Ice hockey: Canada and Russia remain in jeopardy

THE Olympic champions, Czech Republic, and Sweden both secured places in the semi-finals of the World Championships in Zurich yesterday, while Canada and Russia were both left hanging by a thread.

Canada suffered a 7-1 second-round loss to Sweden, which seriously jeopardizes their chances of advancing, while Russia scraped a 2-2 tie with the Czechs, which barely keeps their hopes alive.

Sweden's Mikael Renberg of the Tampa Bay Lightnings opened the scoring at 4:40 in the first, picking up a stray pass from his opponent Martin Gelinas, before charging in alone for a one-on-one with Canadian goalie Jeff Hackett.

Renberg scored again six minutes later, slamming the puck between Hackett's pads.

Panthers Ed Jovanovski reduced the gap to 2-1, with a soft shot from the blueline which made its way through the fray, past a startled Tommy Salo.

Patric Kjellberg and Peter Nordstroem each found the net in the second half to double Sweden's score to 4-1, putting them out of reach. Sweden continued to pour it on in the final period, with Joergen Joensson scoring once and Colorado's Peter Forsberg scoring twice to put Sweden ahead at 7-1.

In Basel, Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Dimitri Yushkevich connected with a slapper from the point during a powerplay in the third period as Russia rallied from two goals down to tie with the Czechs.