2 May 2009 was a night to remember in the history of the IIHF World Championships. Above all, Belarus' Sergei Demagin's goal after 5 seconds into the match against Finland  was the fastest goal in the modern history of the IIHF World Championships. Demagin tied a record set by Great Britain's Tommy McInroy set 70 years ago in 1939. The Czech Republic slaughtered Slovakia 8-0 and imposed the biggest defeat for Slovakia in their IHWC history. The result was at the same time the most lopsided ever in the encounters.

QUALIFYING ROUND

GROUP E

France - Latvia 1-7 (0-1, 0-2, 1-4)
2 May 2009, Postfinance Arena, Berne, Att: 6,472'
0-1 07:29 Aleksandrs Nizivijs 3 (Galvins) PP1
0-2 21:19 Martins Cipulis 3 (Nizivijs, Vasiljevs)
0-3 23:55 Lauris Darzins 2 (Sotnieks, Lavins)
0-4 46:39 Karlis Skrastins 1 (Karsums)
0-5 48:18 Aleksandrs Jerofejevs 1 (Sirokovs)
1-5 51:38 Luc Tardif 3 (da Costa)
1-6 52:24 Girts Ankipans 1 (Vasiljevs, Karsums)
1-7 52:39 Martins Cipulis 4 (Nizivijs, Vasiljevs)
FRA 5x2, LAT 3x2, SOG 28:38 (8:14, 6:13, 14:11)
Best players: FRA: Baptiste Amar, LAT: Aleksandrs Nizivijs

FRA: Lhenry; Bachet, Amar; Y. Treille, Bellemare, Hecquefeuille - Quessandier, Roussel, F. Rozenthal (2), Lussier, Gras - Manavian, Leveque (4), Zwikel (4), Tardif, S. Treille - Mille, Igier, da Costa, Papa, Fleury.
LAT: Masalskis; Skrastins, K. Redlihs, Sprukts, Karsums (2), Ankipans - Lavins, Sotnieks, L. Darzins, M. Redlihs, Berzins - Galvins, Pujacs (2), Vasiljevs, Nizivijs, Cipulis - Bartulis, Jerofejevs (4), Dzerins, Sirokovs, Cipruss.
Refs: Partenen (FIN) & Sindler (CZE)
Linesmen: Petr Blumel (CZE) / Anton Semenov (EST)

With a thrashing 7-1 win over France, Latvia earned their fourth straigth win and edged closer to ensuring a place in the quarterfinals. Martins Cipulis led the Latvian attack with two goals, while Aleksandrs Nizivijs added a goal and two assists. Herbert Vasiljevs added three helpers.
"We didn't get into the game properly, even though that was something we had talked about, because the same thing happened in the game against the US," said French coach David Henderson. "They outplayed us, outskated us, and outworked us in the first part of the game."  7-1 is Latvia's biggest win margin  over France in the history of the  World Championships.

Russia - USA 4-1 (3-1, 1-0, 0-0)
2 May 2009, Postfinance Arena, Berne, Att: 10,230
0-1 03:16 Lee Stempiak 3 (Foligno, Liles)
1-1 05:01 Oleg Saprykin 3 (Radulov, Atyushov) PP1
2-1 09:51 Aleksandr Perezhogin 3 (Kuryanov, Atyushov) PP1
3-1 17:06 Sergei Mozyakin 2 (Kuryanov, Perezhogin)
4-1 21:36 Aleksandr Radulov 3 (Saprykin, Gorovikov) PP1
RUS 5x2 + 1x5+20 (Vishnevsky), USA 8x2, SOG 32:27 (16:8, 7.12, 9:7)
Best players: RUS: Vitali Atyushov, USA: Robert Esche

RUS: Bryzgalov; Nikulin, Proshkin (2), Kovalchuk (2), Tereschenko (2), Morozov - Vishnevsky (25), Tverdovsky, Frolov, Zinoviev, Zherdev - Kalinen, Atyushov, Saprykin, Gorovikov, Radulov (2) - Korneev (2), Grebeshkov, Kuryanov, Mozyakin, Perezhogin.
USA: Esche (2), Hainsey, Suter, Blake, O'Sullivan, Brown - J. Johnson (2), Liles (2), Oshie, Backes, Okposo (2) - Ballard (2), Niskanen, Pavelski, Higgins,  Stafford - Bagosian, Foligno (2), Stempiak (2), Shannon, Wilson (2).
Refs: Rönn (FIN) - Zalaski (CAN)
Linesmen: Winnekens (GER) / de Haan (CAN)

