Finland and Russia to the WWC semis

Finland - Switzerland 3-0

Michelle Karvinen, Linda Välimäki and Rosa Lindstedt scored while Meeri Räisänen earned a shutout when Finland beat Switzerland 3-0 in the first quarter final of the Women's World Championship in Malmö. Switzerland had to rely on their star goalie Florence Schelling who did a great job to keep the score at 1-0 after 50 minutes but then Linda Välimäki beat her with a shot she should have saved. Rosa Lindstedt added an empty net goal when Swiss coach Gian-Marco Crameri had pulled Schelling. Finland will play Canada in the semi final on Friday. In the group stage Canada won the game between the two 6-2.

Russia - Sweden 2-1

Things looked great for the Swedes who got the first goal of the game late in the second period, but then Russian star players Iya Gavrilova and Olga Sosina scored in the last 20 to take Russia to a semi final against USA. The Swedish goal, her fifth of the championship, was scored by Anna Borgqvist.

Japan - Germany 3-2 OT

The first of three relegation games started well for Germany. Marie Delarbre scored 1-0 on the 8th minute and 2-0 in the 26th. But then Japan got closer when Rui Ukita made it 1-2 in the last minute of the second period. Hanae Kubo tied it at 3:30 of period three and we got an overtime period. Japan got the important winning goal at 69:01 when Haruna Yoneyama beat Ivonne Schroder for 3-2. Game 2 is played on Friday and game 3 (if needed) on Saturday.

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