Canada and Russia kept rolling with solid 5-1 and 6-1 wins against Norway and Latvia respectively.   It looks increasingly likely that this years final will be a reprise of last year's great final between the two teams. Today's results also made clear that Russia will play Belarus in the quarterfinals.  Hungary has been relegated to Division 1, while Denmark and Austria will play tomorrow in an all-decisive contest for survival.

QUALIFYING ROUND

GROUP E

Switzerland – Sweden 1-4 (0-1, 0-1, 1-2)
3 May 2009, Postfinance Arena, Berne, Att: 11,327
0-105:47 Johnny Oduya 1 (L. Eriksson, Weinhandl)
0-224:59 Johan Harju 2 (Omark, Strålman) PP1
0-346:41 Linus Omark 2 (Thörnberg)
0-455:06 Johan Andersson 1 (Persson)
1-4 56:44 Romano Lemm 1 (Jeannin, Ambühl) PP1
SUI 8x2, SWE 7x2, SOG 25:29 (7:12, 6:9, 12:8)
Best players: SUI: Mark Streit, SWE: Dick Tärnström

SUI: Gerber; Blindenbacher (2), Streit (2), Wick, Jeannin (2), Lemm – Furrer (2), Bezina (2), Paterlini, Ziegler, Gardner – Seger (2), Weber (2), Deruns, Monnet (2), Sannitz – Josi, Ambühl, Plüss, Rühtemann, Romy.
SWE: Gustavsson, M. Johansson (2), Tärnström (2), Mårtensson (2), L. Eriksson, Weinhandl – Grossman, Oduya, Wallin (2), M. Nilson, Huselius (6) – K. Jönsson, Strålman, Thörnberg, Omark, Harju – Åkerman, C. Gunnarsson, Berglund, J. Andersson, N. Persson.
Refs: O. Hansen (NOR) & J. P. Rönn (FIN)
Linesmen: Kicha (UKR) / Orelma (FIN)

Sweden completely shut down the Swiss offense in the fight for a quarter-final berth. The Swiss attacks were easily stopped by a rejuvenated Swedish defense that had been critisized after 11 goals in the two previous games. Defender Johnny Oduya was added to the Swedish roster just before the game and introduced himself with the opening goal a little more than five minutes into the first period.

The second period continued in the path of the first, a sluggish Swiss offense that more often than not was stopped by the Swedish defense before excellent Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson was put to the test. Martin Gerber in the Swiss crease also played a good game, but could do nothing to stop Johan Harju's delicate deflection when Sweden had the man advantage.

The capacity crowd was expecting more from the home team and a times voiced their disappointment. The Swiss team did manage to move the puck around after scoring their first goal on a power play late in the third period, but by then it was too late as Sweden had already scored their third and fourth goal.

Sweden now stand a good chance of playing in the quarter finals as they only need a single point against France tomorrow be guaranteed advancement. Switzerland will need to win against USA in regulation to advance to the quarter finals.

Latvia – Russia 1-6 (0-1, 1-3, 0-2)
3 May 2009, Postfinance Arena, Berne, Att: 7,228
0-1 11:43 Anton Kuryanov (Mozyakin) PP1
0-2 21:01 Aleksei Tereschenko (Kovalchuk, Kalinin)
0-3 23:04 Oleg Tverdovsky PP1
0-4 23:50 Anton Kuryanov (Perezhogin)
1-4 36:05 Herberts Vasiljevs (Galvins, Cipulis) PP1
1-5 43:38 Alekander Frolov (Zherdev, Tverdovsky)
1-6 46:28 Oleg Tverdovsky (Zinoviev, Frolov)
LAT 7x2, RUS 4x2, SOG 26:37 (9:15, 7:16, 10:6)
Best players: LAT: Herberts Vasiljevs, RUS: Aleksandr Eremenko