Russia displayed great efficiency on the powerplay and skated to a 4-1 convincing victory over USA. With five straight wins, Russia remains undefeated in the tournament. With this victory, Russia clinches the top-seed in Group E and will play the 4th ranked team in Group F. Alexander Radulov and Oleg Saprykin led the Russian attack with a goal and an assist each. Russia scored three powerplay goals out of 4 powerplays with Radulov scoring the third extra man goal early in the second period.
"They got three power play goals, and it's a great team," US goaltender Robert Esche said
"You always get into penalty problems with teams that are fast, and I think we did a lot of standing around early, but they were flying in the first period," he said.

GROUP F

Czech Republic - Slovakia 8-0 (4-0, 4-0, 0-0)
2 May 2009, Arena Zürich-Kloten, Att: 5,165
1-0 06:35 Jaromir Jagr 2 (Rachůnek)
2-0 09:08 Jaromir Jagr 3 (Čajánek, Blatak)
3-0 12:48 Miroslav Blatak 3 (Rachunek, Klepis) PP2
4-0 15:25 Roman Cervenka 1 (Vasicek, Klepis)
5-0 25:07 Ales Kotalik 2 (Hlinka, Caslava)
6-0 29:08 Roman Cervenka 2 (Klepis, Vasicek)
7-0 30:12 Milan Michalek 1 (Zidlicky, Plekanec)
8-0 38:14 Patrik Elias 1 (Rachunek)
CZE 4x2, SVK 7x2, SOG 41:18 (20:2, 14:7, 7:9)
Goaltender split: CZE: Prusek (33:06, 9/9) - Stepanek (26:54, 9/9), SVK (Lasak 30:12, 23/30) - Halak (29:48, 10/11)
Best players: CZE: Cervenka, SVK: Sekera

CZE: Martin Prusek (33:06. Štěpánek) - Marek Židlický, Michal Barinka, Karel Rachůnek, Petr Čáslava, Roman Polák (2), Miroslav Blaták, Ondrej Němec - Jaromir Jágr, Ales Hemský, Petr Čajánek (4) - Milan Michálek, Tomas Plekanec, Patrik Eliáš - Ales Kotalík, Jaroslav Hlinka, Tomas Rolinek (2) - Rotislav Olesz, Josef Vašíček,Jakub  Klepiš - Roman Červenka.
SVK: Jan Lašák (30:12 Jaroslav Halák) - Andrej Sekera, Jaroslav Obšut, Rene Vydarený, Ivan Baranka, Boris Valábik (6), Peter Smrek (2), Dominik Graňák, Ivan Švarný - Lubos Bartečko, Michal Handzuš, Tomas Surový - Milan Bartovič, Juraj Štefanka, Jan Bicek (2) - Marcel Hossa, Juraj Mikúš (2), Stefan Ružička (2) - Branko Radivojevič, Peter Ölvecký, Ladislav Nagy.
Refs: Brent Reiber (SUI) & Thomas Stern (USA)
Linesmen: Peter Feola (USA) / Daniel Wirth (SUI)

Czech Republic humiliated their Slovakian neighbours with an amazing 8-0 win. The victory could have been even bigger had the Czechs not hold back after their 7th goal halfway in the game. 8-0  is the most lopsided result between the two countries since Czech Republic beat Slovakia 7-0 in the Pragobanka Cup in 1994. At the same time, it was the biggest loss against any nation for Slovakia in the history of the world championship. The result is not necessarily a sign of Slovakia's decline as an elite hockey nation. There was little doubt that the team was tired after their hard fought game vs Finland the night before. "Right from the beginning we felt slow and gave them every chance," said Slovakian captain Lubos Bartecko. "I don't understand how we could play at such a high level yesterday against Finland and then play so poorly today. It's embarrassing." "We wanted to get on them early," said Czech Karel Rachunek. "We got some good bounces, and by the end of the first period the game was pretty much over. The key to the game was putting pressure on them in their end."
Historic note: Slovakia's biggest defeat in history dates back to 1 February 1940 when Slovakia lost 0:12 to Bohemia & Moravia. This game was at the same time Slovakia's first on the international scene after the country decided to maintain national and territorial integrity seceding from Czechoslovakia in March 1939. The 8-0 loss to Czech Republic on 2 May 2009 is Slovakia's biggest defeat in modern time.

