Canada closed out the final game of the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship at St. Petersburg’s Yubileiny Arena with a 6-0 quarterfinal win over Sweden. It was Sweden’s most lopsided loss in World Championship quarterfinals history since the IIHF instituted the playoff system in 1992.
The win sets up a semifinal matchup against the United States. A battle of North America to be played on Saturday.
Mark Scheifele scored for Canada at 18:39 of the first period when he tipped Ryan O’Reilly’s point shot. The deflected puck hit the right goal post and rang in for Scheifele’s fourth of the World Championship. It turned out to be the game winner.
O’Reilly skated 18:25 and finished the game with a +3 rating.
Sam Reinhart assisted on Max Domi’s goal, and skated 8:03, finishing with a +1 rating.
In the other late game, Russia defeated Germany 4-1, setting up a game against Finland in Saturday’s other semifinal game. The winning teams of the semifinal games advance to the gold medal game while the semifinal losing teams play for bronze. Both medal games will be played Sunday.