LAT: Masalskis; Skrastins, K. Redlihs (2), Sprukts, Karsums, Ankipans – Sotnieks (2), Sorokins (2), Darzins (2), M. Redlihs, Berzins – Galvins, Pujacs (2), Vasiljevs, Nizivijs, Cipulis – Bartulis, Jerofejevs, Dzerins, Jekimovs (4), Cipruss.
RUS (2): Eremenko; Nikulin, Proshkin, Kovalchuk, Tereschenko, Morozov – Vishnevsky, Tverdovsky, Frolov, Zinoviev (2), Zherdev – Kalinin, Atyushov, Saprykin, Gorovikov, Radulov – Korneev, Grebeshkov, Kuryanov (2), Mozyakin, Perezhogin (2).
Refs: P. Orszag (SVK) & B. Reiber (SUI)
Linesmen: P. Blumel (CZE) / E. Bouguin (FRA)

As displayed by the rounded score, Russia had a great show tonight against the Latvians as they run out with a 6-1 victory in their last qualifying round match. Bykov's team appeared a bit tired after the huge 4-1 triumph against the stars and stripes team on saturday night, but the match wasn't short of spectacular moments as the Russians showed flashes of their A-game especially in three of the six goals of the match.

The dancing have been opened by Kuryanov midway through the first period with a nice, low wrist shot off a great pass by Mozyakin from the left side, behind the crease. The first marker for the Russians arrived after some good pressure, and thus they could afford to low the gas for the rest of the first period.

The second period's start has been a nightmare for Masalskis as the Russians were coming from everywhere, with his defensemen not able to even catch them in the own zone. After one minute Ilya Kovalchuk with a great rush down the left feeded Tereschenko in the slot who put it in with a beautiful top-shelf one-timer. Two minutes later Ufa's Oleg Tverdovsky made it 3-0 with a spectacular end-to-end, deke out the goalie move. At 23:50 Perezhogin and Kuryanov had a good passing game around the offensive zone, then Perezhogin's consequent shot was reflected by Masalskis. Kuryanov jumped on the rebound to score the 4-0 on the empty net. Russians took the rest of period easy, allowing the Latvians a goal to Vasiljevs, who deflected a point shot by Rodrigo Lavins.

But a goal could not do anything for the Latvians as they ended up allowing further two goals to team Russia, who scored the 5-1 with a eye-catching spin-o-rama backhand shot by Aleksandr Frolov and the 6-1 with the second goal of the night from Tverdovsky, who this year looked 10 years younger, similar to the player who posted great stats with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Russia is thus undefeated so far in the tournament, and if they manage to display the game they did this night, they look like the number one team this year as well.

			GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF:GA	P
1		Russia	5	4	1	0	0	27:11	14
2		Sweden	4	1	1	2	0	17:15	7
3		USA	4	2	0	1	1	16:14	7
4		Latvia	5	1	2	0	2	15:14	7
5		Switzerland	4	1	0	1	2	5:10	4
6		France	4	0	0	0	4	5:21	0

GROUP F

Norway – Canada 1-5 (1-3, 0-2, 0-0)
3 May 2009, Arena Zürich-Kloten, Att: 4,023
0-104:40 Matthew Lombardi 1 (Doughty, Mason) PP1
1-1 12:53 Mats Zuccarello Olsen 3 (Bastiansen, Ask) PP1
1-2 17:08 Dan Hamhuis 1 (Doughty)
1-3 18:03 Steve Stamkos 6 (St. Louis, Doan)
1-4 20:37 Jason Spezza 5 (Weber, Fisher)
1-5 32:07 Drew Doughty 1 (Armstrong, Upshall)
NOR 6x2, CAN 2x2, SOG 30:47 (12:18, 5:16, 13:13)
Goaltender split: NOR: Lysenstøen (21:16, 16/20), Grotnes (38:44, 26/27)
Best players: NOR: Mats Trygg, CAN: Drew Doughty

