All set for WJC semi finals

The quarter finals almost started with a shock surprise when Denmark had a 3-2 lead going into the last minute against Russia. Vladislav Kamenev was the big hero when Russia avoided a fiasco. At first he tied the game with only 44 seconds left to play. Five minutes into the overtime he also added the game winner. At the end a well deserved win for Russia who did a very good third period and overtime after being 1-2 down after two periods. But you can't avoid to feel a bit sad for the Danes that were so close for their biggest achievement ever.

Sweden reached semi final for the tenth year in a row after an easy 6-0 win against Slovakia. Linus Söderström got his second shutout of the tournament but only had to make 17 saves. Adam Huska at the other end did well despite six conceded goals as he made 49 saves. Sweden spread the scoring on six different scorers and all lines scored.

Canada missed semi final for the first time in 17 years as they lost a crazy game 5-6 to hosts Finland in front of 13,016 fans. Canada had the lead both 2-0 and 3-2 but Finland lead by their young stars came back and turned the game around. 17 year old Patrik Laine was one of the big heroes first. First he scored the important 1-2 goal and at the end he scored the game winning 6-5 with six minutes to go when Finland had a 5 on 3 power play. Mitch Marner scored two goals in the third period but it wasn't enough for Canada that has been dissappointment in this tournament. Hosts Finland will now play Sweden in a hot semi final.

USA on the other hand has been very impressive so far and won with impressive 7-0 against Czech Republic in the quarter finals. The shots were quite even but USA scored on every fifth shot. Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves for the shutout and Auston Matthews continues to impress and scored three goals. USA will now play Russia and is the favourite even if Russia is still unbeaten in the tournament. USA's only lost so far was the 0-1 loss to Sweden when they just couldn't score and they feel like the best team in the tournament so far.

In the relegation round Switzerland took the first game. Belarus took an early lead by Buinitski but Switzerland came back and Noah Rod made a quick equalizer. After that Switzerland took over and dominated especially the second period and scored two goals each in both the second and third period. The Swiss second line scored three goals, Denis Malgin, Damien Riat and Timo Meier with one goal each.

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