Finland - Belarus 1-2 SO (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
2 May 2009, Arena Zürich-Kloten, Att: 5,621
0-1 00:05 Sergei Demagin 1 (Grabovski)
1-1 33:22 Janne Niskala 1 (Nummelin) PP1
1-2 65:00 Oleg Antonenko SO
FIN 6x2, BLR 6x2, SOG 45:19 (15:5, 15:10, 12:2, 3:1, 0:1)
Best players: FIN: Pekka Rinne, BLR: Andrei Mezei

Shootout: Hagman (FIN) miss; 0-1 Oleg Antonenko (BLR), 1-1 Nummelin (FIN), Meleshko (BLRI) miss, 2-1 Immonen (FIN), 2-2 Grabovski (BLR), Nummelin (miss), 2-3 Antonenko (BLR)

FIN: Rinne; Nummelin, Lehtonen, Hagman, Miettinen, N. Kapanen - Kukkonen (2), Niskala, Immonen, S. Kapanen, Pyörälä - Koistinen, Jaakola, Hytönen, Vahalathi, Hyvönen (4) - Salmela, Santala, J. Ruutu (6), Komarev, Kerman.
BLR: Mezei; Riadinski (2), Salei (2), Ugarov, Demagin, Grabovski - Denisov (2), Bashkov, Mikhailev, Meleshko (2), Chupris - Usenko, Kostiuchenok (2), Antonenko, Kulakov, Kovyrshin - Antonov, Korobov, Stefanovich, Stas (2),
Refs: Kurmann (SUI) & Vinnerborg (SWE)
Linesmen: Oskirko (RUS) / Sabelström (SWE)

Belarus got a very quick start to the game as they scored only five seconds into the game.  Their offense began right off the face-off and after a couple of quick passes Sergei Demagin unleashed a shot that ringed off the far post past Pekka Rinne. After this the rest of the game was mainly Finland trying to score and Belarus trying to clear the puck from their zone. The Belarussian trap was effective though and Finland didn't get as many quality scoring chances as the shot count would suggest. Mezin played solid and can't be blamed of Finland's sole since his view was heavily blocked at the time. The Belarussian game was embodied in the powerplay they got two minutes before the end of the game. Instead of trying to take three points with another goal they concentrated in circling their own net and not giving up the puck. While not entertaining this strategy was understandable since the single point was enough for Belarus to clinch  a quarterfinal berth. The overtime was mainly uneventful but in the shootout Belarus showed their prowess again. Petteri Nummelin and Jarkko Immonen scored nice goals for Finland but Mikhail Grabovski showed a great deke to slid the puck past Pekka Rinne and Oleg Antonenko scored two goals with two very accurate shots making him four for four in the shootout in this tourney and giving Belarus their first ever IHWC win over Finland.

Sergei Demagin scored the fastest goal in the modern era of the IIHF World Championship. Whether any player in  the combined history of the IIHF World Championships have scored faster is uncertain due to the unprecise statistics of the pre-war world championships.In the 1939 IHWC --70 years ago -- Tommy McInroy also scored after 5 seconds in Great Britains 1-0 win over Hungary. If this is the fastest goal in the history of the IHWC, Demagin tied that record tonight.
The fastest goal ever in modern hockey took place in the Danish 1 division on 14 January 1990 (Rungsted vs Odense) when Per Wiese Olsen scored after only 2 seconds.

STANDINGS

GROUP E

			GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF:GA	P
1		Russia	4	3	1	0	0	21:10	11
2		USA	4	2	0	1	1	16:14	7
3		Latvia	4	1	2	0	1	14:8	7
4		Sweden	3	0	1	2	0	13:14	4
5		Switzerland	3	1	0	1	1	4:6	4
6		France	4	0	0	0	4	5:21	0

 Group F

			GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF:GA	P
1		Canada	3	3	0	0	0	18:5	9
2		Finland	4	2	1	1	0	12:6	9
3		Czech Republic	4	2	0	0	2	17:11	6
4		Belarus	4	0	3	0	1	8:10	6
5		Slovakia	4	0	0	2	2	5:19	2
6		Norway	3	0	0	1	2	4:13	1