-time losses to Switzerland and Sweden, Latvia’s tournament has degenerated. It lost 12-1 to the Americans on Sunday afternoon, and didn’t seem to have much gas in the tank for this battle with its neighboring rival. The Russians had ample room to show off their offensive skills all afternoon long. "We scored seven goals, including power-play and shorthanded ones, which is good," said Sergachyov. "It will help us in the next game and the quarter-finals." It was the fifth consecutive Russian victory over Latvia at this tournament, dating back to 2007. Russia wraps up its Group B slate against Sweden on Tuesday. At 7:24, Bitsadze thought he’d given Russia the early lead, but the play was video-reviewed and it was waved off since he kicked the puck into the net. Svechnikov opened the scoring for real on the power play at 11:09, taking a nice pass from Pavel Dyomin at the Latvian blue line, cutting in off left wing, and tucking a backhand past Latvian starter Mareks Mitens. The Russians ran roughshod over their opponents with three quick goals late in the first period. Lipanov made it 2-0 at 17:43, busting down the middle and surprising the Latvian netminder with a high, fluttering shot. Bitsadze got the third Russian goal just 14 seconds later, as Kostin capitalized on a turnover below the Latvian goal line and centered the puck to him right in front and he made no mistake. Latvian coach Eriks Miluns made the futile gesture of pulling Mitens in favor of Gustavs Grigals. The Russians scored on their first shot, as Rubinchik got behind the Latvian defence and roofed it stick side for a shorthanded tally at 18:55. The second and third periods turned into a sloppy penalty-fest. With the teams playing 4-on-4, Bitsadze took a fabulous diagonal cross-ice pass from Kostin and cruised in to give Russia its fifth goal at 5:49. Marushev stretched the lead to 6-0 at 14:35, going hard to the net to convert Vladimir Kuznetov’s feed. In the final stanza, Marushev got his second of the game on a 5-on-3 at 4:06, squeezing one through from the left faceoff circle.

Russia - Latvia 7-0

EST is actually in group B