NOR: Lysenstøen (21:16 Grotnes); M. Trygg, Myrvold (2), Skrøder, Vikingstad (4), Thoresen – Holøs, T. Jakobsen (2), M. Hansen, L. E. Spets, Lorentzen – Lund, Bonsaksen (2), Bastiansen, Ask, M. Z. Olsen – Kaunismäki (2), Røymark, Forsberg (2), Laumann Ylven.
CAN (2): Mason; Hamhuis, Weber, Roy, Spezza, Heatley – Doughty, Phillips, Doan, Stamkos, St. Louis – Vlasic (2), Coburn, Horcoff, Fisher, Zajac – Schenn, White, Upshall. Lombardi, Armstrong.

Belarus – Czech Republic 0-3 (0-0, 0-2, 0-1)
3 May 2009, Arena Zürich-Kloten, Att: 3,495
0-1 30:02 Petr Cajanek SH1
0-2 39:03 Patrick Elias (Hemsky) PP1
0-3 55:52 Petr Cajanek (Hemsky, Jagr)
BLR 8x2, CZE 6x2, SOG 18:33 (4:13, 11:10, 3:10)
Best players: BLR: Vitaly Koval, CZE: Petr Cajanek

BLR: Koval; Riadinsky (2), Denisov (4), Ugarov, Demagin (2), Grabovski (2) – Bashko, Korobov, Mikhailev, Stefanovich, Chupris – Usenko, Kostiuchenok (2), Antonenko, Kulakov, Stas (2) – Antonov, Kovyrshin (2).
CZE: Stepanek; Zidlicky, Caslava, Hemsky (2), Cajanek, Jagr – Rachunek, Blatak, Michalek, Plekanec, Elias – Polak, Nemec, Olesz (2), Hlinka (2), Kotalik (2) – Cervenka, Klepis (2), Irgl, Rolinek (2), Vasicek.
Refs: D. Kurmann (SUI) & D. Piechaczek (GER)
Linesmen: Y. Oskirko (RUS) / A. Semionov (EST)

 Group F Standings

			GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF:GA	P
1		Canada	4	4	0	0	0	23:6	12
2		Finland	4	2	1	1	0	12:6	9
3		Czech Republic	5	3	0	0	2	20:11	9
4		Belarus	5	0	3	0	2	8:13	6
5		Slovakia	4	0	0	2	2	5:19	2
6		Norway	4	0	0	1	3	5:18	1

RELEGATION ROUND

Germany - Austria 0-1 (0-0, 0-1, 0-0)
3 May 2009, Postfinance Arena, Berne, Att. 3,828
0-1 27.41 Thomas Koch 4 (Vanek)
GER 7x2, AUT 6x2, SOG 38:26 (12:9, 16:8, 10:9)
Best players: GER: Sven Butenschön, AUT: Oliver Setzinger.

GER: Dimitri Pätzold; Christopher Schmidt (2), Michael Bakos,Michael Wolf, Michael Hackert, Philip Gogulla - Sven Butenschön (2), Nicolai Goc, Jochen Hecht, Andre Rankel, Christoph Ullmann - Sebastian Osterloh (2), Moritz Müller, Sven Felski (2), Daniel Kreutzer, Alexander Barta, Andreas Renz (2), Frank Hördler (2) - Travis Mulock, Kai Hospelt (2), Patrick Hager.
AUT: Bernd Brückler; Gerhard Unterluggauer, Darcy Werenka (2), Thomas Koch, Thomas Vanek, Oliver Setzinger- Jeremy Rebek, Martin Oraze, Roland Kaspitz (2), Andreas Nödl, Matthias Trattnig - Philippe Lakos (2), Andre Lakos (2), Markus Peintner, David Schuller, Harald Ofner (2) - Mario Altmann, Paul Schellander, Andreas Kristler, Gregor Baumgartner (2).
Refs: V. Baluska & V. Bulanov (RUS)
Linesmen: K. Gordenko (RUS) / M. Valach (SVK)

