Russia blanks Slovakia, South Korea relegated at ice hockey
HERNING, Denmark (AP) Canada bounced back from a loss to Finland by edging Latvia 2-1 in overtime at the ice hockey world championship to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals on Monday.
Also, the Czech Republic edged Austria 4-3 and Russia shut out Slovakia 4-0.
Norway beat South Korea 3-0 to relegate the Asian debutant.
Captain Connor McDavid came to Canada's rescue with a goal 46 seconds into overtime, knocking in a rebound in the air.
''We knew what they were gonna do, that they were gonna be solid,'' McDavid said. ''They didn't give up much in the middle. But we found the way to win.''
Anthony Beauvillier gave favored Canada a 1-0 lead in the first period but they were not able to stretch the lead. Kristians Rubins tied it in the third.
''Their goalie played a hell of a game,'' Beauvillier said. ''We gotta find a way to be better, we gotta find a way to be perfect. It wasn't perfect tonight.''
Latvia goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis stopped 31 shots.
The United States tops Group B in Herning, followed by Finland and Canada. They all secured quarterfinal berths.
Denmark and Latvia meet in their final preliminary game on Tuesday.
The Czechs jumped to 2-0 with goals from Tomas and Filip Chytil just 2 1/2 minutes in. Dominik Kubalik and Tomas Hyka also scored.
Michael Raffl netted twice for Austria and Konstantin Komarek added another goal.
Maxim Mamin and Nikita Gusev scored in the first period for Russia and Maxim Shalunov added the third in the third period. Ilya Mikheyev completed the win with an empty net goal
In Group A in Copenhagen, Sweden leads, followed by Russia, and the Czechs. Those three teams have advanced to the quarterfinals.
Switzerland is fourth and Slovakia fifth with a game in hand.
South Korea will be relegated after finishing pointless in its first championship.
''These guys play at a very high level,'' Canada-born South Korea forward Brock Radunske said. ''It takes a little bit for our guys to learn what's going on out there.''
Norway completed the group stage in seventh place in Group B in Herning.
