Russia edged defending champions Sweden 4-2 and Canada tamed the United States 6-3 on Monday to send two of ice hockey's great rivals into the quarterfinals of the world championship undefeated.

With the victory Russia finish top of the Group E standings, setting up a last-eight meeting with the Czech Republic while Sweden will take on Slovakia.

By finishing first in Group F Canada will face off against Switzerland and the United States will battle Finland tomorrow for semifinal places.

The showdown was expected to produce plenty of excitement but Canada ended the suspense early, racing to a 4-0 first-period lead and then coasting to their sixth straight win.

Canada had not scored first in any of their previous five games but needed just eight seconds to take a 1-0 lead over the Americans, St. Louis Blues' Jay McClement moving into the slot and blasting the first shot of the game past John Grahame.

With a quarterfinal spot out of reach, Germany and Denmark both closed out their world championships on winning notes.

Michael Wolf scored a pair of third-period goals, including the game winner, as Germany beat Belarus 6-5, while the Danes struck for three unanswered goals to rally past Italy 5-2.

In relegation-round action, Anders Bastiansen got a hat-trick as Norway won a 7-4 shootout over Latvia to secure a spot in the ice hockey world championship A Pool for another year.

The victory combined with Ukraine's 8-4 loss to Austria to give the Norwegians second place in the relegation standings behind the Latvians, who had already clinched top spot and a trip to Canada for next year's championship.

Ukraine and Austria are relegated to the B Pool.

(China Daily via Agencies May 9, 2007)