Austria played a tight defensive game and managed to grab a 1-0 victory against the disillusioned German team. Thomas Koch built on his hattrick on Friday vs Hungary by scoring the game’s lonely goal. "It was a close game as always against Germany," said Austrian coach Lars Bergström. "It was important to get the lead, which forced them to open up their game and try to create scoring chances. Our defense, including the box play, was great, as was our goaltender." "These have probably been the most stressful ten days of hockey in my life," said Germany's Travis Mulock. "Especially playing for your country and seeing the fans so disappointed. So is everybody on the team. But we just have to go out there, work hard, and hope that the puck will bounce our way."

Hungary - Denmark 1-5 (0-1, 0-2, 0-3)
3 May 2009, Arena Zürich-Kloten, Att. 3,672
1-0 15:10 Krisztian Palkovics 1 (Fekete, J. Vas)
1-1 28:34 Kim Staal 1 (Damgaard, Green) PP2
1-2 38:35 Mads Christensen (Lykkeskov)
1-3 48:25 Morten Green 2 (D. Nielsen) PP1
1-4 52:48 Morten Madsen 1 (Green)
1-5 55:19 Nichlas Hardt 2 (Damgaard, Green)
HUN 6x2 + 1x25 (J. Vas), DEN 1x2, SOG 19:46 (8:12, 6:20, 5:14)
Goaltender split: HUN: Szuper (54:00 39/43), Hetenyi (6:00 2/3)
Best players: HUN: Viktor Tokaji, DEN: Kim Lykkeskov

HUN: Levente Szuper (54:00 Zoltan Hetenyi); András Horvath (2), Viktor Tokaji, Márton Vas, Balázs Ladányi, , Imre Peterdi - Bence Svasznek, Tamás Sille (2) János Vas (27), Krisztian Palkovics, Dániel Fekete - Viktor Szélig, Omar Ennaffati (2), Csaba Kovács, Csaba Jánosi, Artyom Vaszjunyin - Balázs Kangyal (4), Gergely Majoross, Daniel Koger, Roger Holeczy, Gergo Nagy.
DEN: Patrick Galbraith; Philip Hersby, Philip Larsen, Morten Madsen, Peter Regin (2), Mikkel Bødker - Jesper Damgaard, Mads Bech Christensen, Kim Staal, Morten Green, Nichlas Hardt - Mads Bødker, Daniel Nielsen, Mads Christensen, Rasmus Olsen, Julian Jakobsen - Kasper Pedersen, Kasper Degn, Kim Lykkeskov, Thor Dresler, Alexander Sundberg,
Refs: R, Kadyrov (RUS) & D. Zalaski (CAN)
Linesmen: Ivan Dedioulia (BLR) /F. winnekens (GER)

Denmark started sluggish in the 1st period where Hungary took the lead on a break by Kristian Palkovics. In the second period, Denmark took control and outshooted the Hungarians 20:6. One of the biggest disappointments for the Danes in this tournament has been their inefficient powerplay. Another has been Kim Staal who hasn’t been able to find his stellar form from previous world championships. In the 29th minute, Denmark, playing 5-on-3, got a golden opportunity to tie the game and improve their powerplay efficiency. And it only took Kim Staal to convert and score his first goal in the tournament. This goal proved to be the turning point of the match. Mads Christensen scored the go-ahead goal with around one and half minute remaining of the second period, and in the third, Denmark extended their lead with three extra goals, two of which were scored on the powerplay.

Today’s result in the relegation group sets up the winner-takes-it-all game between Austria and Denmark tomorrow. Germany cannot be relegated since they are hosting the 2010 IIHF World Championship.

Standings

			GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF:GA	P
1		Denmark	2	2	0	0	0	8:2	6
2		Austria	2	2	0	0	0	7:0	6
3		Germany	2	0	0	0	2	1:4	3
4		Hungary	2	0	0	0	2	1:11	0