Canada and Russia will meet in the final of the ice hockey World Championships after both won their semi-finals on Friday.
Rick Nash broke a 3-3 tie midway through the second period and Mike Green added another goal with seven seconds remaining, leading Canada to a 5-4 victory over Sweden.
Russia’s win was less dramatic, cruising to a 4-0 win over Finland.
PHOTO: AP
Today’s final will be the first time the two ice hockey powers have met for the gold medal at the worlds.
17th STRAIGHT WIN
Canada’s victory was their 17th straight at the World Championship and moved them one victory away from consecutive titles. A win today would make it four titles in six years for Canada, who have only missed one of the past five finals.
Sweden goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist turned away eight shots in the first five minutes before Dany Heatley opened the scoring for Canada at 5 minutes, 35 seconds, his 12th tournament goal.
Anton Stralman responded with 45 seconds remaining in the period to equalize for Sweden and Niclas Wallin put the Scandinavians ahead 2 minutes, 46 seconds into the second.
But Ryan Getzlaf responded for Canada just a minute later and Jamal Mayers put Canada back in front at 8 minutes, 31 seconds. Stralman tied it 3-3 at 11 minutes, 26 seconds, but once more the Canadians responded quickly.
Nash’s goal put Canada ahead for good at 12 minutes, 29 seconds of the period and Green secured the victory.
RUSSIAN SCORERS
Sergei Fedorov, Danis Zaripov, Alexei Morozov and Maxim Sushinsky were the scorers for Russia, which avenged a 2-1 semi-final loss to the Finns at last year’s World Championship in Moscow. Evgeny Nabokov made 23 saves for the shutout.
It is the Russians’ first trip to the final since 2002, when they were beaten 4-3 by Slovakia in Linkoping, Sweden. Russia have not won the tournament since 1993 and finished third last year.
Sweden and Finland will meet in the bronze medal playoff.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
RSS